Transportation Engineer
What Does a Professional in this Career Do?
A Transportation Engineer designs and maintains transportation systems such as roads, ports, airports, and bus or subway systems.
Job Outlook
There were 345 Transportation Engineer job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 12709 in the United States.
In combination with other careers in the Transportation Engineer industry, which includes the Transportation Engineer career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2015:
Salary
Many new Transportation Engineer jobs have salaries estimated to be in the following ranges, based on the requirements and responsibilities listed in job postings from the past year.
National
The average estimated salary in the United States for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $91,643.
State
The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $87,580.
Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Transportation Engineer postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $78,082.
Education and Experience
Posted Transportation Engineer jobs typically require the following level of education. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list education requirements.
| Education Level | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Associate's Degree | 0% |
| Bachelor's Degree | 77.46% |
| Master's Degree | 22.79% |
| Doctoral Degree | 3.23% |
| Other | 5.53% |
Posted Transportation Engineer jobs typically require the following number of years of experience. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.
| Years of Experience | Percentage |
|---|---|
| 0 to 2 years | 21.24% |
| 3 to 5 years | 40.91% |
| 6 to 8 years | 21.21% |
| 9+ years | 16.64% |
Skills
Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Transportation Engineer positions expect applicants to have as well as the most common skills that distinguish individuals from their peers. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is also listed.
Baseline Skills
A skill that is required across a broad range of occupations, including this one.
- Communication (31.73%)
- Planning (31.03%)
- Operations (23.86%)
- Management (21.95%)
- Microsoft Office (18.4%)
- Writing (17.69%)
- Coordinating (17.41%)
- Leadership (16.3%)
- Microsoft Excel (12.79%)
- Research (11.42%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- Roadway Design (13.7%)
- OpenRoads (Civil Design Software) (19.77%)
- Pavement Markings (11.48%)
- AutoCAD (23.43%)
- Civil Engineering (53.02%)
- Highway Engineering (4.52%)
- Transport Engineering (55.14%)
- Highway Design (9.1%)
- Synchro (Traffic Simulation Software) (15.96%)
- Project Management (36.5%)
- PTV Vissim (Traffic Analysis Software) (10.7%)
- Traffic Engineering (26.42%)
- MicroStation (CAD Design Software) (40.15%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- AutoCAD Civil 3D (13.14%)
- Project Engineering (8.81%)
- Computer-Aided Design (16.6%)
- Business Development (11.68%)
- Construction (14.89%)
- Data Collection (9.02%)
- Engineering Design Process (10.53%)
- Traffic Control (18.13%)
- Structural Engineering (8.11%)
- Transportation Planning (12.4%)
Distinguishing Skills
A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.
- Traffic Signal Design (5.63%)
- Traffic Calming (1.36%)
- Traffic Signal Timing (6.33%)
- AutoTURN (1.15%)
- Traffic Design (3.87%)
- Intelligent Transportation Systems (7.06%)
- Traffic Analysis (7.58%)
- Road Traffic Controls (2.47%)
- Sidra Intersection (3.88%)
Salary Boosting Skills
A professional who wishes to excel in this career path may consider developing the following highly valued skills. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is listed.
- AutoTURN (6.72%)
- Sidra Intersection (22.74%)
- Synchro (Traffic Simulation Software) (93.58%)
- PTV Vissim (Traffic Analysis Software) (62.74%)
Alternative Job Titles
Sometimes employers post jobs with Transportation Engineer skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:
- Traffic Engineer
- Highway Engineer
- Roadway Engineer
- Transportation Engineering Intern
- Transportation Engineering Technician
- Transportation Engineering Manager
- Highway Project Engineer
- Continuous Improvement Engineer
- Transportation Project Engineer
Similar Occupations
If you are interested in exploring occupations with similar skills, you may want to research the following job titles. Note that we only list occupations that have at least one corresponding NC State Online and Distance Education program.
- Civil Engineer
- Civil Engineering Technician
- Civil Engineering Manager
- General Engineering Technician / Technologist
- Water / Wastewater Engineer
- Land Development Project Manager
Common Employers
Here are the employers that have posted the most Transportation Engineer jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.
United States
- CDM Smith (626)
- GPAC (433)
- AECOM (425)
- Ryder (372)
- Blue Origin (327)
- State of South Carolina (311)
- HDR (295)
- State Of Texas (279)
- HNTB (257)
- Jobot (242)
North Carolina
- CDM Smith (36)
- State of North Carolina (15)
- Vanasse Hangen Brustlin (14)
- Rk&K (14)
- Jobot (13)
- Reynolds Smith and Hills (12)
- Drmp (12)
- N.C Department Of Transportation (12)
- Mott MacDonald (10)
- Transystems (9)
NC State Programs Relevant to this Career
If you are interested in preparing for a career in this field, the following NC State Online and Distance Education programs offer a great place to start!
All wages, job posting statistics, employment trend projections, and information about skill desirability on this page represents historical data and does not guarantee future conditions. Data is provided by and downloaded regularly from Lightcast. For more information about how Lightcast gathers data and what it represents, see Lightcast Data: Basic Overview on Lightcast's Knowledge Base website.