Senior Environmental Engineer

Senior Environmental Engineer

VTA's Engineering and Program Delivery Division is seeking a seasoned professional with strong project delivery experience and a specialized focus in environmental engineering to serve as a Senior Environmental Engineer.

The Senior Environmental Engineer is expected to manage, mentor and train team members that supports delivery of projects with regards to environmental assessment/survey, hazardous material investigation, abatement of VTA acquired properties, remediation of soil and groundwater at VTA facilities and construction sites, noise and vibration monitoring, design of remediation system, preparation of site management plan, and facility closure application.

The Engineering and Program Delivery (EPD) division is responsible for the design and construction of all capital projects and infrastructure required to provide a safe, reliable and efficient transportation system for Santa Clara County. These responsibilities include program and project management, design development, engineering management, project controls, construction management and turnover of various projects that are part of VTA's rail, facilities and highway transportation improvement programs.

What You will Be Doing: Under general direction, a Senior Environmental Engineer supervises and performs highly responsible professional engineering in the analysis, design, implementation, operation, monitoring and reporting of hazardous materials remedial action systems either directly or through subordinate staff or consultants.

Distinguishing Characteristics This position is responsible for managing all issues associated with regulatory determinations, site investigations, remedial recommendations and civil/hazmat contractor coordination for all hazardous material related issues encountered in property acquisitions, light rail construction, highway program liaison, and facility improvement construction activities for VTA.

The ideal candidate will have experience in construction methodologies and the ability to collaborate with regulators and jurisdictional authorities to implement cleanup actions in compliance with federal and state regulations and local ordinance. The candidate must also be able to manage multiple on-call consultants and provide the necessary technical oversight to support environmental engineering services across various VTA projects. In addition, the candidate will possess ability to work collaboratively with project managers or resident engineers to meet project schedule, scope and budget.

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority employs more than 2,000 people dedicated to providing solutions that move Silicon Valley. Unique among transportation organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area, VTA is Santa Clara County's authority for transit development and operations (light rail and bus), congestion management, transportation-related funding, highway design and construction, real estate and transit-oriented development, and bicycle and pedestrian planning.

Family-Friendly Workplace Certification Program (FFWCP) The County of Santa Clara FFWCP recognizes VTA as a business that creates supportive workplaces for employees and their families. Family-friendly workplaces improve health outcomes and job satisfaction for employees and increase work productivity and retention for employers. Employers can create a family-friendly workplace by meeting and exceeding state and federal employment laws relating to parental leave, lactation accommodation, and work/family balance.

Essential Job Functions

Typical Tasks

• Performs program management for hazardous materials remediation projects;
• Directs engineers and other professionals involved in the remediation activities of VTA facilities, construction projects and real estate transactions;
• Processes requests for hazardous material investigations, develops scope of work for investigation, assigns work to a consultant, arranges for site walkthrough/inspections;
• Meets with Program and Construction Managers to provide status reports;
• Manages the work of environmental consultants and environmental hazardous materials contractors;
• Maintains records of remedial action systems;
• Performs due diligence investigations for property acquisitions for VTA capital projects;
• Performs groundwater monitoring and remedial activities at VTA maintenance facilities;
• Provides oversight of the VTA Highway Program relating to hazardous materials investigations;
• Keeps abreast of Federal, State, and local regulations and programs, and adheres to reporting requirements of regulatory agencies;
• Evaluates permit requirements and develops methods of compliance;
• Conducts and supervises environmental compliance audits;
• Performs related duties as required.

Minimum Qualifications

Employment Standards Training, education and experience that demonstrates possession of the required knowledge, skills and abilities. Development of the required knowledge, skills and abilities is typically obtained through graduation from an accredited college or university with a degree in Civil, Chemical, Biochemical, Geotechnical, Mechanical or Industrial Engineering or a related field and six (6) years of increasingly responsible professional environmental engineering work including experience supervising or leading professional engineers or consultants. Registration as a Professional Engineer in the State of California in Civil, Chemical, Biochemical, Geotechnical, Mechanic, or Industrial Engineering or a related field at the time of appointment is required. The ability to obtain and maintain a Hazardous Materials training certificate issued by the State of California.

Supplemental Information

Knowledge of:

• Federal, State and local hazardous materials and safety regulations, statutes and legislation;
• Hazardous materials management activities and programs in the public sector;
• Design, operation, analysis, and monitoring of remedial action systems;
• Hazardous facility permitting processes;
• Types of remedial action systems including air strippers, carbon absorbers, recovery/monitoring wells, recovery slurry trenches, biodegradation, and soil vapor vacuum removal;
• Principles of supervision and training;
• Personal computers and common software applications.

Ability to:

• Monitor, evaluate and report on hazardous remedial action systems;
• Investigate and analyze remedial action systems;
• Prepared detailed and comprehensive engineering studies & reports;
• Interpret and comply with hazardous materials regulations;
• Analyze, evaluate and prepare construction drawings and specifications for remedial action systems;
• Rapidly assess hazardous situations and take appropriate action;
• Prepare and administer consultant contracts;
• Operate personal computers and software programs including word processing, spreadsheets, project management and CADD;
• Prepare comprehensive reports
• Communicate effectively both orally and in writing;
• Plan, direct and supervise the work of others;
• Coordinate the activities of VTA staff, contractors and regulatory agencies on projects with hazardous potential;
• Establish and maintain effective working relationships with those contacted in the course of work.