Assistant Vice President, Structural Engineering - Movable Bridges

This Opportunity

Join WSP USA's National Complex Bridges Practice /Movable Bridge Group and help deliver innovative solutions for some of the nation's most challenging bridge projects. You will work with a collaborative, multidisciplinary team that is committed to meeting client objectives, solving complex technical challenges, and advancing the bridge engineering profession. 

WSP USA has an immediate opening for a full-time Assistant Vice President, Structural Engineer to support our Movable Bridge Group as part of National Complex Bridges Practice in Chicago, IL. The position may be based in our Chicago office or another WSP office in the United States. The successful candidate will supervise and mentor structural engineering staff while leading the analysis, design, rehabilitation, inspection, and delivery of complex and movable bridge projects for highway, rail, transit, and other infrastructure clients. Career development, mentoring, technical excellence, and employee engagement are priorities within our group and across the firm. 

Your Impact

• Provide technical leadership, supervision, and day-to-day guidance to structural engineering professionals located in multiple offices. 
• Mentor and develop junior and mid-level staff; assign work, establish expectations, review performance, and support career growth. 
• Lead structural analysis, design, rehabilitation, inspection, load-rating, and plan-development activities for complex and movable bridge projects. 
• Serve as project manager, task lead, or technical lead for fixed and movable highway and railroad bridges, transit structures, and related infrastructure projects. 
• Manage project scope, schedule, budget, staffing, design changes, risks, and technical deliverables for multiple concurrent assignments. 
• Coordinate closely with clients, owners, contractors, subconsultants, and multidisciplinary project teams, while also performing independent technical and QA/QC reviews. 
• Develop and check calculations, design criteria, technical memoranda, reports, plans, specifications, construction cost estimates, safety plans, and construction phasing documents. 
• Provide oversight for field investigations, bridge inspections, condition assessments, surveys, data collection, and evaluation of existing structural, mechanical, and operational conditions. 
• Apply advanced structural engineering principles and sound engineering judgment to resolve complex design, rehabilitation, constructability, and construction-phase challenges. 
• Integrate structural work with mechanical, electrical, geotechnical, civil, roadway, rail, marine, architectural, and construction disciplines, as applicable.
• Support projects from planning and concept development through final design, construction, commissioning, rehabilitation, and asset management. 
• Monitor project progress, labor hours, expenses, quantities, subcontractor activities, permit requirements, compliance documentation, and technical analyses. 
• Perform and oversee complex investigations and inspections of proposed and existing structures to determine conformance with applicable codes, standards, owner requirements, and permits. 
• Review permit applications, engineering plans, specifications, calculations, shop drawings, requests for information, and construction submittals for technical accuracy and compliance. 
• Meet with public agencies, private owners, railroads, transit authorities, contractors, and other stakeholders to address engineering and construction issues. 
• Prepare and deliver clear technical reports and presentations that communicate findings, recommendations, risks, and solutions to technical and nontechnical audiences. 
• Maintain current knowledge of structural engineering practices, movable bridge technologies, applicable codes, digital delivery methods, and emerging industry trends. 
• Support client development by maintaining strong relationships, identifying new opportunities, contributing to proposals and interviews, and helping expand WSP's complex and movable bridge services. 
• Collaborate across WSP on federal, state, regional, local, and privately funded pursuits and projects. 
• Exercise responsible and ethical decision-making regarding company funds, resources, and conduct, and comply with WSP's Code of Conduct and related policies and procedures. 
• Perform additional responsibilities as required by business needs. 

Who You Are

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in civil engineering, structural engineering, or a closely related discipline. 
• 15+ years of relevant post-education structural engineering experience, including progressive responsibility for bridge analysis, design, rehabilitation, inspection, or construction support. 
• Professional Engineer license required, with the ability to obtain additional state licenses as project needs require. 
• Demonstrated experience leading technical teams and supervising, mentoring, and developing engineering staff. 
• Strong knowledge of structural engineering principles and practices as applied to complex bridge projects, including design, rehabilitation, constructability, and construction engineering considerations. 
• Experience delivering highway, railroad, transit, or movable bridge projects for public- or private-sector clients. 
• Proficiency in project and task management, including scope, schedule, budget, staffing, risk, quality, and client coordination. 
• Strong knowledge of applicable structural and civil engineering codes, standards, regulations, compliance requirements, and record-keeping practices. 
• Ability to perform and review complex structural calculations, interpret plans and specifications, evaluate alternatives, and develop practical, economical solutions. 
• Experience preparing and reviewing calculations, design criteria, reports, plans, specifications, cost estimates, and other complex technical deliverables. 
• Working knowledge of relevant structural analysis, bridge design, drafting, and rating software, such as LARSA 4D, STAAD, MIDAS, CSiBridge, Bentley OpenBridge, MDX, AASHTOWare Bridge Design/Rating, and MicroStation, or comparable platforms. 
• Experience planning and conducting field inspections or investigations of bridges, facilities, or other structures in accordance with applicable requirements and safety practices.
• Highly effective written, verbal, interpersonal, and presentation skills, with the ability to communicate complex ideas clearly to engineering and non-engineering audiences. 
• Ability to work independently, exercise sound judgment, lead multidisciplinary teams, and maintain strict adherence to QA/QC requirements. 
• Well-developed critical-thinking and problem-solving skills, including the ability to synthesize field data, calculations, analyses, and stakeholder input into defensible engineering decisions. 
• Proven commitment to workplace safety and the ability to comply with WSP's health, safety, drug/alcohol, and harassment policies. 
• Ability to travel occasionally based on project requirements. 

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's degree or PhD in civil or structural engineering. 
• Structural Engineer license or the ability to obtain an SE license within one year. 
• Demonstrated expertise in the analysis, design, rehabilitation, inspection, or construction of movable bridges, including bascule, vertical-lift, and swing bridges. 
• Experience with complex fixed bridges, long-span structures, railroad bridges, transit structures, or heavy movable structures. 
• Familiarity with AASHTO LRFD and legacy LFD criteria, AREMA requirements, FHWA guidance, and state DOT standards. 
• Experience serving as a key team member for major strategic bridge, rail, or transit pursuits. 
• Established client relationships and experience supporting business development, proposals, interviews, and capture planning. 

WSP Benefits:

WSP provides a comprehensive suite of benefits focused on a providing health and financial stability throughout the employee’s career. These benefits include coverage related to medical, dental, vision, disability, and life; retirement savings; paid sick leave; paid vacation (or other personal time); paid parental leave; and paid time off for purposes of bereavement, voting, and/or attendance at naturalization proceedings.

Compensation:
Expected Salary (all locations): $134,700 - $229,000

WSP USA is providing the compensation range that the company in good faith believes it might pay and offer for this position, based on the successful applicant’s education, experience, knowledge, skills, abilities in addition to internal equity and specific geographic location. WSP USA reserves the right to ultimately pay more or less than the posted range and offer additional benefits and other compensation, depending on circumstances not related to an applicant’s sex or other status protected by local, state, and/or federal law.

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