Lead Surveyor Field Engineer

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Project Overview:

Thacker Pass is the largest known lithium resource in the United States. Once complete, the mine and processing facilities will produce more lithium carbonate than any other facility in the United States by far – enough to power 1 million electric vehicles per year. As the EPCM contractor for Lithium Americas, Bechtel is responsible for managing and integrating the efforts of a team contractors engineering and building the facility. We are also managing procurement of about $1 Billion in goods and services. Earth work began in 2023 and design and procurement of long-lead equipment is underway. The project is located in the high desert and wide-open spaces of north-central Nevada about 25 miles from the Oregon border, 1 hour northwest of Winnemucca, Nevada and 3 hours northeast of Reno. Planned with sustainability and the environment in mind, the facility will use its excess process heat to generate electricity and will recycle process water up to seven times. Once the second phase of the project is complete, Thacker Pass will produce more than 16 times the current U.S. output of lithium. Bechtel is proud to play a critical role in the U.S. transition to cleaner energy and offers the following opportunity on the Thacker Pass Project.

Job Summary:

Provide support as required to the construction team reporting directly to the Project Field Engineer. Supervise and/or direct activities relating to construction engineering, layout of foundation locations, equipment locations, structural steel placement, subcontracts, and engineering liaison with the design functional group. Use design drawings, model and specifications to determine associated plant and equipment locations.

Works with field engineering to support field verification of materials as appropriate and needed.

Provides technical support as related to survey to Field Engineering and Superintendents in a wide range of situation and configurations. Multi-Disciplined Field Engineering responsibilities with earthwork, excavation, concrete, structural steel, mechanical, and piping, etc. installation experience.

Major Responsibilities:

The Project Survey Manager’s duties include, but not limited to, the following:  

• Lead the oversight of all survey operations and overall quality and integrity of the surveying program, assuring that all survey work is performed with the highest regard for the safety of all involved 
• Provides technical direction to the direct-hire survey team and/or sub-contracted survey crews, including verification of survey crews’ control points and work 
• Direct the survey team’s implementation of the project safety, quality, and environmental programs. 
• Oversee the survey team’s implementation of the Survey Procedure (SWPP 3201) 
• Provide Construction Survey support to Field Engineering, Field Supervision, Construction Management and Design Engineering 
• Establish and/or verify and maintain the project’s survey control network  
• Responsible for the accurate layout of construction work, recordation of field data according to job specifications and appropriate methods of performing survey activities 
• Oversee the development and management of survey data  
• Oversee the Calibration Baseline checks of survey instruments 
• Oversee the administration of the survey work request program  
• Supervise the preparation of survey CAD drawings, including generation of Digital Terrain Models (DTM) and volumes computations 
• Perform and/or check survey computations as required in the performance of duties 
• Perform and/or check survey control network least squares adjustment computations 
• Oversee the Civil project completion documentation including "As-Built" records  
• Responsible for the creation and implementation of the project survey plan 
• Coordinate with functional management the creation and implementation of the survey training program 
• Oversee the implementation of project’s UAV/Drone, Laser Scanning, and Metrology programs

Education and Experience Requirements:

Level 1:

• Engineering/Technical degree and 9 years’ experience in heavy construction/industrial surveying, involving a mix of field and office duties with modern instruments, software, and technology; with at least 5 years’ supervisorial experience or 15 years’ experience (in lieu of a degree), with at least 5 years’ supervisorial experience
• Must have the right to live and work in the USA without sponsorship
• Must be able to complete and pass a pre-employment drug screen and background check which includes verification of employment and education.
• Must be able to obtain and maintain a site security badge for access to the worksite.

Level 2:

• Engineering/Technical degree and 13 years’ experience in heavy construction/industrial surveying, involving a mix of field and office duties with modern instruments, software, and technology; with at least 5 years’ supervisorial experience or 19 years’ experience (in lieu of a degree), with at least 5 years’ supervisorial experience
• Must have the right to live and work in the USA without sponsorship
• Must be able to complete and pass a pre-employment drug screen and background check which includes verification of employment and education.
• Must be able to obtain and maintain a site security badge for access to the worksite.

Required Knowledge and Skills:

• Knowledge of engineering and construction methods and processes customarily acquired over time through specialized instruction and/or practical experience 
• Multi-Disciplined Field Engineering Survey experience with earthwork, excavation, concrete, structural steel, mechanical, and piping, etc. installation layout and verification experience 
• Knowledge of Bechtel’s “Zero Incidents” safety program. Must have a strong drive toward Safety, both on and off the job, a commitment to seeing everyone go home each day as well and healthy as they came to work that day 
• Knowledge of heavy industrial construction survey principles 
• Knowledge of supervisory functions relating to heavy industrial construction surveying field & office activities  
• Displays effective communications skills crucial to motivating team members and presenting plans in a clear and concise manner 
• Self-starter, highly motivated, requiring little supervision, with excellent problem-solving ability. 
• Demonstrated ability to work in a team-based environment, able to formulate a working relationship with survey team members, other departments and contractors, and survey functional management 
• Demonstrated experience with Robotic Total Stations, Digital Levels & GNSS survey systems. 
• Demonstrated proficiency with Survey CAD software, (TBC & Civil3D) including the ability to perform and check digital computations for generation of survey layout data and drafting of as staked/as-built data; generate DTMs and compute volumes. 
• Demonstrated proficiency with Network Least Square Adjustment software. 
• Awareness of government compliance standards 
• This project may have multiple work schedules that are subject to change and may require employees to work overtime, weekends and/or night shift when a business need arises 

Preferred Skills

• Prior Bechtel Survey Mega-Project experience 
• Working knowledge of Bechtel construction procedures 
• Experience with UAV/Drones 
• Licensed FAA Part 107 UAV/Drone Pilot 
• Experience with 3D Laser Scanning hardware and software a plus 
• Knowledge of supervisory functions relating to Metrology field & office activities 
• Experience working with, supervising, and administering subcontractors’ workforce 
• Experience managing technical services subcontracts is desirable 

Total Rewards/Benefits

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