Transportation Engineer ll or lll; Model Development Group

Job Description

Job DescriptionDescription:

COG/TPB is seeking a talented and passionate Transportation Engineer to join its Model Development Group (MDG) at either the Transportation Engineer 2 (Grade 7) or Transportation Engineer 3 (Grade 8) level, depending on qualifications (see below). The successful candidate will work closely with one or more higher-level transportation engineers on a diverse range of technical tasks.

This is a technical position requiring strong quantitative skills and a solid understanding of travel demand forecasting processes, transportation planning networks, computer programming, and transportation planning principles. This person should be passionate about learning, improving technical skills, public service, and making significant contributions that will improve the agency and the region. This individual will need to be able to work with higher-level transportation engineers, but the candidate should exhibit a certain degree of independence and self-direction.

Responsibilities may include:

Model development

· Assist in running, developing, maintaining, and/or improving the regional travel models.

· Create, update, and maintain data associated with inputs to the regional travel demand model, such as transportation planning networks and land use/demographic data.

· Execute and develop computer scripts that are used to summarize and analyze model output data.

· Prepare analyses of key data sets for model estimation/calibration/validation, such as the household travel survey, on-board transit surveys, or Big Data.

· Perform model calibration/validation under the supervision of a Senior or Principal Transportation Engineer.

Perform model sensitivity testing or scenario testing under the supervision of a Senior or Principal Transportation Engineer.

Network development

· Learn and assist in the application, maintenance, and/or improvement of a customized ArcGIS add-in tool, called COGTools, that is used to edit and manage the transportation planning networks in a network geodatabase used as inputs to the travel demand forecasting model. COGTools is currently implemented in Visual Basic.NET (VB.NET) and is being converted to C# to work on the ArcGIS Pro platform.

· Learn to use COGTools to update a transportation planning network in support of a model sensitivity/scenario test.

Other

· Prepare reports, technical memoranda, charts, graphics and create geographic information system (GIS) maps.

· Support the staffing and running of a technical subcommittee, such as the Travel Forecasting Subcommittee (TFS).

Assist in the handling of external requests for model-related data

Requirements:

Minimum Qualifications

· Transportation Engineer 2: Either 1) Master’s degree in transportation engineering, civil engineering, transportation planning, urban planning, computer science, data science, or a related field. OR 2) Bachelor's degree in a related field and two years of applicable work experience. OR 3) Any combination of education, experience, and training that is equivalent to one of the two preceding qualifications, as demonstrated by college-level courses in areas such as mathematics, operations research, quantitative analysis, statistics, data sciences, or computer modeling.

Salary Range: Transportation Engineer 2 (Grade 7): $73,728.89 to $87,000, depending on qualifications

· Transportation Engineer 3: Either 1) Master’s degree in transportation engineering, civil engineering, transportation planning, urban planning, computer science, data science, or a related field and two years of applicable work experience. OR 2) Bachelor's degree in a related field and three years of applicable work experience. OR 3) Any combination of education, experience, and training that is equivalent to one of the two preceding qualifications, as demonstrated by college-level courses in areas such as mathematics, operations research, quantitative analysis, statistics, computer science, or computer modeling.

Salary Range: Transportation Engineer 3 (Grade 8): $84,037.53 to $97,000, depending on qualifications

· Experience with computer programming or data analysis.

· Interest in travel demand modeling and computer programming.

· Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with an ability to interpret technical findings and share them with general audiences.

· Solid verbal and written communications skills.

· Strong familiarity with standard business software (Excel, Word, and PowerPoint).

· Ability to work cooperatively in a team environment.

Ideal Candidate (one or more of these)

· Passion for continual learning, improving technical skills, and making significant contributions to benefit the agency and the region.

· Ability to be a change agent, particularly regarding technical methods.

· Experience with one or more computer programming languages, such as with R, Python, and C#.

· Knowledge of database management systems (DBMSs).

· Familiarity with activity-based and trip-based travel demand forecasting models.

· Experience with geographic information system (GIS) software, such as ArcGIS or QGIS.

· Experience with travel demand forecasting software, such as Cube Voyager.

· Experience with version control software and/or bug-tracking software, such as Git and GitHub.

· Knowledge of software development principles.

· Experience with statistical estimation software, such as R, SAS, Alogit, NLOGIT, Biogeme, and/or Larch.