How to hire a transportation planner

How to hire a transportation planner, step by step

Here's a step-by-step transportation planner hiring guide:

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

What does a transportation planner do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   First, determine the employments status of the transportation planner you need to hire. Certain transportation planner roles might require a full-time employee, whereas others can be done by part-time workers or contractors.

   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 transportation planner 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 transportation planner that fits the bill.

   Here's a comparison of transportation planner salaries for various roles:

   Type of Transportation Planner	Description	Hourly rate
   Transportation Planner	Urban and regional planners develop land use plans and programs that help create communities, accommodate population growth, and revitalize physical facilities in towns, cities, counties, and metropolitan areas.	$24-44
   Planning Internship	When it comes to planning an internship, an intern's duties will depend on the directives of supervising staff or a manager. Typically, an intern's responsibilities will revolve around performing clerical tasks such as processing documents, producing reports and presentations, responding to calls and correspondence, and managing schedules... Show more	$12-20
   Urban Design Consultant	An urban design consultant is in charge of many projects, and so they have to oversee tasks and plan assignments. They are skilled in creating interior design solutions, space planning, sketching, and product selection... Show more	$24-37

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Customer Service
   • GIS
   • Project Management
   • Corridor
   • Logistics
   • Regional Planning
   • Data Collection
   • Data Analysis
   • Technical Reports
   • ArcGIS
   • PowerPoint
   • Transportation Projects
   • Booking
   • Nepa

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Manage the carrier scorecard, ensuring using proper mode, SCAC code, tending vs acceptance ratio and other KPI's.
   • Manage the account by performing detail cost/benefit analysis and WMS analysis.
   • Prepare and provide dispatch information to suppliers and freight forwarders, so cargo pick-up can be arrange.
   • Provide extensive interaction and communication with freight forwarders and customs brokers globally.
   • Work on a variety of transportation planning projects that are NEPA compliant.
   • Act as the project leader setting up Manugistics, WMS, AS400.

   More transportation planner duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in the transportation planner job description is a good way to get more applicants. A transportation planner 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 transportation planner in Montana may be lower than in California, and an entry-level engineer typically earns less than a senior-level transportation planner. Additionally, a transportation planner with lots of experience in the field may command a higher salary as a result.

   Average transportation planner salary

   $68,983yearly

   $33.16 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level transportation planner salary

   $50,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 16, 2025

   Average transportation planner salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	District of Columbia	$92,341	$44
   2	California	$88,882	$43
   3	Washington	$80,597	$39
   4	Massachusetts	$79,108	$38
   5	New York	$77,163	$37
   6	Connecticut	$77,029	$37
   7	New Jersey	$75,998	$37
   8	Delaware	$75,030	$36
   9	Nevada	$74,866	$36
   10	Minnesota	$74,242	$36
   11	Maryland	$73,887	$36
   12	Virginia	$71,183	$34
   13	Colorado	$69,673	$34
   14	Louisiana	$69,119	$33
   15	Arizona	$66,976	$32
   16	Texas	$64,075	$31
   17	Illinois	$63,833	$31
   18	North Carolina	$62,971	$30
   19	Iowa	$62,572	$30
   20	Michigan	$62,530	$30

   Average transportation planner salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Meta	$126,523	$60.83	54
   2	Foot Locker	$94,245	$45.31	2
   3	City of Seattle	$88,691	$42.64
   4	City of San Antonio	$87,417	$42.03
   5	Rockwell Automation	$84,588	$40.67	1
   6	Meritor	$83,589	$40.19
   7	Post Holdings	$82,829	$39.82	6
   8	Iteris	$80,566	$38.73	1
   9	Dole	$80,550	$38.73	1
   10	University of California-Berkeley	$80,361	$38.64
   11	Carrier	$79,412	$38.18
   12	Fresh Express	$79,408	$38.18	2
   13	Transwest	$78,977	$37.97	3
   14	Jacobs Engineering Group	$78,488	$37.73
   15	Richmond International Airport	$77,803	$37.41
   16	CDM Smith	$77,779	$37.39	65
   17	The Coca-Cola Company	$77,162	$37.10	7
   18	Integrated Resources	$77,158	$37.10	8
   19	Cambridge Systematics	$76,807	$36.93
   20	ATCS	$76,013	$36.54	1

4. Writing a transportation planner job description

   A job description for a transportation planner role includes a summary of the job's main responsibilities, required skills, and preferred background experience. Including a salary range can also go a long way in attracting more candidates to apply, and showing the first name of the hiring manager can also make applicants more comfortable. As an example, here's a transportation planner job description:

   Transportation planner job description example

   • Bachelor's Degree in Urban and Regional Planning, Civil Engineering or related field from an accredited university
   • Master's Degree Urban and Regional Planning, Civil Engineering or related field from an accredited university preferred
   • EIT and/or AICP Certification preferred
   • 2-4 years' experience performing transportation planning/engineering activities
   • Proficiency with ArcGIS
   • Proficiency with Microsoft Office software
   • Strong writing and presentation skills
   • Business acumen and facilitation skills working with a broad set of clients, stakeholders and members of the public
   • Strong teamwork and project organization skills working on projects and with staff

   The Team

   From statewide and regional plans, to corridor and subarea plans, our teams provide the highest quality planning, engineering and sustainable design solutions to our clients. Each day, we partner with public agencies including, local, regional, state and federal partners across the country to enhance mobility and the overall quality of life. By joining our team, you too can lead the evolution of transportation and mobility during these exciting and dynamic times.

   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.

   Please view Equal Employment Opportunity Posters provided by OFCCP here.

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

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5. Post your job

   There are various strategies that you can use to find the right transportation planner for your business:

   • Consider promoting from within or recruiting from your existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
   • Attend job fairs at local colleges to find candidates who meet your education requirements.
   • Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to reach potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your transportation planner job on Zippia to find and recruit transportation planner candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   To successfully recruit transportation planners, 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.

   It's also good to ask about candidates' unique skills and talents to see if they match your ideal candidate profile. If you think a candidate is good enough for the next step, you can move on to 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 transportation planner

   Once you have selected a candidate for the transportation planner 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.

   You should also follow up with applicants who don't get the job with an email letting them know that you've filled the position.

   To prepare for the new employee's start date, you can create an onboarding schedule and complete any necessary paperwork, such as employee action forms and onboarding documents like I-9 forms, benefits enrollment, and federal and state tax forms. Human Resources should also ensure that a new employee file is created.

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 transportation planner?