Practice Lead - Engineering & Planning

Toole Design • Columbus, OH

14d • $129,000 - $196,500 • Hybrid

About The Position

Toole Design is seeking an experienced transportation professional to lead its integrated transportation engineering and multimodal planning practice. This firmwide leadership role combines practice leadership with active project delivery and may be based in any Toole Design office. The Practice Lead mentors engineers and planners, guides business development, shapes technical direction, supports practice growth and financial health, and remains involved in major projects and client relationships. The role reports to the Engineering Director and collaborates closely with the Design and Planning Directors.

The Practice Lead serves in roles such as Principal-in-Charge, Project Director, Senior Technical Advisor, or Project Manager on transportation planning and engineering efforts. Planning projects include comprehensive and long-range plans, mobility plans, corridor studies, traffic impact and operations analyses, safety analyses, parking and curbside management, transportation demand management, public engagement, policy development, and implementation strategies. Engineering and design projects include multimodal street design, conceptual geometric design, traffic signal design and optimization, signing and pavement marking, maintenance of traffic, rapid-implementation design, road safety audits, crash analysis, and countermeasure selection.

Toole Design is an employee-owned, purpose-driven firm of engineers, planners, landscape architects, and urban designers focused on safer, more connected communities and sustainable multimodal transportation. The firm describes its culture as collaborative and inclusive, with a hybrid schedule and in-office team days Tuesday through Thursday.

Requirements

• 15+ years of success on transportation engineering and multimodal planning projects of the types described in the posting.
• Demonstrated success building and leading teams, programs, practices, and projects.
• Experience in business development, proposal strategy, and client development.
• Ability and desire to lead a practice, develop engineers and planners, and guide strategic direction.
• Commitment to technical excellence and to serving as a trusted senior voice on complex projects.
• Ability to craft and communicate a vision that bridges transportation planning and engineering.
• Commitment to creating safer, more equitable, and more sustainable transportation systems.
• Candidates may have careers rooted in transportation engineering or multimodal transportation planning, provided they have demonstrated success leading integrated teams, delivering complex projects, and growing a transportation practice.

Nice To Haves

• Professional Engineer (PE) license preferred.
• PTOE and/or AICP credentials are a plus.

Responsibilities

• Lead business development and practice business planning in support of annual growth targets, in partnership with regional leadership.
• Support practice financial health through effective project delivery, workload management, staff development, and quality control.
• Collaborate with local, regional, and corporate leadership to advance practice priorities.
• Help recruit and advise on hiring decisions in support of local and firmwide growth goals.
• Advance training, innovation, and quality control, and mentor staff through project work.
• Support marketing and increase the practice's local and national visibility.
• Guide subject matter resource groups supporting practice delivery, including traffic engineering, multimodal planning, transportation design, and related specialties.
• Serve as Principal-in-Charge, Project Director, Senior Technical Advisor, or Project Manager on major transportation planning and engineering efforts.
• Lead transportation planning projects, including plans and studies, traffic impact and operations analyses, safety analyses, parking and curbside management, transportation demand management, public engagement, policy development, and implementation strategies.
• Lead transportation engineering and design projects, including multimodal street design, conceptual geometric design, traffic signal design and optimization, signing and pavement marking, maintenance of traffic, rapid-implementation design, road safety audits, crash analysis, and countermeasure selection.
• Mentor a team of engineers and planners and help develop the next generation of practitioners.
• Maintain client relationships and contribute to projects that strengthen and grow the practice.

Benefits

• Hybrid schedule with in-office team days Tuesday–Thursday.
• 8 paid holidays.
• 24 days of PTO accrued annually.
• Competitive salary and excellent benefits.
• Transportation perks.
• Employee ownership and shared participation in the firm's success.
• Collaborative, inclusive culture that supports growth and advancement.
• Mentoring and opportunities to grow expertise.
• Projects intended to improve lives through safe, inclusive design rooted in ethics, empathy, and equity.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: No Education Listed