Staff Pavement Engineer
Job Description
Company: ARA
about the job
ara is seeking a staff pavement engineer with a focus on pavement engineering and data science to join our growing transportation division. this is a full-time position in our ventura, ca office. at ara, you’ll be part of a collaborative, innovative, and mission-driven team. we support engineers who want to grow technically, contribute to high-quality deliverables, and evolve into subject matter experts.. . the staff pavement engineer will help transform pavement evaluation data into actionable engineering and asset-management decisions. you’ll work at the intersection of nondestructive pavement testing, data science/ai, and mechanistic-empirical pavement design, contributing to research and consulting projects for state dots, local agencies, and federal sponsors. this role is ideal for someone with hands-on experience using traffic speed deflection devices (tsdd) and falling weight deflectometer (fwd) data and a passion for building data-driven and ai-based tools that improve infrastructure decisions.. . what you’ll do as a staff pavement engineer. .
- Import, process, and analyze TSDD, FWD, ground penetrating radar (GPR), and other pavement condition datasets; develop quality-control workflows and automate repeatable analytics
- Derive network- and project-level structural indicators, remaining life estimates, and treatment triggers; support pavement management system strategy development
- Build predictive and mechanistic-informed models (e
- g
- , performance forecasting, transfer functions, layer moduli backcalculation pipelines) using Python and modern machine learning frameworks
- Leverage large language models/AI to accelerate data cleaning, metadata extraction, report drafting, proposal writing, and interactive Q&A over large engineering document sets and databases
- Conduct applied research and consulting work in pavement and geotechnical engineering, including design, analysis, materials testing, and condition evaluation
- Integrate and visualize results in geographic information systems (GIS) and dashboards for internal teams and client stakeholders
- Support mechanistic-empirical pavement design tasks; prepare inputs and interpret results from AASHTOWare Pavement ME Design (PMED)
- Contribute to proposals, technical reports, and client presentations; present findings at industry conferences and other venues
- Participate in field investigations (periodic travel) to support data collection, validation, and client coordination
- Collaborate with senior engineers and subject matter experts while developing toward independent technical leadership on research and consulting workstreams
Staff Pavement Engineer Requirements
BS in Civil Engineering (Pavements/Transportation/Geotechnical) or closely related discipline with 2 years of relevant experience or advanced degree- Academic, internship, and/or professional experience in areas such as pavement design, pavement condition evaluation, pavement management, and pavement preservation
- Direct experience working with TSDD and FWD data (collection, processing, interpretation, or model development)
- Demonstrated capability in data-driven pavement engineering (e
- g
- , forecasting, network optimization, treatment selection, or decision support)
- Clear, concise technical writing and presentation skills
- Strong analytical, organizational, and problem-solving abilities
- Demonstrated ability to work independently and collaboratively on multi-disciplinary teams
Preferred Qualifications
Knowledge of PMED and mechanistic-empirical pavement design workflows (traffic, climate, materials, calibration/interpretation)- Proficiency in Python for data wrangling, analysis, and model development; familiarity with R a plus
- Experience with GIS (ArcGIS/QGIS) and geospatial data workflows
- Practical use of LLMs/AI to solve pavement engineering problems
- Familiarity with pavement management system tools/workflows; exposure to large-scale network datasets and agency decision processes
- Prior research experience, including publications or presentations
- EIT (or ability to obtain within 6 months); intent to pursue PE licensure within ~2 years
- Familiarity writing proposals or grants
Salary & Benefits
The anticipated salary range for this position is $75,000 to $85,000/year, depending on education and experience
ARA offers competitive benefits that address our employees’ needs now and in the future- Learn more about each of our benefits at two sample outputs (e
- g
- , report excerpt, dashboard screenshot, or code snippet) demonstrating your pavement data analysis work
About ARA
ARA is an employee-owned international research and engineering firm recognized for solving complex challenges in the physical sciences- We provide cutting-edge services in civil and geotechnical technologies, pavement analysis, software and simulation, environmental testing, and defense systems
As an employee-owned company, ARA fosters a culture of innovation, collaboration, and ownership- Our motto — “Engineering and Science for Fun and Profit” — captures the spirit of our work: technically challenging, impactful, and rewarding
Join us and help shape the future of transportation infrastructure- ~
