Junior Engineer Intern (EIT) – FDOT GEC Career Development
InNovo Partners
Position: Junior Engineer Intern (EIT) – Transportation / Roadway
Career Track: FDOT General Engineering Consultant (GEC) Program Development
Position Overview
InNovo Partners is seeking a motivated Junior Engineer Intern (EIT) interested in building a career in transportation engineering through hands-on experience within the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) General Engineering Consultant (GEC) environment.
This early-career position is designed to develop well-rounded transportation professionals by combining technical roadway and highway engineering experience with exposure to project development, plan production, multidisciplinary coordination, and project management.
The selected candidate will contribute to active FDOT Turnpike/GEC assignments while working alongside experienced engineers, project managers, and technical specialists. Through structured learning, technical mentorship, progressive responsibility, and regular performance feedback, the EIT will develop an understanding not only of how transportation projects are designed, but also how they are developed, coordinated, managed, documented, and delivered within an FDOT GEC program.
The role is particularly suited for an EIT who wants to explore multiple aspects of transportation engineering before establishing a long-term technical or project management career path.
What You’ll Learn and Do
The EIT will rotate through or gain progressive exposure to three primary areas of project delivery:
1. Concept Design & Preliminary Engineering
Support the development and evaluation of early-stage roadway and highway concepts while learning how engineering decisions respond to project goals, existing conditions, design standards, constraints, costs, and multidisciplinary considerations.
Responsibilities may include:
- Review project scopes, existing conditions, available data, and design constraints.
- Assist with preliminary horizontal and vertical geometric layouts.
- Prepare preliminary typical sections, concept sketches, and supporting design materials.
- Support alternatives development and evaluation.
- Assist with concept-level quantities and preliminary cost considerations.
- Apply applicable FDOT and Turnpike design criteria under the guidance of senior engineers.
- Coordinate with traffic, drainage, structures, utilities, and other technical disciplines.
- Participate in design discussions and learn how technical decisions support broader project objectives.
2. Deputy Project Management & Project Delivery
Work alongside project managers to understand how FDOT/GEC projects are planned, coordinated, monitored, and successfully delivered. As the EIT develops, they will progressively assume responsibility for defined project management activities and smaller assignments.
Responsibilities may include:
- Participate in project planning, scheduling, progress reporting, and coordination activities.
- Assist with task tracking, project schedules, action items, and follow-through.
- Prepare meeting agendas, meeting notes, status updates, and draft presentation materials.
- Support internal and client-facing project coordination.
- Develop an understanding of project budgets, labor utilization, resource planning, and schedule management.
- Coordinate small technical or administrative project tasks with appropriate oversight.
- Track commitments and communicate progress, risks, and outstanding decisions.
- Observe and learn how project managers balance technical, schedule, budget, client, and stakeholder considerations.
- Progressively develop confidence, accountability, communication skills, and professional judgment.
3. Plan Processing & Contract Document Preparation
Gain practical experience with the processes used to advance transportation projects from design development toward final contract documents and letting.
Responsibilities may include:
- Assist with the development and assembly of roadway plan sets.
- Support preparation of cross sections, detail sheets, quantities, and other contract documents.
- Learn and apply FDOT CADD standards, file organization requirements, naming conventions, and plan production procedures.
- Review plan sheet organization and documentation for completeness and consistency.
- Participate in quality control and quality assurance activities, including redline reviews, checklists, and coordination logs.
- Assist with interdisciplinary plan coordination.
- Learn how design documents progress through reviews, submittals, revisions, and final production.
- Develop an understanding of the documentation and quality expectations associated with FDOT project delivery.
Structured Career Development
This position is intended to provide more than project-by-project task experience. The EIT will participate in a structured development framework combining active project assignments, mentorship, formal learning, and performance evaluation.
Development activities may include:
- Structured learning modules covering FDOT standards, procedures, project development, and transportation design fundamentals.
- Individual mentorship from experienced engineers and project managers.
- Exposure to multiple disciplines involved in highway and transportation project delivery.
- Progressive assignments designed to increase technical independence and professional responsibility.
- Periodic competency and performance evaluations.
- Identification of development goals and targeted opportunities to strengthen technical, communication, and leadership skills.
- Exposure to both technical and project management career paths within the GEC environment.
As competency develops, the EIT will be expected to work with increasing independence, manage defined responsibilities, communicate effectively across disciplines, and demonstrate readiness for progressively more complex assignments.
Qualifications
Required
- Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from an ABET-accredited engineering program.
- Engineer Intern (EI/EIT) certification, or ability to obtain certification within an agreed period after hire.
- 0–3 years of relevant engineering experience.
- Interest in transportation, roadway, highway, or infrastructure engineering.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills.
- Ability to organize assignments, manage priorities, and follow through on commitments.
- Willingness to learn and work collaboratively in a multidisciplinary project environment.
- Interest in developing both technical engineering and project delivery skills.
Preferred
- Academic, internship, or professional exposure to roadway or transportation engineering.
- Familiarity with FDOT standards, manuals, or project delivery processes.
- Exposure to MicroStation, OpenRoads Designer, AutoCAD, or similar engineering design software.
- Familiarity with roadway geometry, plan preparation, quantities, or engineering calculations.
- Interest in pursuing professional engineering licensure in Florida.
- Interest in developing a long-term career supporting FDOT and transportation infrastructure programs.
What Success Looks Like
A successful EIT in this role will demonstrate progressive growth in:
- Transportation and roadway engineering fundamentals.
- Application of FDOT design standards and procedures.
- Engineering judgment and problem solving.
- Plan production and contract document quality.
- Multidisciplinary coordination.
- Organization and task management.
- Professional communication.
- Accountability and follow-through.
- Understanding of project scope, schedule, budget, and delivery.
- Ability to accept feedback and apply lessons to future assignments.
- Readiness to take on increasingly independent technical and project management responsibilities.
Why Join InNovo Partners?
At InNovo Partners, early-career engineers are given the opportunity to understand the full project delivery lifecycle, not simply complete isolated design tasks.
By contributing directly to active FDOT Turnpike/GEC projects, the EIT will gain practical exposure to the technical, organizational, and management dimensions of major transportation programs. Working with experienced mentors and multidisciplinary teams provides an opportunity to explore different career paths while establishing a strong foundation in Florida transportation engineering.
The goal is to develop an engineer who understands how projects are conceived, designed, coordinated, documented, managed, and delivered—creating a foundation for future growth as a transportation engineer, technical specialist, project manager, and ultimately a trusted professional within the FDOT GEC environment.
Pay: $75,000.00 - $90,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- 401(k)
- 401(k) matching
- Dental insurance
- Health insurance
- Health savings account
- Life insurance
- Paid time off
- Professional development assistance
- Referral program
- Tuition reimbursement
- Vision insurance
Work Location: In person
