How to hire a bridge engineer

How to hire a bridge engineer, step by step

Here's a step-by-step bridge engineer hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write a bridge engineer job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new bridge engineer
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a bridge engineer do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you post your bridge engineer job, you should take the time to determine what type of worker your business needs. While certain jobs definitely require a full-time employee, it's sometimes better to find a bridge engineer for hire on a part-time basis or as a contractor.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   You should also consider the ideal background you'd like them a bridge engineer to have before you start to hire. For example, what industry or field would you like them to have experience in, what level of seniority or education does the job require, and how much it'll cost to hire a bridge engineer that fits the bill.

   Here's a comparison of bridge engineer salaries for various roles:

   Type of Bridge Engineer	Description	Hourly rate
   Bridge Engineer	Civil engineers design, build, supervise, operate, and maintain construction projects and systems in the public and private sector, including roads, buildings, airports, tunnels, dams, bridges, and systems for water supply and sewage treatment.	$28-49
   Civil Designer	A Civil Designer plans, scales, and drafts drawings and maps for roads, bridges, and other construction projects. They work with engineers and project managers in determining material, labor, and other costs of the assigned projects.	$19-38
   Structural Designer	A Structural Designer designs, develops, and supervises the construction of new buildings and bridges, or extensions to existing properties or other structures. They review and update construction drawings as well as communicate project problems and flaws to managers.	$22-40

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Autocad
   • Structural Analysis
   • AASHTO
   • Structural Design
   • Rehabilitation
   • Design Calculations
   • CAD
   • MathCAD
   • Design
   • Retaining Walls
   • MDX
   • Design Drawings
   • Design Criteria
   • Inspection Reports

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Manage various wastewater capital improvement projects.
   • Deliver bridge design for new concrete bridge construction projects and analysis for retrofit and rehabilitation on existing structures.
   • Prepare AutoCAD drawings for final design, sketch plans and presentations for several bridge and highway projects.
   • Perform detailed analysis of structures using SAP2000.
   • Modele and analyze the bridge using SAP2000.
   • Complete markups for slab details and building foundations using AutoCAD.

   More bridge engineer duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in the bridge engineer job description is a good way to get more applicants. A bridge engineer salary can be affected by several factors, such as the location of the job, the level of experience, education, certifications, and the employer's prestige.

   For example, the average salary for a bridge engineer in Tennessee may be lower than in California, and an entry-level engineer typically earns less than a senior-level bridge engineer. Additionally, a bridge engineer with lots of experience in the field may command a higher salary as a result.

   Average bridge engineer salary

   $78,679yearly

   $37.83 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level bridge engineer salary

   $59,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 5, 2025

   Average bridge engineer salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	California	$101,726	$49
   2	Colorado	$86,657	$42
   3	Oregon	$85,163	$41
   4	Washington	$84,910	$41
   5	Missouri	$80,431	$39
   6	New York	$79,075	$38
   7	Arizona	$77,705	$37
   8	Connecticut	$75,606	$36
   9	Minnesota	$74,465	$36
   10	Massachusetts	$74,338	$36
   11	Montana	$73,366	$35
   12	Pennsylvania	$72,634	$35
   13	Texas	$72,089	$35
   14	New Mexico	$71,856	$35
   15	North Carolina	$71,838	$35
   16	Louisiana	$71,097	$34
   17	Virginia	$70,723	$34
   18	Illinois	$69,535	$33
   19	Florida	$68,099	$33
   20	Georgia	$67,853	$33

   Average bridge engineer salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Parsons	$89,236	$42.90	258
   2	Public Health - Dayton & Montgomery County	$85,550	$41.13
   3	Whitman	$83,837	$40.31	82
   4	CnS	$83,048	$39.93
   5	Wsp USA Buildings Inc.	$81,932	$39.39	382
   6	Aia Engineers, Ltd.	$81,873	$39.36
   7	Colliers Engineering & Design	$81,780	$39.32
   8	Ch2M Hill	$81,631	$39.25
   9	Fuss & O'Neill	$81,617	$39.24	5
   10	ANSER	$81,272	$39.07
   11	Century Engineering	$81,255	$39.06
   12	Burns & McDonnell	$81,080	$38.98	120
   13	GRAEF	$81,076	$38.98	15
   14	Fishbeck	$80,459	$38.68	7
   15	SDR Consulting	$80,209	$38.56
   16	Volkert	$80,060	$38.49	67
   17	Regions Bank	$80,015	$38.47
   18	Jacobs Enterprises	$79,867	$38.40	518
   19	URS E&C Holdings Inc	$79,866	$38.40
   20	CONSOR Engineers	$79,866	$38.40

4. Writing a bridge engineer job description

   A bridge engineer job description should include a summary of the role, required skills, and a list of responsibilities. It's also good to include a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager. To help get you started, here's an example of a bridge engineer job description:

   Bridge engineer job description example

   • Bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering (Master's preferred) from an ABET accredited university with an emphasis on structural engineering design
   • Minimum of 8 years of progressive structural engineering design experience in steel and concrete bridges; complex bridge design experience preferred
   • IL Structural Engineer (SE) license required, with the ability to obtain comity licensure (PE) in other states, as needed

   Desired Experience:

   • IDOT, Illinois Tollway, INDOT, or MDOT experience
   • Excellent organizational skills with attention to detail
   • Good working knowledge of various design and analysis software, including: Microstation/OpenBridge/OpenRoads, MathCad, LEAP Bridge, STAAD, MDX, LPILE, LARSA, etc.

   We welcome you if you are ready to make your next big career move!

   The Team

   From managed toll lanes and long-range corridor plans to complex interchanges, major roadway, and segmental bridge designs, our teams provide the highest quality planning, environmental and engineering design solutions to our clients. Each day, we partner with transportation agencies and local governments across the country to keep our communities moving and improving the overall quality of life. By joining our team, you too can lead the evolution of transportation.

   From managed toll lanes and long-range corridor plans to complex interchanges, major roadway, and segmental bridge designs, our teams provide the highest quality planning, environmental and engineering design solutions to our clients. Each day, we partner with transportation agencies and local governments across the country to keep our communities moving and improving the overall quality of life. By joining our team, you too can lead the evolution of transportation.

   RS&H: Pursue Greatness from RS&H on Vimeo.

   The Company

   RS&H provides fully integrated architecture, engineering, and consulting services to help clients realize their most complex facility and infrastructure projects for land, air, and space. We are committed to bringing extraordinary solutions to our clients through the promise of imagination, ingenuity, and innovation. With a tradition of excellence that began in 1941, we are consistently ranked among the nation's top 100 design firms. We attribute our success to an unwavering commitment to our core values of: integrity, quality service, business success and valuing associates.

   An Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, or protected veteran status and will not be discriminated against on the basis of disability.

   We can recommend jobs specifically for you! Click here to get started.

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   To find bridge engineers for your business, try out a few different recruiting strategies:

   • Consider internal talent. One of the most important talent pools for any company is its current employees.
   • Ask for referrals. Reach out to friends, family members, and your current work to ask if they know any bridge engineers they would recommend.
   • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit entry-level bridge engineers with the right educational background.
   • Social media platforms. LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter have more than 3.5 billion users, and they're a great place for company branding and reaching potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your bridge engineer job on Zippia to find and attract quality bridge engineer candidates.
   • Use niche websites such as dribbble, authentic jobs, working not working, coroflot.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Recruiting bridge engineers requires you to bring your A-game to the interview process. The first interview should introduce the company and the role to the candidate as much as they present their background experience and reasons for applying for the job. During later interviews, you can go into more detail about the technical details of the job and ask behavioral questions to gauge how they'd fit into your current company culture.

   You should also ask about candidates' unique skills and talents to see if they match the ideal candidate profile you developed earlier. Candidates good enough for the next step can complete the technical interview.

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new bridge engineer

   Once you have selected a candidate for the bridge engineer position, it is time to create an offer letter. In addition to salary, the offer letter should include details about benefits and perks that are available to the employee. Ensuring your offer is competitive is vital, as qualified candidates may be considering other job opportunities. The candidate may wish to negotiate the terms of the offer, and it is important to be open to discussion and reach a mutually beneficial agreement. After the offer has been accepted, it is a good idea to formalize the agreement with a contract.

   It's also important to follow up with applicants who do not get the job with an email letting them know that the position is filled.

   To prepare for the new bridge engineer first day, you should share an onboarding schedule with them that covers their first period on the job. You should also quickly complete any necessary paperwork, such as employee action forms and onboarding documents like I-9, benefits enrollment, and federal and state tax forms. Finally, Human Resources must ensure a new employee file is created for internal record keeping.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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How much does it cost to hire a bridge engineer?