Transport Engineer Job Description, Skills, and Salary
Get to know about the duties, responsibilities, qualifications, and skills requirements of a transport engineer. Feel free to use our job description template to produce your own. We also provide you with information about the salary you can earn as a transport engineer.
Who is a Transport Engineer?
Transportation is the act of moving goods or humans from one position to another by various means while an engineer is a professional who invents, design, analyze, build and test machines to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering limitations imposed by practicality, safety, and overall cost.
A Transport Engineer is solely responsible for planning, designing, analyzing, and supervising the construction and maintenance of civil engineering projects about roads, bridges, airports, railways, mass transit, and electric work of transport engineers is highly paramount because it regulates traffic flow, enhances mobility and safety in the transportation sector. It also curtails harmful emissions in the sector at an efficient cost. Transport engineering is very broad and it covers aspects like analysis and evaluation of traffic signals, signs, and markings as well as improves the condition of the environment surrounding the infrastructure. They also identify data and solve problems with new innovative solutions. Solving these complex problems may necessitate gathering and evaluating systems, traffic flow, and accidents like plane crashes, costs, and other statistics.
A country, state, or city can hire a transport engineer to develop a new transportation system or find an alternative solution to the congested road existing on highways. The engineers may have to draft a plan for new highways and they can also decide the best transport means for the country. In planning a project; engineers may consider costs, the needs of the state, and the landmass of the state. Good engineers also consider the typography of the state; this implies if the land is good for building or may have to be filled before construction begins. Engineers analyze all the factors before drafting a detailed project proposal.
Transport engineers work primarily in offices and they are mandated to visit sites and community consultations. They are also required to wear appropriate safety equipment when working on a building site to avoid any injury.
The nature of the work of a transport engineer is very vast and this has mandated them to travel interstate or overseas for work. They may need to base themselves in the location of a major engineering site for work.
A transport engineer may usually work 40 hours a week that is from Monday to Friday. The job is very demanding that transport engineer work at weekends and evenings apart from weekdays session.
Tools and Technologies used by a Transport Engineer
- Computer-Aided Design for designing and planning
- They may also use traffic and micro-modeling software to predict traffic patterns
- Transport engineers may also design and improve advanced technologies such as variable signs, and integrate vehicle-to-vehicle communications, such as driverless cars to control traffic flow and avoid collisions.
Transport Engineer Job Description
Below are the transport engineer job description examples you can use to develop your resume or write a transport engineer job description for your employee. Employers can also use it to sieve out job seekers when choosing candidates for interviews.
- Analyzing and interpreting data collected from transport research
- Forecasting the impact of new improvements
- Looking at different schemes to manage traffic
- Enhancing transport problems using computer models and working out solutions
- Studying the cause of accidents to design road safety improvements
- Develop Transportation mythologies
- Integrate drainage systems in design and transport projects
- Evaluate and assess project plans
- Integrate safety procedures and standards in implementing transport operations
- Support and assist traffic systems
- Implement cost-effective technologies in building transport systems
- Collaborate with other parties on certain projects, including government departments and utility companies
Qualification
Having a degree in civil engineering is not just enough to make you a competent transport engineer although most entry-level jobs require a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering.
To qualify as a transport engineer, you need to get a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering which may last up to 4-6 years. Coursework often covers calculus, physics, chemistry, solid-fluid mechanics, and thermodynamics as well as professional studies in environmental issues, optimization, and traffic control.
To build your career as a transport engineer, you may need to get a master’s or a doctorate in civil engineering. Boost your knowledge and expertise by focusing on highway engineering, traffic safety, or urban development.
To get a full license professionally may require a 2-part proficiency test. To get full professional licensure; you must get enough experience.
Essential Skills
As a transport engineer, there are essential skills you need to become exceptional on the job, and without these skills; you will not advance in your career. There are many skills transport engineers need to possess to bring an improvement to the transport sector. The following are essential skills you need:
- Mathematical Skills: Transportation engineers in the field always experience complex issues and mathematical skills help them to assist various issues and plan future developments. This skill helps engineers to have high intelligent skills that can transform the transport sector.
- Decision-making skills: The transport sector is very complex and engineers must be able to quickly and efficiently analyze the benefits and downsides of challenges to make the right decisions.
- Problem-solving skills: Most of the job that transports engineers is highly complex and it can result in a lot of problems. As a transport engineer, you must be able to use your expertise to provide and implement solutions to those problems. You must also be a quick thinker and implement cost-efficient solutions.
- Leadership Skill: Most transport engineers work with a team of experts to carry out a project and they usually lead the team. They are responsible for the success of the project and must make sure that the team has the same goal. Transport engineers need to have leadership skills to make a project successful.
- Speaking Skills: transport engineers must be able to communicate verbally with employees, employers, officials, and the general public regarding the project they are working on. They must be able to communicate the right words to team members to build a bond.
- Data analysis skills: Transport engineers need to read and assess large amounts of data. They need the skills to be able to understand large data sets and also make great decisions based on the information.
- Multi-disciplinary Skills: Apart from acquiring a degree certificate in civil engineering and expertise regarding transportation engineering; professionals working in this field also need to be able to comprehend numerous psychological, political, social,and economic and aspects often linked with planning, building, and maintaining infrastructure systems.
- Writing Skill: Civil engineers need to constantly communicate on daily basis with people that work for them through different means. They need to have excellent writing skills to pass on information to employees or teammates. They need also to communicate with the public and officials on the project they are carrying out in order not to be misunderstood. Writing is a core skill a transport engineer needs.
How to Become a Transport Engineer
If you are considering pursuing a career in transport engineering, these are some necessary steps you have to adhere to make your dreams come true:
- Get a Bachelor Degree in Civil Engineering
An undergraduate bachelor’s program in civil engineering will qualify you to work as a civil engineer after graduation. The course lasts for 5 years in Nigeria but it can last up to 4-6 years in other countries. To become better qualified, you may need to take a postgraduate course in transport engineering.
- Acquire a Post Graduate Diploma in Civil Engineering
If you have a degree in a different specialization, after graduation you can enroll for a postgraduate diploma in engineering and acquire information about the course. After enrolling for a postgraduate diploma; you can pursue advanced studies in civil engineering to make you a professional.
- Pursue a Master’s Degree in Civil Engineering
You can specialize in a particular area of civil engineering by enrolling for your master’s degree. You can specialize in transport engineering, highway engineering, traffic safety, and urban development, or anything related to that to make you a professional. Enrolling for your Master’s degree can make you distinct from other professionals. One of the core benefits of advanced civil engineering is that it can make you a manager in a transport engineering company.
- Pursue an Internship with a Transportation Company or Civil Engineering
To work as a transport engineer; it is very paramount that you acquire all the necessary skills which are; planning and designing transportation projects, preparing estimates, and evaluating traffic patterns. Use your degree and internship to apply for a job.
- Get a License
A Professional Engineering (PE) license can be acquired later in one’s career as an engineer. This license allows for higher levels of leadership and independence. Licensed engineers are called professional engineers and they oversee the work of other engineers such as: approve designs, signing off on projects, and providing services to the public. Each state has its requirement for licensure; follow your state requirements. With the level of experience, you acquire, you can become a Senior Transport Planner, Traffic Engineer, or be part of the town planning personnel. There are job options you can take, such as policy development and consultancy work.
Where to Work as a Transport Engineer
- Central and Local governments
- Strategic development bodies
- Transport and logistics companies
- Special consultancies
- Highway
There are many inter-and intrastate highways in different countries where transport engineers can work. Highway engineers who perform physical construction and maintenance of highways can embark on a government saddled project. Highway engineers analyze traffic patterns, budgeting, and safety evaluation and they also use urban planning design control associated with highways.
- Airport
The calibers of engineers that work in the airport are called airport engineers. They can design and build airports. The utmost importance to airport engineers is the analysis of traffic patterns and the safety of an airport facility lies in its design. The qualification for entry-level airport engineers must have a four-year degree from a program in civil engineering, mechanical and structural engineering. The program must be approved by the accreditation board for Engineering and Technology.
- Port or Waterway
- Port engineers are also called harbor engineers. A transport engineer can work as a port engineer which primarily deals with designing commercial waterways. This kind of transport takes measurements, assesses port harbor, and canal structure, es and performs maintenance. To qualify as a port engineer, you must first acquire a degree in civil engineering and have extensive training in port training.
- Railway
A transport engineer can also work in a railroad; they are also called locomotive engineers. Railroads engineers mostly work on redesigning the country’s railroad to make it safer and more efficient. They hardly plan a new railroad. When railway engineers are not working on construction; they usually mass transit systems such as light rails and monorails. To qualify as a railroad engineer; you must first acquire a degree in civil engineering and complete a two-year degree program in railroad engineering technology. Graduates degrees related to the management side of railroad engineering are best for those who want to have greater career mobility.
Salary Scale of a Transport Engineer
The salary of a transport engineer varies across countries of the world due to differences in currency, economy, and workload. Another factor that may influence the salary scale of a transport engineer can be qualification. Below is the salary scale based on qualifications:
- Newly qualified graduate Transport planners can earn around 20,000pounds per year
- Postgraduate entrants can expect up to 23,000pounds
- Experience Planners can earn between 25,000pounds and 50,000pounds a year
- Top consultants may earn more depending on the working contract they sign
The salary scale of Transport Engineers across some countries of the world:
- In the United States, the average salary of a transport engineer is $59,720 as of November 29, 2021,but the range typically falls between $54,622 and $64,917.
- In the United Kingdom, a transport engineer is 40,000pounds per year and 20.51 per hour.
- In the United Arab Emirates, a person working as a transport engineer United Arab Emirates typically earns around 16,600 AED per month. Salary usually ranges from 7,950 AED to 26,000 AED. There are other benefits apart from the salary and they are: housing, transport, and other allowances
The median salary is 17,200 AED which means half 50 percent of the people working as Transport Engineers earn less than 17,200 AED while the other half earn more than 17,200 AED. The median stands for the middle salary value.
