Transportation Engineer - Field Instrumentation Leader

About WSDOT

The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) is a multimodal agency with a global reputation for excellence. Our dedicated workforce plans, designs, builds, and operates an integrated transportation system that safely and efficiently moves people and goods throughout the state. In addition to maintaining over 20,000 lane miles of state highway and 4,100 bridges, WSDOT leads an award-winning Active Transportation Plan, manages the world's longest floating bridge, and operates the largest ferry system in the nation!

WSDOT is seeking a Field Instrumentation Leader (TE3) to lead the statewide Geotechnical Field Instrumentation Unit based in Tumwater, WA. In this role, you will serve as the technical lead and working supervisor for a team responsible for collecting, managing, and delivering critical geotechnical instrumentation data that supports transportation projects across Washington State. This position combines technical expertise, leadership, and field operations management.

You will oversee complex instrumentation systems used to monitor slopes, foundations, structures, and construction activities while supervising field staff and ensuring the unit remains equipped and ready to support statewide projects. Your work will directly contribute to the safety, reliability, and long‑term performance of Washington’s transportation infrastructure.

This position requires frequent statewide travel. Travel consists of three to five days per week throughout Washington State to project sites — including active construction zones, highway shoulders, and remote locations inaccessible to the public — to collect geotechnical and structure instrumentation data, with occasional overnight travel as project locations require.

Among the varied range of responsibilities held within this role, you will:

• Lead statewide geotechnical instrumentation activities supporting transportation design, construction monitoring, and long‑term slope stability assessments.
• Travel throughout Washington State to collect, manage, and evaluate instrumentation data from active construction sites, transportation corridors, and remote project locations.
• Operate, maintain, and troubleshoot specialized geotechnical instrumentation equipment used to monitor subsurface conditions and structural performance.
• Design, program, deploy, and manage telemetry‑based remote data acquisition systems that support real‑time monitoring and reporting.
• Develop and maintain instrumentation networks, data logger programming, and web‑based platforms that display geotechnical monitoring data.
• Analyze, validate, and prepare instrumentation data, reports, charts, and visualizations for use by geotechnical engineers and engineering geologists.
• Plan, assign, and oversee daily work activities for Field Instrumentation Unit staff while supporting employee development and technical growth.
• Provide technical leadership, training, and quality assurance to ensure compliance with established procedures, testing standards, and safety requirements.
• Coordinate statewide field operations, project schedules, and resource needs across multiple concurrent assignments.
• Perform specialty geotechnical testing, including Cross Hole Sonic Logging (CSL), downhole suspension logging, Standard Penetration Test (SPT) Analyzer testing, and Cone Penetration Testing (CPT).
• Conduct quality control reviews of specialty testing data and deliver results to engineers and geophysicists for interpretation.
• Manage equipment inventories, procurement activities, calibration schedules, and operational readiness for statewide field deployments.
• Support technical initiatives, process improvements, training efforts, and special projects that enhance the effectiveness of the statewide instrumentation program.

To be considered for this opportunity, the following competencies are required
:

• Geotechnical Instrumentation: Knowledge of geotechnical instrumentation systems and the ability to operate, troubleshoot, maintain, and deploy instrumentation equipment in diverse field conditions.
• Telemetry and Data Acquisition Systems: Ability to design, program,…