Original Job Posting Date:
2026-11-02
Traffic Engineering Associate
This position's estimated compensation is:
$0.00 - $0.00/
Salary Range: $43.01- $52.33 Hourly
The Traffic Engineering Associate is part of the City of Salem's Traffic Engineering team: four engineers (including this position) and two technicians working together on the safety and operation of Salem's transportation network. Within that team, you and the Senior Traffic Engineer are the signal experts, and you report directly to the Senior Traffic Engineer. This is an entry-level to intermediate engineering role. About 80 to 90% of your work will focus on operating and maintaining the City's traffic signal system, with the remainder giving you broader traffic engineering experience.
What you will do:
Traffic signal operations and maintenance
- Monitor traffic signal network health in Transparity (MyCity) and run initial diagnostics on timing, detection, and equipment reports.
- Process timing work orders and serve as the first point of contact for Signal Maintenance Electricians.
- Build and program timing files for review by the Senior Traffic Engineer.
- Support scheduled timing deployments and new signal turn-ons, which often happen late at night or very early in the morning. These are planned at least a week ahead.
- Review signal, streetlighting, and enhanced pedestrian crossing plan sheets for capital and development projects, so the signals we inherit are operable and maintainable.
- Support project teams in the field by verifying cabinet prints and installations and working with electricians during construction.
- Investigate and respond to public inquiries about signal timing, pedestrian delay, and flasher operation.
- Coordinate with partners at City of Keizer, Marion County, and Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) on shared signals and timing adjustments.
Team and broader traffic engineering experience
- Work alongside the team's engineers and technicians and see how signal decisions connect to the rest of the transportation system.
- Assist with traffic engineering studies and field investigations as needed to support departmental goals and give you broader traffic engineering experience. Depending on team needs, this may include learning from the team's work on Traffic Impact Analysis (TIA) reports, vision clearance issues, and resident requests for signing and striping changes.
- Gain exposure to how the team coordinates with Transportation Planning to advance the City's Transportation System Plan.
Employee Spotlight:
Jose Herrera Castellanos, Engineering Associate
Project Management Team
As an Engineering Associate, Jose Herrera Castellanos has been part of the McGilchrist Complete Street Improvement Project, a multi-phase effort rebuilding McGilchrist Street SE with new sidewalks, bike facilities, street lighting, turn lanes, upgraded traffic signals, and improved railroad and creek crossings. The City has secured about $50.8 million for the project, including $13.2 million in federal RAISE grant funding.
Jose's role has grown from supporting the Project Manager to taking on project management responsibilities himself, at times serving as acting Project Manager. He schedules and facilitates meetings with contractors and stakeholders, coordinates with consultants, tracks construction progress, and develops change orders. He describes himself as "a connection between construction crews, design consultants, inspectors, and City staff," seeing firsthand how engineering decisions move from design into construction in the field.
Jose started with a construction inspection background and has since built skills in project management, from contractor coordination to problem solving in the field. He credits mentorship and progressively increasing responsibility for the growth: "The Engineering Associate position has given me an opportunity to build toward those goals through hands on experience, mentorship, formal training, and progressively increasing responsibility." His next goal is pursuing his PE license and continuing into project management on larger infrastructure projects.
Make an impact:
- Regional Safety & Mobility: Influence the daily travel, safety, and efficiency of thousands of drivers, transit users, cyclists, and pedestrians across the multi-agency Salem, Keizer, Marion County, and ODOT signal network.
- Community Connection: Serve as a technical contact for neighbors' concerns about signal timing, pedestrian crossings, and school flashers, and see your work turn into real changes on the street.
- Modernized Infrastructure: Help bring smart-city technology, fiber-optic communications, and modern detection to the signals that keep Salem moving.
- Stronger Projects: Bring the signal perspective to capital and development projects, including work funded by the City's $300M Safety and Livability Bond. You will review plans and coordinate with project teams so new infrastructure is safe, operable, and built to standard.
Learn and grow:
- Hands-On Technical Training: We will train you in our central signal system (Transparity/MyCity), 332 controller cabinets, controllers, conflict monitors, wiring and fiber diagrams, signal timing concepts, timing file programming, and plan review. You will also get practical exposure to the networked devices and City-maintained fiber network that connect our signals for remote monitoring.
- Trades & Engineering Mentorship: Your direct supervisor, the Senior Traffic Engineer, provides daily mentorship, reviews all of your work, and supports you on every task. You will work side by side with experienced Signal Maintenance Electricians to connect timing logic to what happens in the field, and you will learn from the wider Traffic Engineering team, including its work on traffic impact analyses, vision clearance, signing and striping, and transportation system planning.
- Growing Independence: Independence grows in stages. You begin by building timing files that are reviewed and by deploying them alongside your supervisor. Independent deployment comes after a few years. As your experience grows, you will produce signal plan redlines and act as the signal representative on projects.
- Professional Licensure Support: The City may pay for your PE exam fees and a portion of exam prep courses. Once you are licensed, the City also pays for the professional development hours needed to keep your PE license active.
- Career Advancement Pathway: This position is the first step in a series of positions designed to support your professional growth over the course of your career. Future promotions are dependent on position availability and your qualifications, including obtaining your Professional Engineer (PE) license for the State of Oregon and your manager's recommendation. For new graduates with 0 to 2 years of engineering experience, this typically takes about 2 to 4 years. In some cases, internship experience may count toward the professional experience required for licensure.
What you will bring along:
- Teamwork & Partnership: Enthusiasm for working within a small, collaborative team environment, building partnerships across City departments and with outside agencies, and engaging effectively with diverse stakeholder groups to achieve common goals.
- Field & Technical Collaboration: Experience through coursework, internships, or projects working with engineers, technicians, or field staff to solve problems and improve operations.
- Analytical & Diagnostic Mindset: A knack for troubleshooting detail-oriented tasks, investigating complex problems, and tracing issue root causes systematically.
- Network Fundamentals: A basic understanding of, or a genuine interest in and willingness to learn, network fundamentals. Many of our devices require network connections, and we are a major stakeholder in the City's fiber-optic network that connects our signals for remote monitoring and troubleshooting.
- Core Engineering Foundation: Basic knowledge of, or interest in learning, traffic engineering principles, regulations, and codes, including the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD), AASHTO standards, and ODOT and City standards.
- Independence & Initiative: With two engineers focused on the signal system, you will coordinate with many interested parties. We are looking for someone who asks questions, stays organized, and grows into that responsibility over time.
- Professional Growth Drive: A strong desire to pursue ongoing professional development and education, including Oregon PE licensure, contributing to the advancement of the City's objectives for a safe, efficient, and sustainable transportation system.
- Relevant Software Exposure: While not required, applicants are highly encouraged to detail any academic, internship, or project experience with AutoCAD Civil 3D (regular AutoCAD exposure is great), Synchro, GIS, Bluebeam, or Excel in their application materials.
Additional information on job responsibilities:
- Signal Timing & Database Maintenance: Build and program timing files in central software, with all work reviewed by the Senior Traffic Engineer, and maintain the Transparity (MyCity) database.
- Electrician Liaison: Serve as the initial point of contact for Signal Maintenance Electricians on timing-related work orders.
- Timing Deployments & Turn-Ons: When new hardware, phases, or detection are installed, support the Senior Traffic Engineer in deploying updated timing plans and turning on new signals. These scheduled deployments often happen late at night or very early in the morning.
- Development & CIP Stakeholder Reviews: Review private development and Capital Improvement Project (CIP) submittals for traffic signals, Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacons (RRFBs), school flashers, enhanced pedestrian crossings, streetlighting, and fiber-optic communication lines, checking them against City and regional standards.
- Regional Signal Modernization: Support signal-related tasks on the retrofit of nearly 30 traffic signals across the region with modern signal heads, advanced detection systems, updated controllers, and key pedestrian safety enhancements. The project manager in Project Engineering leads the project, and you will work closely with the electricians during construction.
- Safety & Livability Bond Projects: Coordinate signal-related needs with project managers on projects funded by the City's $300M Safety and Livability Bond, including temporary signal and timing strategies, and support field verification and signal turn-ons.
- Signal Plan Production: As you gain experience, prepare signal plan redlines in AutoCAD.
- Inter-Agency Coordination: Work with project managers, consultants, and partners at City of Keizer, Marion County, and ODOT on timing adjustments and temporary traffic control.
- Community Engagement: Investigate operational concerns and draft responses to public inquiries regarding signal timing, pedestrian delays, or flasher operation.
- Reports & Records: Prepare technical reports and correspondence and keep accurate project and timing records.
- Traffic Engineering Support: Assist with traffic engineering studies and field investigations, such as vision clearance and signing and striping requests, to support departmental goals and broaden your experience.
- Additional Duties: Perform other traffic engineering tasks as needed to support departmental goals and priorities.
What can we offer you for all your hard work?
- Medical, dental, and vision coverage for you and your family.
- Paid vacation and sick time in accordance with City policies.
- Paid Military Leave in accordance with City policies.
- Competitive pay.
- Employer-paid PERS contribution of 6%.
- Opportunity for voluntary pre-tax contributions to a 457b account.
- Health care and dependent care flexible spending accounts.
- Voluntary long-term care.
- Employee wellness program.
- Employee assistance program.
- Employee health clinic.
- A flexible schedule may be available based on manager approval, normal working hours are Monday through Friday between the hours of 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Scheduled evening or early-morning work is required for planned signal deployments and turn-ons.
- Overtime eligible: This position is in the AFSCME General bargaining unit and is overtime eligible in accordance with the labor agreement and City policy. Overnight and early-morning signal turn-ons and timing deployments are planned at least a week ahead, so you can plan around them.
- Support for professional licensure, including payment of PE exam fees and exam prep courses, and paid professional development hours once licensed.
- The City of Salem offers a comprehensive and equitable base salary within the listed range based on your experience, skills, and education. We encourage you to clearly describe how you meet the minimum qualifications and essential attributes in your application materials. Learn more about Equal Pay.
What are the minimum qualifications?
- Must pass the pre-employment background check.
- Must have an Oregon Driver license and a driving record that meets the City of Salem's driving standards.
- A Bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university with major coursework in Civil Engineering, Environmental Engineering, or a related field, or ability to obtain a Bachelor's degree within six months of hire, or any combination of experience and training that demonstrate possession of the knowledge, skills, and abilities as listed, and ability to perform the essential job functions.
- Possession of Engineering Intern / Engineer-in-Training (EI/EIT) Certificate.
Hiring managers do not have access to view resumes as part of the application review process, please make sure to give detailed information in your application that includes your experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities as requested in the supplemental questions and job advertisement.
Where can I find out more about the position?
Go to the menu option for Class Specifications and search for Engineering Associate or view by clicking here.
Work Shift:
Benefits Information:
For benefits information, please, go to:
https://www.cityofsalem.net/government/jobs/employment-information/afscme-general-service-employee-benefits
Hiring managers do not have access to view resumes as part of the application review process, so please make sure to give detailed information in your application that includes your experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities as requested in the supplemental questions and job application.
In some cases, if we are unable to hire a qualified candidate for this classification, we may also consider candidates for related classifications.
If applicable for this posting, other job classifications that may be considered are listed below:
Engineering Associate
As applicable for this posting, the pay range(s) below include the combined hourly and/or salary ranges for all classifications listed above. The exact pay range will depend on the specific classification for which you are hired.
Job Type:
Career
Department:
Transportation Eng3 1047
Location:
Civic Center Room 325
Opening Date:
2026-11-02
About us:
Salem is the second largest city in Oregon and the capital city. Centrally located in the Willamette Valley, Salem is 49 square miles in size and extends across to counties, Marion and Polk. The community has well-established neighborhoods and carefully preserved historic buildings with wide diversity and a family-friendly ambiance. The city is home to nearly 180,000 residents. For a full community profile detailing demographics and housing statistics, visit the City of Salem website.
The City of Salem organization has eight primary departments: Community Services, Finance, Fire, Enterprise Services, Legal, Police, Public Works, and Community Planning and Development. Several departments also have functional divisions within their department. The City of Salem employs roughly 1,350 talented and dedicated staff members and works collaboratively with five labor unions.
The Salem Police Department is the fourth largest agency in Oregon. We are a full-service department with myriad special teams and career advancement opportunities. In November 2020, the department moved into a modern 104,000-square-foot facility with many amenities for employees, featuring purposeful efficiency design for operations and amenities that promote employee wellness.
The Public Works Department values employees and their professional development. If you are someone that takes pride in collaborating on innovative ideas, proactively responding to community needs, and being a good environmental and financial steward, we look forward to meeting you! The Public Works Department promotes a healthy work life balance, while maintaining the utmost dedication to the health, safety, and welfare of our community, including our team!
The Urban Renewal Agency and the Salem Housing Authority are separate municipal corporations. The Agency contracts with the City for services and the Authority is led by the Housing Administrator within the Urban Development department.
How can I apply?
The City of Salem invites individuals of all diverse communities and backgrounds to apply for our available job opportunities as we strive to provide the best service to everyone. The City of Salem is committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all and has a culture that values diversity, equity, and inclusion. We believe that by welcoming differences, encouraging new ideas and views, listening to, and learning from each other, we are better able to serve the community.
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