Transportation
Transportation Engineer II
Last updated
Transportation Engineers II are mid-career civil engineers who handle complex traffic analyses, lead project components with moderate supervision, and move toward PE licensure and project management responsibility. They run the technical core of transportation studies — traffic modeling, geometric design, safety analyses — with enough experience to make independent methodological choices and explain them to clients and agency reviewers.
Role at a glance
- Typical education
- Bachelor's degree in civil engineering (ABET-accredited)
- Typical experience
- 3-6 years
- Key certifications
- PE licensure, FE exam
- Top employer types
- Engineering consulting firms, State DOTs, local government agencies
- Growth outlook
- Above-average workload sustained through the late 2020s due to IIJA federal funding.
- AI impact (through 2030)
- Augmentation — AI is introducing new competencies like automated intersection analysis and video detection, expanding the technical scope of the role without displacing core engineering judgment.
Duties and responsibilities
- Lead traffic operations analyses for arterial corridors and complex intersections using HCS, Synchro, and VISSIM microsimulation
- Develop roadway geometric designs including horizontal alignments, vertical profiles, and cross-section development per AASHTO standards
- Prepare traffic impact analyses (TIAs) for major development projects, including trip generation, distribution, and level-of-service evaluation
- Conduct safety analyses at high-crash locations using HSM predictive methods and identify design and operational countermeasures
- Manage project deliverables, budgets, and schedules on assigned project tasks with oversight from senior engineers
- Coordinate technical work with subconsultants, utility agencies, and permitting bodies on multi-discipline projects
- Prepare and QC engineering plan sets, specifications, and cost estimates for road improvement projects
- Support public involvement activities including presenting technical findings at community and agency stakeholder meetings
- Mentor Engineer I staff and review their technical work for accuracy and completeness
- Prepare grant applications and funding justification documents for HSIP, CMAQ, and other federal-aid programs
Overview
Transportation Engineer II is the working level of the civil engineering profession — experienced enough to own technical work product independently, not yet at the level where the job is primarily managing others and securing clients. The role is where most of the actual engineering happens: the intersection capacity analyses, the geometric design development, the crash data investigations, and the detailed plans and specifications that eventually get built.
At a consulting firm, a Transportation Engineer II typically carries a portfolio of 3–6 active project tasks at any time. On a Monday morning, they might be finalizing a traffic signal warrant analysis for a local agency client, coordinating with a land use attorney on the assumptions for a TIA, reviewing a subconsultant's cost estimate for a roundabout construction project, and responding to a review comment from a state DOT on a highway design submission. Each of these requires technical judgment — not just execution of a formula — and the ability to communicate that judgment in writing or in conversation.
At a state DOT, the work is more programmatic but equally demanding. An Engineer II at a DOT might manage a portfolio of local assistance projects, review development TIAs for technical accuracy, develop design exception requests for projects where standards compliance isn't achievable, or support a major corridor study with traffic modeling and intersection analysis. The reviewer relationship is reversed — rather than submitting analyses to agencies for review, the Engineer II is the agency reviewer.
The II level is also where engineers develop the skills that will define their later careers: project communication, client relationship management, and the judgment to know which technical questions require escalation and which can be resolved independently.
Qualifications
Education:
- Bachelor's degree in civil engineering (required, ABET-accredited)
- Master's degree in transportation, civil, or urban engineering (valued for analytical roles at DOTs and research-adjacent firms)
Licensure:
- PE licensure required or actively in progress — most firms expect Engineer II-level staff to be licensed or within 12 months of exam eligibility
- FE exam should be completed
Experience:
- 3–6 years of transportation engineering experience with demonstrated project ownership
- Direct experience with traffic analysis, geometric design, or safety analysis as primary technical lead
- Project coordination experience: client communication, agency submittals, schedule management
Technical skills:
- Traffic analysis: HCS 7 and VISSIM for complex intersections, Synchro for corridor coordination, ICE software for interchange analysis
- Geometric design: AutoCAD Civil 3D or OpenRoads Designer — creating and revising alignments, profiles, and plan sheets
- Crash analysis: HSM predictive methods, CMF Clearinghouse application, systemic safety analysis approach
- Travel demand: working knowledge of regional model outputs, trip generation (ITE Trip Generation Manual), and multi-modal demand analysis
- GIS: ArcGIS for spatial analysis, data visualization, and transportation mapping
- Probe vehicle data platforms: StreetLight, Replica, or equivalent
Domain knowledge:
- AASHTO Green Book geometric design standards and policy basis for exceptions
- FHWA design guides: PROWAG (pedestrian facilities), NACTO Urban Street Design Guide, MUTCD
- Federal-aid program structure: HSIP, CMAQ, STP-funded projects and associated documentation requirements
- NEPA documentation: understanding CE, EA, and EIS thresholds and the traffic engineer's role in each
Career outlook
The PE-licensed Transportation Engineer II is among the most sought-after profiles in the civil engineering job market. The combination of technical skill, agency experience, and emerging project management capability at this career stage is relatively scarce — it takes 3–6 years to develop, it can't be outsourced, and it's in high demand at consulting firms trying to execute transportation programs funded by federal infrastructure legislation.
Federal transportation funding has been elevated above historical levels through the IIJA, and that funding is flowing through project pipelines that will sustain above-average workloads for consulting firms through the late 2020s. State and local agencies are also investing in multimodal infrastructure — protected bike lanes, transit priority corridors, pedestrian safety improvements — that require the same analytical and design skills as traditional roadway work but in new contexts.
For engineers at the II level who develop strong project management and client communication skills alongside their technical capabilities, advancement to Senior Engineer or Project Manager typically comes within 3–5 years. Those who prefer to stay in the technical track can grow into technical discipline lead roles — the recognized expert in traffic operations, safety analysis, or travel demand modeling at a firm or agency.
The profession is also adding new competencies over time. Electric vehicle infrastructure engineering, connected vehicle testbed design, automated intersection analysis using video detection and AI — these are emerging areas where the next cohort of mid-career transportation engineers will develop expertise that didn't exist 10 years ago. Being curious about those developments and investing in learning them early is what differentiates engineers who stay relevant from those who plateau.
Compensation at the Engineer II level, combined with PE licensure premium, positions transportation engineering competitively against other civil engineering specialties. Total compensation including benefits at large consulting firms and state DOTs typically runs $90K–$120K at this stage.
Sample cover letter
Dear Hiring Manager,
I'm applying for the Transportation Engineer II position at [Firm]. I have five years of transportation engineering experience at [Firm], where I've focused on traffic operations analysis, intersection design, and safety studies for municipal and state agency clients.
My technical work over the past two years has included leading TIAs, safety analyses, and geometric improvement designs on projects ranging from neighborhood intersection improvements to a major arterial corridor study that spanned three cities. On the corridor study, I was the technical lead for the traffic analysis element — running the base-year calibration in Synchro, developing future-year volumes from the regional travel demand model, and evaluating alternatives including signal removal, roundabout conversion, and access management strategies. I presented those findings to a joint city-county steering committee and fielded technical questions from both the agency engineers and the elected representatives in the room.
I passed my PE exam in November and received my license in [State] in January. I'm pursuing reciprocity in [Adjacent State] given the geographic scope of projects our practice typically covers.
I'm looking for a firm with a stronger presence in safety analysis and HSIP program work — it's the area of transportation engineering I find most meaningful and where I want to build more depth. Your firm's safety practice looks like the right environment for that, and the scale of your project portfolio would give me more project management experience than I can get at my current smaller firm.
I'd welcome the opportunity to talk about how my background fits your needs.
[Your Name]
Frequently asked questions
- What distinguishes a Transportation Engineer II from an Engineer I?
- Engineer I typically works on defined tasks under direct supervision, running analyses following established methods and checking work against specific criteria. Engineer II leads the technical execution of project components, makes methodological choices with professional judgment, and coordinates with subconsultants and agency staff without close supervision. At most firms, Engineer II also has project delivery responsibility on smaller projects.
- Is a PE required at the Engineer II level?
- Requirements vary. Some firms title people as Engineer II before they have the PE, making it a step on the path toward licensure. Others use it as the first post-PE title. In either case, active pursuit of PE licensure is expected at this career stage, and most Engineer II positions at consulting firms involve clear timeline expectations for when the engineer will become licensed.
- What does project management look like at the Engineer II level?
- At the II level, engineers typically manage the technical execution of a project phase or a defined task within a larger project — not full project management of a complex multi-year effort. This means tracking hours against budget, communicating progress to the project manager, coordinating with subconsultants on technical deliverables, and flagging scope changes early. It's a development opportunity toward full PM responsibility.
- What role do Transportation Engineers II play in public involvement?
- They often prepare the technical exhibits — traffic data displays, before/after level-of-service comparisons, crash data maps — used in public meetings. At this career stage, many engineers begin presenting at those meetings: explaining analysis methodology to planners, board members, and community stakeholders who may not have technical backgrounds. Communication skill development at this stage matters significantly for career advancement.
- How are data analytics and modeling tools evolving for transportation engineers?
- Probe vehicle data (StreetLight, Replica, Streetlogic) has largely replaced manual traffic counts for many study types, providing origin-destination data and travel time measurements that would have been prohibitively expensive to collect a decade ago. Travel demand models are incorporating more real-world data sources. Transportation Engineers II who learn to work with these platforms alongside traditional HCM analysis are better positioned for the analytical demands of the next decade.
More in Transportation
See all Transportation jobs →- Transportation Engineer$72K–$115K
Transportation Engineers plan, design, and analyze road, transit, and traffic systems to move people and goods safely and efficiently. They conduct traffic studies, design intersection improvements and highway alignments, model travel demand, and manage infrastructure projects from concept through construction, typically working for government agencies, engineering consulting firms, or metropolitan planning organizations.
- Transportation Engineer III$98K–$140K
Transportation Engineers III are licensed Professional Engineers who lead complex transportation projects, manage project teams, and serve as the technical authority on specialized areas within their practice. They stamp engineering documents, serve as primary client contacts on mid-sized to large projects, and mentor junior engineers while handling the technical complexity that requires senior-level judgment.
- Transportation Driver$48K–$85K
Transportation Drivers operate commercial vehicles to move freight, materials, or passengers safely and on schedule. They manage their routes, maintain their vehicles, comply with federal hours-of-service regulations, and handle the physical loading and unloading requirements of their assigned freight. Most positions require a valid Commercial Driver's License (CDL).
- Transportation Manager$78K–$120K
Transportation Managers oversee a company's freight operations — managing carrier relationships, controlling transportation costs, developing their team, and ensuring freight moves reliably at competitive rates. They are accountable for the performance of the transportation function: on-time delivery rates, cost per shipment, carrier compliance, and the operational capability of the team executing day-to-day freight.
- Flight Attendant$45K–$90K
Flight Attendants ensure passenger safety, provide cabin service, and manage in-flight emergencies aboard commercial aircraft. They are FAA-certified safety professionals whose primary responsibility is passenger evacuation, emergency equipment operation, and compliance with Federal Aviation Regulations — with customer service as an equally visible but secondary function.
- Pilot$55K–$350K
Commercial Pilots fly aircraft carrying passengers, cargo, or specialized payloads for airlines, cargo carriers, charter operators, and corporate flight departments. They are responsible for safe flight operations from preflight planning through landing and shutdown, working as part of a two-pilot crew under FAA regulations and airline standard operating procedures.