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Description

ARA is seeking a staff pavement engineer with a focus on pavement engineering and data science to join our growing Transportation Division. This is a full-time position in our Ventura, CA office. At ARA, you’ll be part of a collaborative, innovative, and mission-driven team. We support engineers who want to grow technically, contribute to high-quality deliverables, and evolve into subject matter experts.

The staff pavement engineer will help transform pavement evaluation data into actionable engineering and asset-management decisions. You’ll work at the intersection of nondestructive pavement testing, data science/AI, and mechanistic-empirical pavement design, contributing to research and consulting projects for state DOTs, local agencies, and federal sponsors. This role is ideal for someone with hands-on experience using Traffic Speed Deflection Devices (TSDD) and Falling Weight Deflectometer (FWD) data and a passion for building data-driven and AI-based tools that improve infrastructure decisions.

What You’ll Do as a Staff Pavement Engineer:

+ Import, process, and analyze TSDD, FWD, ground penetrating radar (GPR), and other pavement condition datasets; develop quality-control workflows and automate repeatable analytics.

+ Derive network- and project-level structural indicators, remaining life estimates, and treatment triggers; support pavement management system strategy development.

+ Build predictive and mechanistic-informed models (e.g., performance forecasting, transfer functions, layer moduli backcalculation pipelines) using Python and modern machine learning frameworks.

+ Leverage large language models/AI to accelerate data cleaning, metadata extraction, report drafting, proposal writing, and interactive Q&A over large engineering document sets and databases.

+ Conduct applied research and consulting work in pavement and geotechnical engineering, including design, analysis, materials testing, and condition evaluation.

+ Integrate and visualize results in geographic information systems (GIS) and dashboards for internal teams and client stakeholders.

+ Support mechanistic-empirical pavement design tasks; prepare inputs and interpret results from AASHTOWare Pavement ME Design (PMED).

+ Contribute to proposals, technical reports, and client presentations; present findings at industry conferences and other venues.

+ Participate in field investigations (periodic travel) to support data collection, validation, and client coordination.

+ Collaborate with senior engineers and subject matter experts while developing toward independent technical leadership on research and consulting workstreams.

Staff Pavement Engineer Requirements:

+ BS in Civil Engineering (Pavements/Transportation/Geotechnical) or closely related discipline with 2+ years of relevant experience or advanced degree.

+ Academic, internship, and/or professional experience in areas such as pavement design, pavement condition evaluation, pavement management, and pavement preservation.

+ Direct experience working with TSDD and FWD data (collection, processing, interpretation, or model development).

+ Demonstrated capability in data-driven pavement engineering (e.g., forecasting, network optimization, treatment selection, or decision support).

+ Clear, concise technical writing and presentation skills.

+ Strong analytical, organizational, and problem-solving abilities.

+ Demonstrated ability to work independently and collaboratively on multi-disciplinary teams.

Preferred Qualifications:

+ Knowledge of PMED and mechanistic-empirical pavement design workflows (traffic, climate, materials, calibration/interpretation).

+ Proficiency in Python for data wrangling, analysis, and model development; familiarity with R a plus.

+ Experience with GIS (ArcGIS/QGIS) and geospatial data workflows.

+ Practical use of LLMs/AI to solve pavement engineering problems.

+ Familiarity with pavement management system tools/workflows; exposure to large-scale network datasets and agency decision processes.

+ Prior research experience, including publications or presentations.

+ EIT (or ability to obtain within 6 months); intent to pursue PE licensure within ~2 years.

+ Familiarity writing proposals or grants.

Salary & Benefits:

The anticipated salary range for this position is $75,000 to $85,000/year, depending on education and experience.

ARA offers competitive benefits that address our employees’ needs now and in the future. Learn more about each of our benefits at https://www.ara.com/benefits .

How to Apply:

Please submit your resume/CV, a brief cover letter highlighting relevant TSDD/FWD and data-analytics experience, and **two sample outputs** (e.g., report excerpt, dashboard screenshot, or code snippet) demonstrating your pavement data analysis work.

About ARA:

ARA is an employee-owned international research and engineering firm recognized for solving complex challenges in the physical sciences. We provide cutting-edge services in civil and geotechnical technologies, pavement analysis, software and simulation, environmental testing, and defense systems.

As an employee-owned company, ARA fosters a culture of innovation, collaboration, and ownership. Our motto — “Engineering and Science for Fun and Profit” — captures the spirit of our work: technically challenging, impactful, and rewarding.

Join us and help shape the future of transportation infrastructure.

Equal Opportunity Employer/Protected Veterans/Individuals with Disabilities

This employer is required to notify all applicants of their rights pursuant to federal employment laws.

For further information, please review the Know Your Rights (https://www.eeoc.gov/poster) notice from the Department of Labor.