Salary: Depends on Qualifications
Location : Houston, TX
Job Type: Regular Full-time
Job Number: 13199
Department: Flood Control District
Opening Date: 08/08/2024
Closing Date: 10/31/2024 11:59 PM Central
Max Number of Applicants: 150
Position DescriptionAbout Harris County Flood Control District:The Flood Control District has the mission to reduce the risk of flooding in Harris County, the third most populated county in the United States, with a population in excess of 4.7 million, including the City of Houston, the nation's fourth largest city. The Flood Control District has jurisdiction over the primary stormwater facilities in the county, which consist of approximately 1,500 channels totaling nearly 2,500 miles in length, as well as more than 60 regional stormwater detention basins, totaling more than 10,000 acres and several wetlands mitigation banks including Greens bayou.
What you will do at Harris County Flood Control District:Harris County Flood Control District is seeking an experienced, motivated, and resourceful candidate for the role of Geotechnical Task Manager.
The Harris County Flood Control District has the mission to reduce the risk of flooding in Harris County, the third most populated county in the United States, with a population in excess of 4.7 million, including the City of Houston, the nation's fourth largest city. The District has jurisdiction over the county's primary stormwater facilities, consisting of approximately 1,500 channels totaling nearly 2,500 miles in length, as well as more than 60 regional stormwater detention basins, totaling more than 10,000 acres and several wetlands mitigation banks.
Reporting to the Geotechnical Program Manager, the Geotechnical Task Manager is responsible for providing high-level technical support regarding geotechnical engineering concerns for the District's engineering and construction projects and providing technical support to ensure the District's adequacy and acceptability of facilities to be maintained by the District.
Essential Functions and Duties:- Provide high-level technical support regarding soil stability and other subsurface concerns of projects with field failure plane determinations and other soil considerations.
- Administer geotechnical on-call consultant contracts.
- Review scope and budget for geotechnical sub-consultants to civil design consultants.
- Review and approve geotechnical reports submitted by external sources for projects requested to be approved and/or maintained by the District.
- Ensure consultants strictly follow the District's geotechnical guidelines.
- Manage budgets for services by negotiating rates and scope.
- Evaluate and challenge the recommendations of consultants.
- Provide feedback to allow consultants evaluate the performance and success of their recommendations.
- Create a geotechnical database to share the District's extensive knowledge of soils in the Harris County area.
- Provide field support to evaluate existing conditions and make recommendations for correcting slope failures and troubleshooting earthwork problems for maintenance and construction activities.
- Assist in plan review to assure specification compliance and constructability and do "take-offs."
- Monitor constructed projects to evaluate design.
- Assist the Construction Division in evaluating laboratory results to ensure compliance with specifications.
- Advise management of problems and prepare recommendations for solutions using best practices.
- Prepare correspondence, complete forms, and maintain records and files related to work activities.
- Perform other duties that may be added or changed as the course and scope of the job directs.
Harris County is an Equal Opportunity Employer https://hrrm.harriscountytx.gov/Pages/EqualEmploymentOpportunityPlan.aspx
If you need special services or accommodations, please call (713) 274-5445 or email
This position is subject to a criminal history check. Only relevant convictions will be considered and, even when considered, may not automatically disqualify the candidate RequirementsEducation:- Bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering from an accredited college or university
Experience:- Minimum of five (5) years of progressively responsible, verifiable experience in the geotechnical aspects of engineering design and construction projects and/or field operations related to District facilities and other Infrastructure Projects.
- Previous experience working with government agencies and their governing bodies.
- Previous experience with Environmental Site Assessment Procedures (Phase I and II) as per applicable regulations of ASTM, USEPA, and TCEQ; wetland delineation procedures and interpretation of findings w.r.to risk exposure.
- Working knowledge of geotechnical laboratory test procedures as applicable to ASTM procedures and be able to verify backup calculations.
Licensure:- Valid Class "C" Texas Driver's License
- Professional Engineer Registration (State of Texas)
Knowledge Skills, and Abilities:- Requires excellent diagnostic and troubleshooting skills to solve unusual work problems and advise on complex technical questions and/or difficult work solutions.
- Requires excellent analytical skills in applying guidelines, policies and precedents and adapting standard methods to fit facts and conditions.
- Requires excellent communication skills, including presentation, grammar, and writing skills.
- Strong skills using Microsoft Office applications (Outlook, Word, PowerPoint, Excel, TEAMS, SharePoint, etc.).
- Strong skills using project management tools and systems.
- Requires solid knowledge/understanding of construction standards, practices, and techniques.
- Requires sound technical knowledge supported by relevant experience addressing tasks with minimal supervision.
- Requires good knowledge of principles and utilization of associated geotechnical engineering application software related to drainage projects, including detention basins and channels.
- Work independently with limited supervision, relative autonomy, and general review.
- Work well and build strong relationships with vendors, contractors, organizations, and the public.
- Effectively prioritize, identify, and solve problems.
- Work well in an office and/or project team environment.
- Utilize good time management skills and effectively prioritize and manage multiple tasks/initiatives.
- Effectively communicate with coworkers, the general public, industry, and/or governmental representatives.
NOTE: Qualifying education, experience, knowledge, and skills must be documented on your job application. You may attach a resume to the application as supporting documentation but
ONLY information stated on the application will be used for consideration. "See Resume" will not be accepted for qualifications.PreferencesEducation:- Master's degree with a specialization in Geotechnical Engineering (Preferred)
Experience:- Knowledge of advanced engineering tools such as Finite Element and Finite Difference methods (Preferred)
General InformationPosition Type, Salary:- Regular | Full-Time
- Salary: To be discussed at interview
Location:- Engineering - 9900 Northwest Freeway Houston, TX 77092
Physical Demands and Environmental Exposure:The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions:
- Frequent stooping, bending, reaching, lifting and carrying of items up to 11 pounds and occasional lifting of up to 20 pounds.
- Frequent sorting, filing, shelving and handling of documents, books, files, file drawers and related materials and equipment required for clerical operations.
- Frequent driving of a vehicle with automatic controls.
- Occasional walking up and down steep slopes of ditches or on rough and uneven surfaces or ground such as sloping terrain plowed or furrowed areas or construction sites.
- Occasional ascending/descending stairs; prolonged sitting for extended periods of time.
- Work is generally performed indoors in a normal office environment with acceptable lighting, temperature, air conditions and noise levels.
- When at field locations, may be exposed to significant levels of heat, cold, moisture, air pollution, wind and dust, wildlife and flying/walking insects, vibration and/or noise in excess of 85 decibels.
Employment may be contingent on passing a drug screen and meeting other standards. Due to a high volume of applications positions may close prior to the advertised closing date or at the discretion of the Hiring Department.BENEFITSHarris County offers a competitive benefits program, including comprehensive group health and related benefits plan as well as defined benefit retirement plan.
The following list of benefits is offered
only to employees in
regular (full-time) positions:
- Medical Coverage
- Dental Coverage
- Vision Coverage
- Wellness Plan
- Life Insurance
- Long-term disability
- Employee Assistance Program
- Ten (10) days of vacation each year for the first five (5) years of service
- Accrual rates increase based on years of service
- Eleven (11) County-observed holidays and one (1) floating holiday
- Professional development opportunities
- Dependent Care Reimbursement Plan
- Healthcare Reimbursement Account
- 457 Deferred Compensation Plan
The following benefits are also available to regular (full-time) employment and may be available to part-time employees:
- Retirement Pension (TCDRS)
- Flexible schedule (varies by department)
- Transportation Assistance (Metro RideSponsor Program)
In accordance with the Harris County Personnel Regulations, Group Health and related benefits are subject to amendment or discontinuance at any time. Commissioners Court reserves the right to make benefit modifications on the County's behalf as needed.
For plan details, visit the Harris County benefits website: 01
Which of the following best describes your highest level of education completed as it relates to this position?
- High School or GED diploma
- Associate Degree
- Bachelor's Degree
- Master's Degree or higher
- None of the above
02
If you selected a college degree in response to the previous question, which of the following best describes your major?
- Civil Engineering
- Other Related Field
- Unrelated Field
- N/A; No Degree
03
Which of the following best describes your progressively responsible, verifiable experience in the geotechnical aspects of engineering design and construction projects and/or field operations related to District facilities and other Infrastructure Projects?(To be considered, qualifying experience must be documented in your application's employment history)
- Less than five (5) years
- Five (5) years or more but less than six (6) years
- Six (6) years or more but less than seven (7) years
- Seven (7) years or more
- I do not have this experience
04
Please provide the dates of employment during which you obtained progressively responsible, verifiable experience in the geotechnical aspects of engineering design and construction projects and/or field operations related to District facilities and other Infrastructure Projects. Provide the month and year that began and ended the experience. Example: "January 2020 - December 2023" If this experience is not clearly documented in the Work Experience section, your application will be disqualified. If you do not have this experience, type "N/A" in the space provided.
05
Are you a Professional Engineer (PE) in the state of Texas?
- Yes, I am a professional engineer (PE) in the state of Texas
- No, but commit to obtaining licensure within 1 year of employment
- No, not interested at this time.
06
Which of the following describes your level of proficiency using a personal computer and common office software such as MS Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook). Please select your level of proficiency based on the following descriptions:Advanced:A person with this level of skills is able to produce very large, complex formal documents that require a table of contents, footnotes, endnotes, bookmarks, and other special elements; a wide range of graphic effects, and use advanced techniques for analyzing and manipulating data. Has full mastery of Macro commands and skills to tie the objects together into a cohesive system by using Macros and Visual Basic for Applications code. Makes interactive presentations by using hyperlinks and action buttons.Intermediate:A person with this level of skills is able to customize toolbars, import and insert graphs, embed Excel data, and elaborate reports. Understands the concepts of databases and is able to work with charts and to use the list management capabilities of Excel. Able to use complex query techniques, create efficient forms and reports, and create Macros to automate these forms. Makes interactive presentations by using hyperlinks and action buttons.Basic:A person with this level of skills is able to use basic formatting, editing, printing functions, and understands the document page setup. Has the ability to enter and correct data, modify a workbook, format a worksheet, and use printing functions. Understands the different database concepts and structures and is familiar with data validation and is able to create a simple presentation in PowerPoint, run it, and print it.Entry Level:A person with this level of skills has the ability to open, create, save and modify documents in Word, send and receive email in Outlook and create spreadsheets in Excel. Format documents for printing, comfortable using the printer menu to preview documents. Has ability to change the font, the margins, insert or delete pages and use the built-in spellchecker and grammar check.
- Advanced
- Intermediate
- Basic
- Entry Level
- Not proficient
07
For this position, a valid Texas Driver's License is necessary. Please choose the option that best describes your situation:Do you meet the above requirement?(Please be sure to include all related details in the Certificates and Licenses section of your application.)
- Yes, I currently hold a valid Texas Driver's License.
- Yes, I possess a valid Out-of-State Driver's License, but I am aware that I must acquire a valid Texas Driver's License before the start date.
- No, I do not currently have a driver's license, but I commit to obtaining one before the start date.
- No, I do not currently have a valid driver's license.
08
Which of the following do you have working knowledge of and/or experience with?(Select all that apply.)
- Previous experience working with government agencies and their governing bodies.
- Previous experience with Environmental Site Assessment Procedures (Phase I and II) as per applicable regulations of ASTM, USEPA, and TCEQ; wetland delineation procedures and interpretation of findings w.r.to risk exposure.
- Working knowledge of geotechnical laboratory test procedures as applicable to ASTM procedures and be able to verify backup calculations.
- None of the above.
Required Question