[Hiring] Lead Civil Engineer @Monterra

Role Description

Most civil roles are about grading one site after another the way it's been done for decades. This one is different. Yes, you'll design grading, drainage, and foundations and take projects through plan check, but you'll also work shoulder-to-shoulder with our AI engineering team to encode your expertise into a system that produces coordinated site designs faster and more reliably than anything the industry has seen. You won't just be doing the work. You'll be re-imagining how it gets done.

The Opportunity: Monterra is a new kind of consulting engineering firm specializing in power and energy infrastructure projects. At Monterra, licensed PEs direct and supervise our in-house AI agents to deliver faster and better engineering services.

We're hiring our Lead Civil Engineer, our first civil hire. You'll own civil across the firm, working directly with our principal electrical engineers to deliver coordinated civil and electrical sets.

Your time will be split across:

• Client project delivery: civil and light structural design, from grading and drainage to equipment foundations and plan-check responses.
• Discipline building: develop and continuously improve Monterra's civil engineering standards and processes.
• AI agent development: liaise with AI engineering team to improve our in-house AI agent.

Our goal is to reimagine how engineering services are delivered and push the frontier of quality, speed, and client experience. As our first civil engineer, you'll be a key part of that journey.

Qualifications

• BS in Civil Engineering.
• Active civil PE license in any US state (California strongly preferred), with willingness to obtain licensure in other states we work in.
• 7+ years of site/land development design (grading, drainage, stormwater), including taking projects through plan check to permit.
• Working structural competence for pads, footings, and anchorage (ACI 318, ASCE 7, IBC / CBC).
• Fluency in AutoCAD Civil 3D.
• Strong communication skills: ability to explain engineering rules to teammates outside your field.
• Qualities we value: intensely curious, strong sense of ownership, self-starter, creative problem solver, and comfortable juggling multiple fast-moving projects.

Requirements

• Experience on data center, BESS, substation, solar, or EV charging sites.
• Utility coordination on transformer pads, vaults, and service equipment.
• Stormwater permitting in CA, AZ, or TX.
• Experience building automation (e.g., scripts) and using AI tools in day-to-day work.

Benefits

• Competitive salary commensurate with experience.
• Early-stage equity: you'll be the first civil engineer on a small team, not employee #50.
• Health, vision, and dental insurance, commuter benefits, unlimited PTO, and more.
• Remote-first; occasional travel for site visits, conferences, customer meetings, and team gatherings.