Senior civil engineer Jobs in Portland, OR

Job Description

Job Description

Description :

Norwest Engineering's success is rooted in providing exceptional client service while promoting a work environment that fosters teamwork and long-term client relationships. For over 45 years, Norwest has provided a wide range of multi-discipline professional engineering and technical services in the heavy industrial marketplace including Oil & Gas, Chemical, Manufacturing, Utilities, Ports, and Pulp & Paper. Norwest is also successfully expanding our footprint to include renewable fuels and carbon capture projects.

Norwest is actively seeking a Senior Civil Engineer. This person will have experience with being the civil engineering lead on projects, mentoring junior engineers, managing the work of civil designers, and being part of a team of multiple civil engineers and designers on larger projects. You will be an integral part of developing engineering scopes of work and estimating budgets for new business opportunities. You will need to be capable and comfortable in all forms of communication. While much of our work is in the heavy industrial field, experience in utility, stormwater, and grading design is desired.

Heavy Industrial Field

The heavy industrial field differs from the typical commercial development and government fields. The client-side managers and stakeholders are typically engineers themselves. The direct users (operators, maintenance teams) are involved in the design and review process. Projects range in complexity from repair, maintenance, and additions to large greenfield projects. Projects are often driven by a new or changed plant process (e.g., piping, tanks, equipment, roads, etc.) with the civil elements supporting the new infrastructure. Secondary containment and spill control features are incorporated with stormwater management in many of Norwest’s designs. We design spill control or containment features for private rail additions and spurs. We also provide marine consulting for dredging design and planning, marine structures (piers, dolphins, and seawalls) and support permitting efforts with State and Federal agencies.

Beyond typical engineering design, our civil engineers also perform construction support, preliminary engineering and cost estimating, local permitting and expediting, and occasional field inspections.

Our engineers travel occasionally for meetings and field reconnaissance; a 2–3-day effort is typical when accounting for travel time. To balance that effort, our travel budgets typically allow for comfortable flights and accommodations. Our engineers often tend to be client-facing and provide written communication and detailed memorandums and reports regularly. Therefore, practiced communication skills are a must.

Though we are an all-remote engineering firm, we do have many local clients and civil engineering projects close to or within Portland, Oregon. Being local to Portland is desirable. As such, we would be happy to discuss relocation options and potential timelines if the candidate would be interested in relocating to the Pacific Northwest.

Responsibilities and Relevant Experience

Responsibilities will initially be assigned based on experience but will grow in relation to the individual’s progress in professional knowledge. Larger projects typically are split up within the department to an engineer and one or more designers, while the small and medium projects may be assigned to a single engineer. Small civil engineering project budgets range from 50 – 250 manhours, while the larger projects may be as much as 1,000-2,000 manhours for the department.

As a Civil Engineer, any relevant experience you may have will influence project assignments. You will be exposed to a range of tasks in the field of civil engineering in support of process and manufacturing projects. Experience in the heavy industrial field is valued, though not required. Experience with typical civil engineering design, detailing and permitting are the primary qualities desired. You can expect the designs to primarily focus on grading, stormwater management, containment, underground utilities, and private access roads.

The most important qualities to Norwest is commitment to engineering, ambition to learn new things, and desire to participate on a team as a valuable and respected contributor.

Standard expectations

Collaborate and direct as necessary the drafting and design of civil engineering elements. Perform your own drafting and design with CAD software as necessary.

• Prepare technical writing for incorporation into reports and proposals.
• Understand and incorporate local, state, and federal land use and environmental laws and requirements relative to civil engineering projects.
• Perform site / civil land development engineering. Typical designs include site layout and access, roadways and pavement (gravel, concrete and asphalt), minor channelization, grading, survey incorporation, stormwater management, containment design and calculations, and underground structures (e.g., vaults, utilities, HDD).
• Manage or support the project manager with subcontracted vendors (e.g., surveyors and 3D scanners, rail specialists, HDD specialists, natural resources / permitting specialists, product vendors, geotechnical engineers).
• Estimate costs and schedule for civil engineering and design scopes of work. Estimate contractor costs for civil engineering designs at a high level for total installed cost estimates.
• Lead and assist with project permitting efforts. Interact with and present to municipal agencies and permitting groups.
• Work closely with and assist other engineering disciplines in support of projects.
• Ability to travel up to 10% of the time in a year throughout the Pacific Northwest and nationally.

Requirements :

The minimum position requirements are as follows :