Principal Transportation Engineer / Transportation Practice Builder

Apex is building more than a consulting and engineering firm—we’re creating a place where your career accelerates, your contributions matter, and your potential is fully realized. We invest in your development at every stage, working on projects that shape communities, protect the environment, and create lasting impact. With autonomy and flexibility, you’ll help shape what’s next while sharing in our collective success. All Apex positions are eligible for annual bonus opportunities, and this role offers eligibility for equity awards. Additionally, this role is eligible for a $20,000 sign-on bonus, subject to the terms and conditions of the Company's sign-on bonus program.

About The Role

Apex is seeking a senior transportation infrastructure leader to help build and grow our transportation engineering practice in Western Pennsylvania and the broader Mid-Atlantic market. This is a seller-doer, technical leader, and practice-builder opportunity for a respected transportation professional who can bring credibility with public agency and infrastructure clients, lead complex bridge and roadway work, mentor staff, and help Apex expand its presence in the transportation market. The role is intended for a senior professional who enjoys staying close to the work while also shaping the business, serving as a trusted advisor to clients, a senior technical resource to project teams, and a growth partner to Apex leadership.

The focus will be on building a durable transportation practice around strong client relationships, high-quality delivery, disciplined project execution, and a team capable of supporting bridge, roadway, drainage, transportation infrastructure, inspection, rehabilitation, and related civil engineering opportunities. The ideal candidate will bring deep transportation infrastructure experience, strong relationships with agencies and industry partners, and the credibility to help Apex grow from existing civil, water/wastewater, environmental, geotechnical, and infrastructure relationships into a broader transportation platform. This role is especially well-suited for someone who wants the autonomy to build, the support of a national firm, and the opportunity to shape what Apex’s transportation practice becomes in Pennsylvania.

Why This Role Matters

Apex has a strong regional platform, a growing national infrastructure strategy, and an established base of civil, environmental, water, wastewater, geotechnical, and construction-related services. We are looking for a transportation leader who can help connect those capabilities into a stronger, more visible transportation offering.

Success In This Role Will Mean

• Helping Apex build a recognizable transportation engineering presence in Western Pennsylvania and the Mid-Atlantic.
• Developing and expanding relationships with public agencies, municipalities, transportation authorities, utility/infrastructure owners, and strategic industry partners.
• Winning and delivering bridge, roadway, multimodal, civil/transportation, inspection, rehabilitation, and infrastructure improvement projects.
• Growing a team of engineers, designers, project managers, and technical specialists around practical market opportunities.
• Strengthening Apex’s ability to pursue larger and more integrated infrastructure programs by combining local client relationships with national technical resources.
• Bringing disciplined QA/QC, constructability, project management, and client communication practices to transportation delivery.

Responsibilities

As a Principal Transportation Engineer, you will:

• Serve as a senior technical leader and trusted advisor for transportation infrastructure projects, with an emphasis on bridge, roadway, structural, drainage, civil/transportation, and related public infrastructure work.
• Help establish, manage, and grow Apex’s transportation engineering practice in the Pittsburgh metro, Western Pennsylvania, and broader Mid-Atlantic market.
• Develop and implement a practical growth strategy for transportation services, including target clients, pursuit priorities, teaming relationships, staffing needs, and near-term revenue opportunities.
• Lead business development efforts with public and private infrastructure clients, including PennDOT, Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, counties, municipalities, authorities, and other transportation-related owners or partners, as applicable.
• Leverage existing relationships while building new ones to position Apex for transportation engineering, bridge inspection/design/rehabilitation, roadway, drainage, civil/site, and infrastructure planning/design opportunities.
• Act as a seller-doer by identifying opportunities, shaping scopes, leading or supporting proposals, developing fees, participating in interviews, and helping convert relationships into backlog.
• Serve as Engineer of Record, senior reviewer, technical advisor, project manager, or structural/transportation lead on selected projects, depending on project needs and licensing requirements.
• Lead or oversee the preparation of engineering reports, design documents, calculations, construction plans, specifications, cost estimates, technical memoranda, proposal narratives, and client-facing deliverables.
• Provide senior QA/QC review for transportation and structural engineering work, including design assumptions, calculations, constructability considerations, risk items, and compliance with applicable agency standards.
• Mentor and develop engineers, designers, CAD/BIM staff, project managers, and emerging seller-doers; help create a high-performing technical bench for transportation work.
• Recruit, build, and manage or influence a transportation team capable of supporting project execution, client development, and long-term practice growth.
• Coordinate with Apex’s civil/site, water/wastewater, stormwater, geotechnical, environmental, construction, survey, and national infrastructure resources to deliver integrated solutions.
• Support project managers in managing scope, schedule, budget, quality, risk, change management, subcontractors, and client expectations.
• Maintain strong client communication and serve as a senior point of contact for clients, teaming partners, contractors, agencies, and stakeholders.
• Participate in industry organizations, conferences, associations, and technical forums to strengthen Apex’s visibility and credibility in the transportation market.
• Help create repeatable transportation delivery tools, including proposal language, QA/QC checklists, design standards, client pursuit plans, staffing models, and technical delivery workflows.
• Contribute to Apex’s broader One Apex approach by connecting local client intimacy with national resources, specialized expertise, and cross-regional delivery capacity.

What Success Looks Like

You will be successful in this role if you can:

• Build a credible transportation infrastructure practice that grows from existing relationships, repeat clients, and strategic new opportunities.
• Convert senior market relationships into qualified pursuits, proposals, wins, and profitable backlog.
• Serve as both technical leader and commercial leader, balancing client development with project delivery.
• Establish Apex as a trusted partner for bridge, roadway, civil/transportation, and infrastructure work in Western Pennsylvania and adjacent markets.
• Grow and mentor a team that can deliver high-quality transportation work without relying solely on one senior individual.
• Bring practical discipline to delivery: clear scopes, strong QA/QC, sound engineering judgment, schedule awareness, budget accountability, and proactive client communication.
• Collaborate across Apex’s national infrastructure, civil, environmental, geotechnical, water/wastewater, and construction teams to create broader solutions for clients.
• Help leadership understand where to invest, where to pursue, where to partner, and where Apex can realistically win.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering, Structural Engineering, Transportation Engineering, or a related engineering discipline.
• Professional Engineer license required; Pennsylvania PE strongly preferred.
• Significant progressive experience in transportation infrastructure engineering, with substantial experience in bridge, structure, roadway, civil/transportation, or related infrastructure project delivery.
• Proven experience with public-sector transportation clients, ideally including Pennsylvania agencies, authorities, counties, municipalities, or other Mid-Atlantic transportation infrastructure owners.
• Strong technical background in one or more of the following: bridge design, bridge rehabilitation, bridge inspection, structural analysis, load ratings, roadway design, drainage, constructability, construction-phase support, transportation infrastructure planning/design, or multidisciplinary infrastructure delivery.
• Demonstrated ability to lead complex projects from planning and scoping through design, bidding, construction support, and closeout.
• Strong business development capability, including client relationship management, pursuit strategy, proposal development, interviews, teaming, and market positioning.
• Experience developing scopes, schedules, fees, budgets, staffing plans, and technical approaches for transportation or infrastructure pursuits.
• Ability to mentor, train, and develop junior and mid-level technical staff.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to explain complex technical issues to clients, agencies, contractors, and internal leadership.
• Demonstrated commitment to quality, safety, constructability, client service, and practical problem solving.
• Ability to work effectively in a matrixed organization and collaborate across offices, service lines, and regions.
• Experience with PennDOT, Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, county infrastructure programs, municipal transportation work, or similar agency delivery processes is strongly preferred.
• Experience with bridge or transportation design software, load rating tools, MicroStation/OpenRoads/OpenBridge, AutoCAD/Civil 3D, Mathcad, structural analysis tools, or related platforms is preferred but should be framed based on the candidate’s actual technical focus.
• Existing client relationships, market visibility, and a track record of helping grow transportation work are strongly preferred.

Preferred Attributes

• A recognized transportation infrastructure professional with credibility in the Western Pennsylvania and Mid-Atlantic market.
• A seller-doer who enjoys both client development and technical delivery.
• A practice builder who can identify where Apex should compete and then help build the team, tools, and relationships to win.
• A strong mentor who can transfer knowledge, improve technical depth, and help develop the next generation of transportation engineers.
• A pragmatic technical leader with strong constructability instincts and the ability to navigate agency standards, project constraints, and delivery risk.
• A relationship-driven professional who can represent Apex with confidence in front of clients.

Benefits

• Eligibility for annual bonus opportunities.
• Eligibility for equity awards.
• $20,000 sign-on bonus, subject to the terms and conditions of the Company's sign-on bonus program.