Alta Planning + Design seeks an Engineering Design Senior Associate for our Houston office. This leadership position is a great opportunity for an experienced transportation professional who believes in the importance of active, multimodal, and sustainable transportation and who is ready to lead project delivery, client relationships, and firm growth in Texas. If you are looking to join an innovative organization and do work that connects people to places while advancing social justice, safety, and environmental resilience, apply with Alta today!
TEI Planning + Design recently joined Alta to launch our first Texas office, located in the heart of Downtown Houston. The Houston team works with public agencies, municipalities, and private clients across Texas and beyond, delivering people-centered mobility solutions across the full spectrum, from traffic operations and signal design to bicycle, pedestrian, transit, and corridor planning and design.
About Alta Alta is a mission-driven company working to mitigate climate change and advance safety and social justice by shaping sustainable, people-centered communities. We bring together expertise across planning, design, engineering, education and encouragement programs, and community engagement to help communities thrive. Our work is grounded in the belief that how places are designed and experienced has a profound impact on equity, health, and opportunity - and that people should always be at the heart of those decisions.
Founded in 1996, Alta was at the forefront of the active transportation movement and has spent nearly 30 years partnering with communities to imagine a more connected, resilient, and inclusive future. Today, with more than 225 staff across the United States and beyond, we are a global leader in creating environments that support everyday life, strengthen human connection, and respond to the challenges of a changing world. Alta offers the opportunity to collaborate across disciplines, contribute to meaningful work at every scale, and be part of a team committed to making lasting, positive change for people and the places they call home.
Day to Day As a Senior Associate, you will be a project leader and serve an important role in our project delivery, client relationships, and growth in Texas. You will lead across three areas: projects, the firm, and people.
Project Leadership
- Lead project teams as Project Director, Project Manager, Project Advisor, or another defined role, depending on project size and scope.
- Oversee and review work products from all team members and implement QA/QC processes that ensure consistently high-quality deliverables.
- Serve as responsible party for proposals and contract development, including finalizing scopes, fees, and budgets, and ensuring contract compliance and proper billing from proposal through close-out.
- Monitor and manage project execution, both technical and financial, throughout the project lifecycle.
- Apply project management best practices and guide staff on billing procedures, processes, and standards.
- Lead a range of work that may include traffic analyses and microsimulation, complete street cross-sections and schematic design, safety analysis, and detailed PS&E production for trails, on-street bikeways, traffic signals, pedestrian facilities, transit stops, and intersection improvements.
Firm Leadership
- Generate new and repeat work with clients that aligns with Alta’s strategic vision, including leading proposals, client interviews, and presentations.
- Collaborate with Alta’s firm Principals on strategic planning, backlog generation, revenue growth, and company-wide resource allocation.
- Serve as a recognized leader on key technical and industry topics, promoting these strengths internally and to clients.
- Develop and execute the annual professional review process.
Client and Mentor Leadership
- Maintain deep relationships with key clients, strategic partners, and agency executives, serving as a trusted resource who helps implement their goals.
- Guide and mentor staff at all levels toward their development goals, and model Alta’s values and culture of teamwork and collaboration.
- Promote industry innovation and national best practices internally.
- Support executive leadership on staffing strategies and decisions.
- Develop the next generation of firm leaders by actively transferring knowledge and client relationships.
Qualifications
Required
This position requires a combination of skills, experience and education including, but not limited to
- Professional Engineer (P.E.) license in Texas, or ability to obtain Texas reciprocity within six months.
- 10+ years of experience as a Transportation Engineer in a consulting environment or public entity; 5+ years as a Project Manager; 3+ years managing staff
- Demonstrated experience leading the development of PS&E packages and a detailed understanding of project management principles, methods and techniques.
- Demonstrated experience providing construction phase services for self-designed projects.\
- Demonstrated success in leading and growing client relationships and generating new work.
- Demonstrated success in mentoring and developing staff.
- Proficiency with industry standards and guides including MUTCD, Highway Capacity Manual, AASHTO and TxDOT design standards, and NACTO design guides.
- Exhibits strong initiative and ability to capitalize on opportunities to enhance Alta’s position in the marketplace.
- Ability to manage competing priorities, multiple simultaneous projects involving cross-functional project teams within budgetary and schedule constraints.
- Ability and willingness to travel.
- Excellent professional ethics, leadership skills, accountability, and decision-making capabilities.
- Strong presentation skills.
- Working knowledge of MS Excel, Word, MS Project or equivalent, AutoCAD or MicroStation including Open Road Designer or Civil 3D.
- Proficiency in enterprise-wide resource planning and project management tools.
Preferred There are a number of additional skills, experience, and education that would be beneficial to this position including, but not limited to:
- Master’s degree in Civil Engineering, or a related field of study.
- Experience managing large projects for both private and public clients.
- Experience using Deltek VantagePoint.
- Active participation in industry-relevant professional associations and committees.
- Experience with Adobe Creative Cloud.
- Experience working with Texas public agencies, municipalities, and TxDOT.
What We Offer Flexible Schedule Alta offers a flexible, hybrid work schedule where most employees work from home three days per week. In-office days support our collaborative culture, one of our core values.
Compensation
The base salary range for this role is indicated in the posting. This range reflects the company’s good faith estimate of the compensation for this position at the time of posting. Final compensation will be determined based on factors such as experience, skills, qualifications, internal equity, and geographic location.
Benefits
Alta offers comprehensive benefits to all full-time employees:
- Medical: PPO or HSA medical plans
- Dental/Vision: PPO
- Life Insurance: Alta pays 100% of the premium for life and AD&D, equal to your base compensation
- 401(k): Alta provides a match up to 3%
- PTO: 21 days accrued annually to start
- Holidays: 11 total company paid holidays
- Paid Parental Leave/Short-Term Disability
- Additional Benefits: Wellness reimbursement up to $800 annually, Alta Gets Around benefit of up to $900 annually, 5-year travel award, and professional development opportunities
