Principal Technologist Engineering

HNTB Corporation•Kansas City, MO

2d•Hybrid

About The Position

At HNTB, you can create a career that is meaningful to you while building communities that matter to all of us. For more than a century, we have been delivering solutions for some of the largest, most complex infrastructure projects across the country. With our historic growth, it is an exciting time to join our team of employee-owners. This opportunity entails serving as the senior-most technical leader and owner for select engineering technologies across the enterprise, responsible for leadership throughout the technology lifecycle, including evaluation, deployment, support, governance, and continuous improvement. Champions technology initiatives, vendor relationships, and stakeholder engagement efforts while guiding the development of workflows, standards, training, and support practices that drive consistent and effective technology adoption across projects, disciplines, and business groups. Leverages deep technical expertise and industry knowledge to influence technology strategy, mitigate risks, identify emerging opportunities, and improve project delivery outcomes through informed technology decisions. This position may be based out of any major HNTB geographic location.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering (Civil, Structural, Mechanical, Electrical, Environmental), Drafting, Architecture, Urban Planning, or IT and 16+ years of experience using engineering technologies to develop or support complicated transportation projects
In lieu of degree, 22+ years of experience using engineering technologies to develop or support complicated transportation projects

Nice To Haves

Minimum 6 years of experience using Openroads Designer software to develop and support complex transportation projects focusing on roadway and drainage tasks.
Additional experience InRoads or GEOPAK is a plus.
For roadway design, knowledge should include terrain modeling; geometry and corridor modeling (template and corridor development); site modeling (surface templates, civil cells, etc.); item types; development and enhancement of roadway resources (feature definitions, annotation groups, etc.); and related production efforts (reports, tables, and plan/profile/section production).
For drainage design, knowledge should include hydrology and runoff determination; placement and analysis of system components (nodes, pipes, culverts, channels, etc.); development and enhancement of drainage resources (IDF curves, feature definitions, prototypes, 3D drainage cells, etc.); and related production efforts (reports, tables, and plan/profile/section production).
Familiarity with StormCAD is a plus.
Minimum 5 years of experience using ProjectWise for project development efforts including ProjectWise Explorer, ProjectWise Drive and Bentley Infrastructure Cloud (or similar technology).
Experience with concepts of AEC digital delivery, including Model-as-Legal-Document, data-centric project delivery, digital twins, and relevant industry expectations such as those established by ISO, FHWA, AASHTO and state transportation agencies.
Demonstrated commitment to advancing the technical capabilities of others through mentoring, technical presentations, training development, standards documentation, workflow governance, and facilitation of collaborative problem-solving discussions.
Experience collaborating with multiple AEC stakeholders to resolve complex problems including software vendors, Digital Transformation teams, IT professionals and engineering practitioners to improve engineering workflows and project delivery outcomes.

Responsibilities

Serves as the engineering technology owner for select engineering technology through the lifecycle.
Evaluates hardware, software and cloud solutions to gauge viability and effectiveness to determine suitability for deployment.
Assesses functionality and usability, compatibility with databases and cloud storage solutions, integrations within and between vendors and relevant third-party add-ons.
Identifies, prioritizes and leads related special projects that may be required throughout the lifecycle.
Coordinates technology deployment changes as needed with internal teams.
Serves as an expert leader with technical practitioners, project teams, communities of practice, technical steering committees, and business stakeholders to support the effective application and adoption of select engineering technologies.
Leads discussions for select engineering technologies within new and established forums, gathers and communicates stakeholder feedback, shares technical knowledge, and contributes to initiatives that improve workflows, standards, support services, and project delivery.
Develops, documents, communicates, delivers, and maintains technical workflows, standards, guidance, and training that improve project delivery quality, consistency, and efficiency applying select engineering technologies.
Creates technical documentation and learning materials and provides knowledge transfer through classroom instruction, virtual learning, hands-on coaching, demonstrations, and other appropriate methods.
Coordinates contributions from other subject matter experts, evaluates feedback and adoption results, and ensures knowledge assets remain current, scalable, and aligned with the needs of multiple projects, disciplines, and offices.
Champions organizational change to knowledge management systems to meet evolving expectations.
Provides technical guidance and support to practitioners using select engineering technologies throughout the project delivery lifecycle.
Responds to user questions, investigates technology and workflow issues, identifies and documents solutions, and coordinates with internal teams or vendor support when needed.
Maintains communication with affected users and contributes support knowledge that improves issue resolution, technology reliability, and user effectiveness.
Identifies and develops improvements to workflows, standards, training, configurations, and support processes that reduce future issues.
Champions the coordination of critical ideas and defects with vendors to resolution to minimize future disruption.
Champions coordination efforts between HNTB technical staff and vendor personnel for select engineering technologies.
Organizes and leads recurring business review meetings to influence future vendor roadmaps and coordinates service strategies.
Establishes and maintains productive working relationships with technology vendors to support the effective use of assigned engineering technologies.
Collaborates with vendor support and technical teams to investigate issues, evaluate product capabilities, communicate business needs, and identify potential enhancements.
Documents and tracks support requests, defects, product limitations, and enhancement opportunities through resolution and keeps affected stakeholders informed.
Assists internal teams with vendor contract language, and product license usage and consumption.
Champions technology initiatives by evaluating the compatibility, functionality, performance, and operational impacts of select engineering technologies within the broader technology ecosystem and project delivery environment.
Conducts research, testing, validation, and documentation; identifies technical risks and opportunities; supports implementation activities; and provides recommendations that contribute to informed technology decisions.
Initiatives may include software upgrades, licensing changes, operating system updates, virtual desktop solutions, graphics hardware, integrations, and other emerging technologies.
Assesses cross-functional impacts, identifies risks, develops mitigation and adoption plans, and influences implementation and purchasing decisions through technical analysis.
Researches latest developments of engineering practices, client requirements, delivery standards, and emerging technologies that may affect transportation engineering workflows and project delivery.
Researches and evaluates new concepts, tools, standards, and methodologies and shares relevant findings with technical practitioners and stakeholders.
Identifies potential capability gaps and advises business and technology leaders regarding long-term opportunities, risks, modernization priorities, and investments.
Develops actionable plans that improve technology decisions and project execution.
Areas of focus may include engineering analysis, model-based workflows, digital delivery, information management, geographic information systems, and other evolving industry trends.
Performs other duties as assigned.