Project Engineer

Job Description

Job Description

Salary: $93,953.60 - $110,531.20

Location: 33 N. High Street, Columbus, OH 43215

Benefits:

• Medical, Vision, Dental, Supplemental and Life Insurance
• Paid Parental Leave
• Employee Discounts
• COTA Bus Pass
• Wellness Initiatives
• On-Site Chair Massage
• On-Site Health Coach
• Tuition Reimbursement
• Student Loan Repayment Program
• Public Pension through OPERS & Ohio Deferred Compensation

POSITION SUMMARY:

COTA's Project Engineer serves as an engineering professional responsible for administering and overseeing large Federal Transit Administration (FTA)–funded capital projects. This position directs and coordinates highly complex professional engineering activities associated with the planning, design, resident engineering during construction, and closeout of transit capital improvement projects ranging from $25 million to $500 million in total program value. The Project Engineer serves as the agency's owner's representative ensuring compliance with FTA grant requirements, federal regulations, and applicable state and local standards.

Performs duties that advance COTA's Strategic Plan and reflect the organization's core values of safety, empowerment, accountability, teamwork, and service, and support the mission of Moving Every Life Forward.

ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS:

• Serves as Project Engineer for Federal Transit Administration (FTA)-funded transit capital projects, including transit facilities, maintenance facilities, stations, guideways, systems infrastructure, and related assets.
• Provides professional engineering oversight across the full project lifecycle, including planning, environmental clearance, conceptual development, preliminary engineering, final design, procurement, construction administration, testing, commissioning, start-up, closeout, and transition to operations and maintenance.
• Administers engineering aspects of FTA-funded capital projects to ensure delivery within approved scope, schedule, budget, quality, safety, compliance, and long-term asset performance requirements.
• Supports procurement and pre-award contracting activities, including development of scopes of work, technical specifications, independent cost estimates, proposal evaluations, consultant selection, contract negotiations, and contract modifications.
• Provides technical leadership and serves as the owner's engineering representative for consultants, contractors, construction managers, project teams, agency staff, and other technical contributors engaged in complex, multi-disciplinary transit capital projects.
• Ensures engineering decisions, technical recommendations, project delivery approaches, and design solutions align with agency objectives, regulatory requirements, industry best practices, constructability considerations, and long-term asset performance goals.
• Reviews, approves, or directs the preparation of engineering plans, specifications, cost estimates, schedules, technical reports, design changes, RFIs, submittals, value engineering proposals, change requests, testing results, commissioning documentation, and other project deliverables.
• Provides engineering oversight during construction, including resolution of field conditions, construction quality issues, substantial completion activities, final closeout, and transition to operations and maintenance.
• Coordinates with Project Controls personnel to ensure project schedules, budgets, forecasts, risk registers, and performance reporting accurately reflect project conditions and support effective project management.
• Identifies, evaluates, and mitigates engineering, design, construction, field condition, and project delivery risks related to constructability, cost, schedule, safety, regulatory compliance, and long-term asset performance.
• Ensures engineering activities comply with applicable FTA and federal requirements, including NEPA commitments, Buy America, ADA, DBE participation, Title VI, Safety Management Systems requirements, and applicable state and local standards.
• Coordinates with internal departments, FTA representatives, consultants, contractors, regulatory agencies, utilities, railroads, municipalities, and other stakeholders to integrate federal obligations, technical requirements, approvals, permits, right-of-way needs, third-party agreements, and agency priorities into project delivery.
• Administers engineering and professional services contracts, including evaluation of consultant performance, review and acceptance of technical deliverables, invoice review, negotiation of contract modifications, schedule monitoring, and enforcement of contractual requirements.
• Provides engineering input to the Capital Improvement Program, long-range transit capital plans, project budgets, funding strategies, and multi-year implementation plans involving federal assistance.
• Prepares, reviews, maintains, and presents technical documentation, project records, grant-support materials, reports, analyses, briefings, and project status information related to scope, schedule, budget, risk, compliance, and technical matters.
• Supports FTA oversight activities, including PMOC reviews, audits, triennial reviews, grant reviews, risk assessments, Capital Investment Grant reporting, Small Starts/New Starts documentation, and other federal monitoring processes.
• Represents the organization in meetings with federal, state, and local agencies, professional organizations, consultants, contractors, community groups, funding partners, governing boards, and other stakeholders regarding major transit capital projects and engineering matters.

OTHER JOB FUNCTIONS:

• Regular, predictable and punctual attendance required; and
• Performs other duties as assigned. 

MINIMUM EDUCATION & EXPERIENCE REQUIRED:

• Requires a Bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering or related field and five (5) years' experience as a Professional Engineer responsible for major engineering or capital infrastructure project delivery with at least three (3) years' experience providing direct supervision and oversight of professional engineers and/or consultants.

LICENSES & CERTIFICATIONS:

• Possession of a valid State of Ohio certificate as a registered Professional Engineer (P.E.) required.
• Valid driver's license required.

COTA is an Equal Opportunity Employer and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any kind. All employment decisions are based on job needs, job requirements and individual qualifications, without regard to race, color, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, age, genetic information, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status.