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Senior Technical Advisor / Lead Design Manager

HNTB

San Jose, CAFull-time$188–301K/yrSeen todaySeen in employer's feed today

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At a glance

Compensation
$188–301K/yr
Location
San Jose, CA
Schedule
Full-time
Work Authorization
Not specified

Olive lists jobs from US employers, including remote roles you can work from the United States.

Job overview

HNTB seeks a senior technical advisor and lead design manager to guide engineering disciplines and support project development and delivery. The role applies advanced engineering methods to complex infrastructure projects, advises project teams and clients, and ensures consistent design standards. It focuses on tunnels and complex underground structures across transit, rail, highways, airports, and water/wastewater sectors.

Skills & qualifications

RequiredNice to have

Skills

Advanced Engineering MethodsTechnical ReviewsTechnical GuidanceProposal GenerationTechnical CoordinationTechnical ConsistencyMentoringClient AdvisingPresentationsTechnical Writing

Qualifications

Bachelor's in Engineering or Master's in Engineering or PhD in Engineering12+ Years Relevant Experience or 11+ Years Relevant Experience or 10+ Years Relevant ExperienceProfessional Engineer Certification20 Years Relevant Experience

Full job description

What We're Looking For

At HNTB, you can create a career that is meaningful to you while building communities that matter to all of us. For more than a century, we have been delivering solutions for some of the largest, most complex infrastructure projects across the country. With our historic growth, it is an exciting time to join our team of employee-owners.

This opportunity entails being responsible for providing guidance and direction in area of expertise and functional discipline. This position supports the technical aspect of project development and delivery including proposal development, scope implementation and change management. Responsible for applying advanced engineering methods, techniques, and analyses to provide solutions, make recommendations and resolve issues. Ensures industry and HNTB standards of design are applied consistently and effectively across projects ranging in discipline, size and complexity. Independently applies knowledge and experience in partnership with internal project team members and external client counterparts. Serves as an advisor on complex projects to provide technical designs, plans and specifications.

This position supports tunnels and complex underground structures across the transit, rail, highways, airports, and water/wastewater market sectors.

What You'll Do:

  • Performs independent technical reviews, makes recommendations, and provides technical guidance as requested on complex or unusual engineering projects. Provides direction to resolve technical issues as requested.

  • Provides technical expertise and advice to project leadership, and mentoring/support to production staff.

  • Assists in marketing responsibilities, including proposal generation on complex or unusual engineering projects within discipline.

  • Coordinates technical aspects with client counterpart and teaming partners at local leadership level for work within and across disciplines on complex or unusual engineering projects.

  • Develops and advises on technical consistency within and across disciplines on processes and projects.

  • Ensures same standard and practices are being applied.

  • Performs other duties as assigned.

What You'll Need:

  • Bachelor’s degree in Engineering and 12 years of relevant experience, or

  • Master’s degree in Engineering and 11 year of relevant experience, or

  • PhD in Engineering and 10 years of relevant experience

What You'll Bring:

  • Serves as the lead technical engineer for large projects of a complex or unusual nature and is recognized as an expert in the technical field.

  • Identifies and communicates industry best practices, trends, and risks through presentations, articles, and white papers.

  • Serves as a trusted advisor to clients, is sought out for expertise in their given field, and serves as the differentiator for the firm against competition.

  • Represents the firm as a member of industry advisory committees.

What We Prefer:

  • Master’s degree in Engineering

  • 20 years relevant experience

  • Professional Engineer (PE) certification

Additional Information

Click here for benefits information: HNTB Total Rewards

Click here to learn more about Equal Opportunity Employer/Disability/Veteran

Visa sponsorship is not available for this position.

#NF

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Locations:

San Jose, CA

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The approximate pay range for the California San Francisco Bay Area is $188,125.20 - $300,511.68. Please note that the pay range provided is a good faith estimate for the position at the time of posting. Actual compensation will be dependent on factors, including but not limited to, the individual’s qualifications, experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities as well as physical work location within the state.

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NOTICE TO THIRD-PARTY AGENCIES:

HNTB does not accept unsolicited resumes from recruiters or agencies. Any staffing/employment agency, person or entity that submits an unsolicited resume to this site does so with the understanding that the applicant's resume will become the property of HNTB. HNTB will have the right to hire that applicant at its discretion and without any fee owed to the submitting staffing/employment agency, person or entity. Staffing/employment agencies who have fee agreements with HNTB must submit applicants to the designated HNTB recruiter to be eligible for placement fees.

Job Type: Regular

Full/Part Time: Full time

Job Category: Engineering Group

ReqID: R-32133

How this job compares

Set against the 454 open Technical Advisor jobs on Olive Jobs, counted October 31, 2026.

Pay
  • This posting$188–301K/yr
  • California median$177–239K/yr69 salary ranges
  • US median$147–235K/yr354 salary ranges

This range's midpoint, $244K, is 18% above the California median midpoint ($208K) — in the middle half of Technical Advisor salary ranges in California.

Openings
Olive Jobs lists 76 open Technical Advisor jobs in California and 454 across the US. 6% of them nationwide are listed as remote or flexible.
Hiring the most in California
Experience
This posting asks for at least 10 years of experience; Technical Advisor postings that state a minimum ask for 8 years at the median (404 postings).
Education
163 of the 454 open Technical Advisor jobs (36%) ask for a bachelor's degree or higher.

Counted across the open, public US postings on Olive Jobs on October 31, 2026. Pay medians are the middle values of the low ends and of the high ends of postings that list both ends of a range in the same cadence (a yearly salary or an hourly rate); a range's midpoint is halfway between its ends. Pay and experience figures resting on fewer than 20 postings are left out.

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