Engineering Trainee

The Position

Job Appointment:
This is a temporary, casual position with a maximum of 1,400 hours in a calendar year. The expectation is for the Engineering Trainee to work 30-40 hours per week during the summer and 10-20 hours per week during the school year.

Work Location:

Hybrid – The Portland Building, 1120 SW 5th Avenue, Portland OR 97204. Remote work must be performed within Oregon or Washington.

Benefits:
This position is not eligible for benefits.

Application Material:
Please click APPLY to submit your application via the City of Portland’s online portal. You will need to respond to the supplemental questions and attach a resume.

Language Pay Differential:
City of Portland employees who speak one or more languages in addition to English may be eligible to receive a “language pay differential.” This is compensation for qualifying multilingual City employees who use their language skills to assist the community.

Engineering Trainees assist others within PBOT in designing and operating streets within Portland. This is a great opportunity for students of a Civil/Transportation Engineering or Planning programto learn how to apply transportation engineering principles to improve the safety of City of Portland’s transportation system. Trainees will apply technical engineering knowledge to the solution of design, maintenance, improvement, and construction problems pertaining to the City’s infrastructure and private development.

They will work under the supervision of professional engineers and engineering technicians who serve as resource experts and routinely review work in progress or upon completion for accuracy and quality. The Engineering Trainees work with a broad range of customers and are expected to deliver a high level of customer service and to carry out their individual responsibilities with initiative, independence and creativity while exercising sound professional problem‑solving skills.

This position will actively participate in supporting PBOT’s Strategic Plan goals.

• Three (3) in the Traffic Safety Projects Section (TSP) section.
• One (1) within the Signals, Street Lighting, and Intelligent Transportation Systems (SSL&ITS) Division.

The Traffic Safety Projects team resides within the Traffic Operations group and includes 9 staff dedicated to improving traffic safety in the city. The Traffic Safety Project team is responsible for 823‑SAFE program and traffic safety investigations. The team also plans, designs, and helps with construction of Quick Build capital improvement projects.

The Signals, Street Lighting, and Intelligent Transportation Systems team resides with the Traffic Systems and Operations group and includes 62 staff dedicated to the planning, design, construction and maintenance of the City of Portland’s traffic signal, streetlight, and intelligent transportation systems infrastructure.

• Conduct field and office review of traffic safety concerns and crashes and make recommendations for potential improvements. Examples include evaluation of the need for stop signs, compliance with signing standards, or the need for parking removal for visibility at intersections and developing the work orders necessary for implementation.
• Learn and apply federal and local codes and standards for use in evaluating traffic safety requests.
• Review and make traffic safety recommendations as part of Safe Routes to School projects.
• Participate in the evaluation and design of Vision Zero projects.
• Develop plans/work orders for implementation of signs, pavement marking, and traffic calming features.
• Represent PBOT in interactions with the community.

• Assist with upgrade of PBOT’s traffic signal controllers by converting signal timing, testing, and field deployment.
• Create traffic signal intersection diagrams for intersections configured in PBOT’S new central traffic signal system.
• Update traffic signals and ITS roadside devices on GIS Map and Microsoft Visio Diagram.
• Help evaluate accuracy of various bicycle, pedestrian, and vehicle detection system.
• Assist with evaluation of new emerging…