Senior Field Geotechnical Engineer

Project Overview:

Bechtel is building a semiconductor manufacturing plant in New Albany, Ohio. Bechtel will design and build Phase 1 of the Ohio One project, a total of 2.5 million square feet, including 600,000 square feet of clean rooms. Construction will require as much steel as eight Eiffel Towers and as much concrete as the tallest skyscrapers.

Bechtel will strengthen future economic development in the region by partnering with the North America Building Trades Unions and suppliers to create several thousand new jobs and work with local education organizations to implement new training programs that will support the future talent pipeline.

This position is dedicated to Project Cardinal, a large-scale Manufacturing & Technology (M&T) construction project in the Columbus / New Albany, Ohio area involving extensive earthwork, deep foundation, and site civil construction. Bechtel is seeking two (2) Senior Field Geotechnical Engineers (Grade 26) to provide on-site engineering leadership and supervision across geotechnical field exploration, earthwork and ground improvement, deep foundation installation and testing, and general site civil works.

This is a senior field role: in addition to hands-on field supervision, the successful candidates will provide technical direction to junior field staff and serve as the primary field interface with home-office geotechnical engineering. This role is primarily field-based; the majority of the work involves on-site inspection and supervision of excavation, dewatering and excavation support, subgrade preparation, backfill and compaction, soil stabilization, deep foundations (drilled shafts/caissons and aggregate piers) with associated load and integrity testing, and paving and site civil works.

The position is part of the Geotechnical & Hydraulic Engineering Services (G&HES) group. The successful candidates will report to and receive technical supervision and functional oversight from the G&HES Group Supervisor / Geotechnical Engineering Manager or their designee, and are expected to work independently in the field while coordinating closely with Construction, CSAOM, ES&H, rigging engineers, and the project management team.

The role is site-based at Project Cardinal for an extended duration, with potential transition to another Bechtel project or permanent office thereafter, and may require travel to other Bechtel and client offices within the U.S. Excellent verbal and written communication skills and a commitment to Bechtel's diversity & inclusion, leadership, quality, and safety values are required. #LI-CL1

• Serve as the senior geotechnical field point of contact, providing technical direction, review, and mentoring to junior field engineers and inspectors.
• Lead coordination with home-office geotechnical engineering on design changes, RFIs, and nonconformances, and contribute to field procedures, inspection plans, and constructability input.
• Exercise independent engineering judgment on complex or non-routine field conditions and recommend remedial measures in coordination with the engineering team.
• Coordinate field exploration programs - soil borings, cone penetration tests (CPTu), monitoring-well installation, groundwater measurements, pore-pressure dissipation tests, and dynamic cone penetrometer (DCP) investigations.
• Perform and oversee field soil tests, including density tests, plate load tests, and anchor pull-out tests.
• Inspect excavations and trenches daily - dewatering systems, slope protection measures, and remedial actions for long-term slope stability and regulatory compliance.
• Implement excavation support systems - sloping and shoring (such as trench boxes), seepage control, and dewatering - to maintain safe, stable working conditions.
• Inspect crane pad foundations - bearing capacity for rigging operations, coordination with rigging engineers, and offset distances from slopes per home-office geotechnical reports.
• Verify subgrade suitability following excavation and direct remediation - removal and replacement of unsuitable material, soil stabilization, or geogrids.
• Conduct proof-rolling and probing of subgrade soils to identify soft or yielding areas and execute required remediation or improvement.
• Protect prepared subgrades with mudmats to maintain integrity prior to foundation construction.
• Schedule and inspect backfill activities (including winter and wet-conditioning), oversee compaction testing, and verify backfill around structures and utilities per specifications.
• Prepare and review excavation and backfill quantity estimates, coordinate laboratory soil testing on imported and onsite materials, and manage stockpile volumes to maintain site balance.
• Direct site soil stabilization techniques, including cement and lime treatment of soils.
• Apply geogrids for stabilization and reinforcement, and geofabrics for separation, drainage, and filtration.
• Oversee deep foundation installation and load testing for caissons and drilled shafts -…