What does a senior civil engineer do?
A senior civil engineer is primarily in charge of overseeing the development of public structures such as buildings, bridges, pipelines, and roads. They are responsible for spearheading the design and planning stages, setting goals and objectives, managing budgets and timelines, performing due diligence, inspecting construction sites, and documenting the procedures. Above all, as a senior civil engineer, it is essential to lead and serve as a role model to fellow engineers and contractors, all while implementing the construction site's safety policies and regulations.
Senior civil engineer responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real senior civil engineer resumes:
- Manage a geotechnical investigation that include determining boring locations and soliciting bids.
- Analyze bridge structures for deficiencies following the AASHTO code using hand calculations and software.
- Respond to RFI's and keep the daily logs and quantity book up to date.
- Design bridges and other highway relate structures using PennDOT standards, and AASHTO policies and procedures.
- Represent the client (MTA) during CPM schedule update reviews and contractor requests for change orders.
- Evaluate contractor's procedure for execution, CPM's, breakdowns for payments and contractors certifications for payments.
- Perform numerous geotechnical investigations and draft reports on findings.
- Execute engineering surveys in infrastructure construction and street rebuilding.
- Coordinate and schedule materials inspection and field compaction testing with Caltrans in house laboratories.
- Design and produce plans for commercial and residential projects using Autodesk Autocad/Civil3d, interacting with clients, subcontractors and project managers.
- Used SolidWorks and AutoCAD for modeling aerospace fasteners and tooling.
- Prepare and apply for project permits including watersh, NPDES, utility extension, FEMA and others as required.
- Produce RFI's, submittals and bidding documents.
- Project manage the overall reorganizing and restructuring of the telecommunication department.
Senior civil engineer skills and personality traits
We calculated that 13% of Senior Civil Engineers are proficient in Civil 3D, Project Management, and CAD. They’re also known for soft skills such as Leadership skills, Math skills, and Organizational skills.
We break down the percentage of Senior Civil Engineers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Civil 3D, 13%
Water main alignment design in Civil 3D Sidewalk improvement/prioritization study Exhibit preparation and concept cost estimates in Civil 3D.
- Project Management, 11%
Bridge Design / Utility/Sanitary/Sewer Design / Land Development / Supervision / Project Management Construction biding and estimating.
- CAD, 5%
Supervised Cad designers and entry level engineers in managing and producing major highway design projects.
- Construction Management, 5%
Supervised traffic engineering, construction management, and development engineering sections of the City Public Works Department.
- Geotechnical, 4%
Managed a geotechnical investigation that included determining boring locations and soliciting bids.
- Business Development, 4%
Performed project planning, budgeting, economic analysis and business development.
Common skills that a senior civil engineer uses to do their job include "civil 3d," "project management," and "cad." You can find details on the most important senior civil engineer responsibilities below.
Math skills. Many senior civil engineer duties rely on math skills. "civil engineers use calculus, trigonometry, and other mathematics for analysis, design, and troubleshooting.," so a senior civil engineer will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways senior civil engineer responsibilities rely on math skills: "developed complete set of drawings including geometry plan, grading and erosion control plans. "
Organizational skills. This is an important skill for senior civil engineers to perform their duties. For an example of how senior civil engineer responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "civil engineers often oversee several projects at the same time and must be able to allocate resources effectively." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a senior civil engineer: "apply outstanding technical, organizational and leadership talents toward overseeing full-scope project management for initiatives totaling $1m. ".
Problem-solving skills. senior civil engineer responsibilities often require "problem-solving skills." The duties that rely on this skill are shown by the fact that "civil engineers may encounter problems during each stage of their work." This resume example shows what senior civil engineers do with problem-solving skills on a typical day: "assist in resolution, draft response, track, and follow up on requests for information (rfis). "
The three companies that hire the most senior civil engineers are:
- Burns & McDonnell92 senior civil engineers jobs
- Stantec54 senior civil engineers jobs
- HBK Engineering35 senior civil engineers jobs
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Compare different senior civil engineers
Senior civil engineer vs. Representative projects
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.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a senior civil engineer are more likely to require skills like "civil 3d," "project management," "cad," and "site development." On the other hand, a job as a representative projects requires skills like "infrastructure," "osha," "autocad," and "construction observation." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
Representative projects earn the highest salaries when working in the technology industry, with an average yearly salary of $64,096. On the other hand, senior civil engineers are paid more in the retail industry with an average salary of $84,854.On average, representative projects reach lower levels of education than senior civil engineers. Representative projects are 6.7% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.3% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Senior civil engineer vs. Structural designer
An assistant project engineer performs support tasks to assist project engineers in overseeing and managing engineering projects. Their responsibilities include conducting inspections and assessments, performing research and analyses, processing documents and certifications, managing schedules, liaising with internal and external parties, and providing technical support to staff as necessary. Besides reporting directly to the project engineer, they also work together in implementing policies and monitoring operations to ensure that engineering projects adhere to project guidelines and requirements.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real senior civil engineer resumes. While senior civil engineer responsibilities can utilize skills like "cad," "construction management," "business development," and "site development," structural designers use skills like "revit," "bim," "navisworks," and "ladders."
On average, structural designers earn a lower salary than senior civil engineers. Some industries support higher salaries in each profession. Interestingly enough, structural designers earn the most pay in the construction industry with an average salary of $69,802. Whereas senior civil engineers have higher pay in the retail industry, with an average salary of $84,854.Average education levels between the two professions vary. Structural designers tend to reach lower levels of education than senior civil engineers. In fact, they're 10.6% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.3% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for senior civil engineers in the next 3-5 years?
Karen Panetta Ph.D.
Dean of Graduate Education, School of Engineering, Tufts University
The pandemic has also renewed our sense of need for internet security, privacy, and access to service. When all our social and educational interactions had to move to virtual platforms, we became aware of just how small and ill-prepared the world was and how inequitable the availability of these services was to parts of the world.
Senior civil engineer vs. Assistant project engineer
A structural engineering intern is responsible for supporting the engineering team on construction and structural projects, identifying cost-reduction techniques, and drafting layouts that adhere to clients' specifications, business requirements, and budget limitations. Structural engineering interns join the engineers on area visits, inspecting site foundation, and calculating dimensions and material costing. They also shadow the team's best practices and recommend ways to maximize productivity and efficiency to deliver high-quality outputs within the required deadlines. A structural engineering intern must be highly technical and analytical, especially on designing deliverables that meet quality standards.
Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from senior civil engineer resumes include skills like "civil 3d," "project management," "cad," and "business development," whereas an assistant project engineer is more likely to list skills in "contract drawings," "rfi," "meeting minutes," and "auto cad. "
Assistant project engineers make a very good living in the manufacturing industry with an average annual salary of $81,856. On the other hand, senior civil engineers are paid the highest salary in the retail industry, with average annual pay of $84,854.When it comes to education, assistant project engineers tend to earn lower degree levels compared to senior civil engineers. In fact, they're 7.5% less likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.8% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Senior civil engineer vs. Structural engineering internship
Even though a few skill sets overlap between senior civil engineers and structural engineering interns, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a senior civil engineer might have more use for skills like "civil 3d," "project management," "cad," and "construction management." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of structural engineering interns require skills like "structural analysis," "revit," "powerpoint," and "engineering software. "
The technology industry tends to pay the highest salaries for structural engineering interns, with average annual pay of $56,459. Comparatively, the highest senior civil engineer annual salary comes from the retail industry.The average resume of structural engineering interns showed that they earn similar levels of education compared to senior civil engineers. So much so that theyacirc;euro;trade;re 1.4% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree by 0.1%.Types of senior civil engineer
Updated January 8, 2025
