How to hire a civil design technician

Civil design technician hiring summary. Here are some key points about hiring civil design technicians in the United States:

There are a total of 8,820 civil design technicians in the US, and there are currently 52,802 job openings in this field.
The median cost to hire a civil design technician is $1,633.
Small businesses spend $1,105 per civil design technician on training each year, while large companies spend $658.
It takes between 36 and 42 days to fill the average role in the US.
It takes approximately 12 weeks for a new employee to reach full productivity levels.
HR departments typically allocate 15% of their budget towards recruitment efforts.
Woodinville, WA, has the highest demand for civil design technicians, with 6 job openings.

How to hire a civil design technician, step by step

To hire a civil design technician, you need to identify the specific skills and experience you want in a candidate, allocate a budget for the position, and advertise the job opening to attract potential candidates. To hire a civil design technician, you should follow these steps:

Here's a step-by-step civil design technician hiring guide:

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

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Identify your hiring needs

Before you post your civil design technician 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 civil design technician 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?

A civil design technician's background is also an important factor in determining whether they'll be a good fit for the position. For example, civil design technicians from different industries or fields will have radically different experiences and will bring different viewpoints to the role. You also need to consider the candidate's previous level of experience to make sure they'll be comfortable with the job's level of seniority.

This list presents civil design technician salaries for various positions.

Type of Civil Design Technician	Description	Hourly rate
Civil Design Technician	Civil engineering technicians help civil engineers to plan, design, and build highways, bridges, utilities, and other infrastructure projects. They also help to plan, design, and build commercial, industrial, residential, and land development projects.	$17-34
Project Engineer Internship	When it comes to a project engineer internship, one of the primary responsibilities is to follow the directives of engineers and managers while earning practical experience. Most of the duties will revolve around processing documents, answering calls and correspondence, participating in various projects, assisting engineers in basic tasks, and organizing inventory and supplies... Show more	$14-24
Engineering Internship	An engineering intern is responsible for assisting the overall project development under the supervision of a head engineer. Engineering interns' duties vary in every industry but generally include generating reports, analyzing budget goals and cost estimates, reaching out to clients for important updates, and providing project improvement recommendations... Show more	$12-30

Create an ideal candidate profile
Common skills:
- Civil 3D
- CAD Standards
- Site Development
- GIS
- Survey Data
- Construction Drawings
- Roadway Design
- Auto CAD
- Inroads
- Sanitary Sewer
- Site Layout
- Autodesk
- GPS
- Civil Design
Check all skills
Responsibilities:
- Manage the life cycle of the product using PLM from creation to the top of production sample.
- Generate ergonomic designs using SolidWorks software
- Develop telecommunications, audio-visual, and security system layouts according to contract specifications using AutoCAD and Revit.
- Analyze engineering change orders for drawings, BOM's and documents.
- Perform construction inspections, field testing, surveying, engineering calculations, quantity take-offs and various administrative functions.
Make a budget
Including a salary range in your civil design technician job description is one of the best ways to attract top talent. A civil design technician can vary based on:
- Location. For example, civil design technicians' average salary in tennessee is 41% less than in district of columbia.
- Seniority. Entry-level civil design technicians 49% less than senior-level civil design technicians.
- Certifications. A civil design technician with certifications usually earns a higher salary.
- Company. Working for an established firm or a new start-up company can make a big difference in a civil design technician's salary.
Average civil design technician salary
$52,407yearly
$25.20 hourly rate
Entry-level civil design technician salary
$37,000 yearly salary
Updated December 14, 2025
Writing a civil design technician job description
A civil design technician 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. Below, you can find an example of a civil design technician job description:
Civil design technician job description example
Responsibilities
This individual must be skilled in the use of Autodesk Civil 3D to perform the following tasks: Creating alignments, creating surfaces and contours, generating plan and profile sheets, creating roadway corridors, and using Civil 3D styles for labeling.

As a firm, we are committed to issuing our drawings using Civil 3D, AutoCAD, and Navisworks. To be qualified for this role you must have experience and be proficient in the use of the current versions all three.

In this position, the individual will be required to work closely with a team of Civil Engineers and Technicians on a variety of projects.
Qualifications
- High School Diploma or Equivalent + basic drafting/CAD training
- Minimum of 2 years Land/Site Development drafting experience
- Minimum of 2 years of Civil 3D
- Navisworks design experience preferred
- Proficient in AutoCAD, latest version
Martinez Moore Engineers, LLC is an equal employment opportunity employer, and provides equal employment opportunities (including offering competitive compensation and benefit packages) to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to any characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.
Overview
Martinez Moore Engineers, LLC is a Texas-based multi-discipline engineering firm with offices in Austin, Houston, and Dallas, and is certified by the State of Texas as a Historically Underutilized Business (HUB). We are an affiliate firm of Martinez Engineering, LLC and Walter P. Moore and Associates, Inc. Through our partnership with Walter P Moore, we bring together an unparalleled team of experienced engineers in structural and civil engineering. We engineer cost- and resource-efficient, forward-thinking solutions, which help support and shape our communities.
If you don't see a role open you're interested in, Connect with us here to send us your resume.
Post your job
There are a few common ways to find civil design technicians for your business:
- Promoting internally or recruiting from your existing workforce.
- Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
- Attend job fairs at local colleges to meet candidates with the right educational background.
- Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to recruit passive job-seekers.
Post your job online:
- Post your civil design technician job on Zippia to find and recruit civil design technician candidates who meet your exact specifications.
- Use field-specific websites.
- Post a job on free websites.
Interview candidates
To successfully recruit civil design technicians, your first interview needs to engage with candidates to learn about their interest in the role and experience in the field. You can go into more detail about the company, the role, and the responsibilities during follow-up interviews.
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.
Send a job offer and onboard your new civil design technician
Once you have selected a candidate for the civil design technician 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 good etiquette to follow up with applicants who don't get the job by sending them an email letting them know that the position has been filled.
Once that's done, you can draft an onboarding schedule for the new civil design technician. Human Resources should complete Employee Action Forms and ensure that onboarding paperwork is completed, including I-9s, benefits enrollment, federal and state tax forms, etc. They should also ensure that new employee files are created for internal recordkeeping.
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 civil design technician?

Before you start to hire civil design technicians, it pays to consider both the one-off costs like recruitment, job promotion, and onboarding, as well as the ongoing costs of an employee's salary and benefits. While most companies that hire civil design technicians pay close attention to the initial cost of hiring, ongoing costs are much more significant in the long run.

Civil design technicians earn a median yearly salary is $52,407 a year in the US. However, if you're looking to find civil design technicians for hire on a contract or per-project basis, hourly rates typically range between $17 and $34.

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Updated December 14, 2025

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How to hire a civil design technician