The Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT), Systems Planning Bureau, is seeking a Transportation Planner who will serve on the Traffic Modeling, Forecasting, and Telemetrics Team. Responsibilities of this position will focus on providing critical transportation planning technical support to Iowa’s local agencies, including the nine metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs), as well as performing a variety of long-range transportation planning activities for the Iowa DOT.

The Iowa Department of Transportation’s Mission is Making Lives Better Through Transportation. To accomplish our Mission, the person selected for this position will demonstrate actions and behaviors guided by the Iowa Department of Transportation’s five CORE values: Safety First, People Matter, Customer Focused, Servant Leadership, and Integrity Without Exception.

Location: Ames, Iowa

Shift: Days, Monday through Friday, 8:00 am – 4:30 pm with flextime and telework available. Overnight travel is not regularly required.

This position will play a critical role in strengthening and improving the department’s travel demand modeling efforts and analytical capabilities using Geographic Information System software. Responsibilities include performing long-range planning activities for highways, including capacity analyses, asset management system integration, condition analyses, Census data analysis, etc. Other responsibilities include representing the department and making presentations to MPO Technical committees and policy boards.

Duties include, but are not limited to:

• Investigates and uses a wide range of software programs, including but not limited to Microsoft Office Suite, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and other transportation planning-related software
• Analyzes and interprets various types of transportation planning data (e.g., Census, Survey, Inventory, Highway Performance and Monitoring System, Pavement, Traffic Count) for forecasting, travel analysis, and long-range transportation plan development
• Prepares background research and gathers information to support travel demand modeling, traffic forecasting, project analysis, interchange justification, and long-range plan development
• Provides professional written and verbal communication to coworkers, internal and external customers for traffic forecasting, travel analysis, travel demand modeling, interchange justification, and long-range plan development on a regular basis
• Conduct on-site visits to Iowa’s nine metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) and 18 Regional Planning Affiliations (RPAs), and other DOT partners and affiliates

In this position, we are seeking an individual with:

• Strong writing and oral communication skills.
• Graduation from an accredited four-year college with a planning or closely related degree is preferred.

Additional Requirements:

What we offer YOU:

– Competitive pay and benefits package including health, dental, flexible spending, and life insurance.

– Insurance benefits start first day of the month following 30 days of employment. 2025 health and dental insurance premiums can be found here.

– Opportunities for professional growth and development.

– Paid time off effective immediately – biweekly vacation, separate sick leave, accruals rollover on a yearly basis, and 9 paid holidays per year.

– Iowa Public Employee Retirement System (IPERS) Retirement Package with employer match

– Optional 401A plan with employer contributions.

– Employee Discount Programs from a variety of vendors (vision, cellular, fitness, recreation, season passes, travel, counseling; legal, financial).

We encourage you to learn more about the State of Iowa Employee benefits and costs at the State of Iowa Employee Benefits Website!

You have the freedom to flourish in Iowa – Apply today!

The Iowa Department of Transportation is an equal opportunity employer. If you require a reasonable accommodation in completing any screening, interviewing, pre-employment testing, or otherwise participating in the selection process, please direct your request to the Affirmative Action & Equal Employment Opportunity (AA/EEO) Officer at: aa-eeo@iowadot.us

Reasonable accommodation includes an interpreter, translator, written materials, modified equipment/devices, ADA access, etc. This does not include scheduling needs.

1. Graduation from an accredited four-year college or university with a degree in any field, and experience equal to four years of full-time work in professional transportation planning*/engineering.
2. Licensure as a professional engineer by the Iowa Engineering & Land Surveying Examining Board.
3. Current, continuous experience in the state executive branch that includes three years of full-time work as a Transportation Planner 1.

* “Transportation planning” includes preparing planning contracts and grants; managing planning grant application submittals and project development; preparing functional classification appeals; developing travel demand models and traffic forecasts; creating cartographic representations and data collection applications; analyzing transportation data, project plans, and reports to identify problems; developing portions of statewide transportation plans; or conducting/coordinating transportation research projects.

For additional information, please click on this link to view the job description. (Download PDF reader)