How To Become A Supervisory Civil Engineer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a supervisory civil engineer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted expert

Alan Hancock

Imagine being the one who makes sure that all the infrastructure projects in the public and private sector, including roads, buildings, airports, tunnels, and dams, operate efficiently and safely. That's what you'll be doing if you become a civil engineering supervisor. In this role, you'll be responsible for supervising and coordinating construction activities and ensuring that construction projects are carried out on time and within budget.

You'll also manage a team of civil engineers and other relevant subcontractors, as they design and develop construction projects, such as airports, bridges, railroads, and highways. You'll need to make that the work is properly organized and executed within deadlines.

You'll also be expected to review preliminary and final design maps and provide guidelines to subdividers, engineers, and architects. Another one of your duties will be inspecting job sites during construction to enforce compliance with the contract documents, city ordinances, and other requirements.

If you're interested in becoming a supervisory civil engineer, you'll need a Bachelor's degree in civil engineering. You'll typically need a graduate degree along with licensure for promotion to senior positions.

What general advice would you give to a supervisory civil engineer?

Alan Hancock

Civil Engineering Technology Instructor, Dakota County Technical College

It is a high, well-paying field that dates back at least 5,000 years to the Egyptians. It cannot be outsourced and will always, no matter what, be needed. Electricians have only been around about 120 years, and IT only about 30 years. We are proven and stable.

ScoreSupervisory Civil EngineerUS Average

Salary

6.6

Avg. Salary $84,776

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.3

Growth rate 7%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.4

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.31%

Asian 14.62%

Black or African American 3.90%

Hispanic or Latino 11.45%

Unknown 4.67%

White 65.05%

Gender

female 13.04%

male 86.96%

Age - 39

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 39

Stress level

7.3

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.3

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

5.1

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a supervisory civil engineer

Explore supervisory civil engineer education requirements

Most common supervisory civil engineer degrees

Bachelor's

69.8 %

Master's

20.9 %

Associate

3.5 %

Start to develop specific supervisory civil engineer skills

Skills	Percentages
Project Management	33.01%
DOD	20.57%
Technical Assistance	10.78%
Engineering Services	5.03%
Geotechnical	5.03%

Complete relevant supervisory civil engineer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New supervisorsy civil engineer learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a supervisory civil engineer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real supervisory civil engineer resumes.

Research supervisory civil engineer duties and responsibilities

Manage production of full sets of contract documents (grading, drainage, water, sewer, paving and SWPPP).
Perform take-offs of select components of the dam and assist the procurement of permanent materials by answering RFI's from vendors.
Perform geotechnical instrumentation monitoring and data collection
Perform geotechnical instrumentation monitoring and data collection

Prepare your supervisory civil engineer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your supervisory civil engineer resume.

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