Trainee-Graduate Engineer

About the role

The Minnesota Department of Transportation’s Graduate Engineer Training Program is a 2-year rotation program. Trainees participate in the program for up to 2 years, gaining professional engineering experience by completing a series of 3 to 6-month-long rotations. Trainees rotate through functional areas such as Construction (6 months is required and overtime is worked during this rotation), Design (6 months is required), Materials, Project Management, Traffic, or Water Resources. Trainees hired to work in the Bridge office will rotate through Bridge Design, Construction, Foundations, Pre-Design, Scoping, Fracture Critical Inspections, or Hydraulics. All Trainees are supported with structured mentorship, training opportunities, and a large support network of professional engineers engaged in the Trainee’s growth and development as an engineer.

To complete the program, a Trainee must:

• Complete 2 years of professional engineering experience
• Achieve a passing score on the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) exam
• Complete and demonstrate satisfactory performance in all rotations
• Complete all required rotations – Design, Construction and an outstate rotation
• Complete 20 hours of recruitment outreach and/or public engagement service

After all criteria are met, the Trainee will be non-competitively converted to a permanent, probationary Engineer 2 Graduate position in the trainee’s permanent (home base) office. All Trainees must become a registered Professional Engineer within 6 years of being appointed as a Trainee.

Locations

Positions may be located in Baxter, Duluth, Mankato, Rochester, St. Cloud, St. Paul, and the 5-county Metro Area (Maplewood, Oakdale, Roseville, Golden Valley, etc.).

Requirements

• A Bachelor of Science Degree in Civil Engineering, Construction Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Geo-engineering, or Structural Engineering from an ABET-accredited college/university or equivalent as rated by EAC/NCEES by the date of hire, or a closely related engineering degree with much of the class time devoted to civil engineering coursework. If the selected candidate does not currently possess a bachelor’s degree, all offers of employment will be contingent upon successful completion of this requirement.
• Candidates may apply to the Program during their junior year of a 4-year degree, or any time after.
• GPA higher than 2.5
• A valid class D driver’s license.

Preferred Qualifications

• 3.0 GPA or higher
• A passing score on the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) exam or Professional Engineer (PE) exam
• MnDOT experience or city/county experience
• Road construction or road design experience
• Project management experience

Additional Requirements

Successful candidates must pass past-employer reference checks and criminal history checks. The background check may consist of SEMA4 Records Check, Criminal History Check, Employment Reference Check, Driver’s License Check, Education/License Verification and Pre-Employment Physical.