Evacuation Planner

Who We Are

Dudek is a leading environmental, planning, and engineering firm that help public and private clients plan, design, and build projects that improve communities’ built and natural infrastructure. Founded in 1980, Dudek has grown steadily to more than 800 professionals across the U.S. and received the Top Workplace Award for 2024.

As a 100% employee-owned company, Dudek’s culture rewards smart, productive team members with ownership, professional development, and financial benefits. We seek creative, pragmatic problem-solvers working at the intersection of science, engineering, regulations, and multiple stakeholders’ interest to help clients achieve project goals.

We encourage collaboration, sustainability, and innovation.

At Dudek, we abide by shared values:

1. Trust: We trust each other to use good judgment.
2. Respect: We act professionally and treat each other fairly.
3. Teamwork: We come together, share openly, and apply diverse perspectives.
4. Fun: We take our work seriously…not ourselves.
5. Well-Being: We care about each other’s health, safety, and total wellness.

Our culture is the foundation of who we are and how we work. We empower our employee-owners to invest in our local communities and themselves through initiatives that make Dudek a great place to work! Our cultural programs include:

• DuGreen: Our sustainability initiative, which works to improve our environmental footprint.
• DuGood: Our philanthropic initiative, which seeks to support the communities in which we live and work through fundraising challenges, office-based giving, and opportunity to take a paid volunteer day each year.
• eDUcate: Our educational outreach program where we aim to foster interest in our work and careers in the environmental and engineering field by participating in educational events in our communities.
• DuWell: Our wellness initiative, aimed at providing education on wellness, benefit resources, and preventive care.

At Dudek, we recognize that different perspectives, inclusivity, trust, and belonging build a stronger culture and add value to our firm. Dudek's Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) operate as diversity champions within Dudek and create a safe space for underrepresented employees and their allies to support, collaborate, network, and brainstorm ways to make Dudek’s work community more inclusive. We currently have ERGs for:

• Women at Dudek
• Members of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer (LGBTQ+) community
• Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) employees
• Disabled employees (all disabilities, seen/unseen)

About The Job

Dudek is seeking a mid-level professional to join our fire protection and evacuation planning team on a full-time basis. Dudek’s team has been working in the wildfire assessment and fire protection planning field for over 20 years. We work with landowners, development companies, and land management agencies to evaluate wildfire hazards and evacuation approaches and develop plans that provide a framework for analyzing evacuation impacts according to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) standards.

This position is ideally located in one of our Southern California offices, but we will consider accommodating other location preferences. Travel to project sites and client or fire agency offices throughout California and potentially western states will be likely. Familiarity with emergency planning procedures and standards, the Incident Command System, and state and local building, development, and defensible space codes and standards is also highly desirable.

Who You Are

To thrive at Dudek, you should be comfortable with accountability, collaboration, flexibility while being a resourceful and independent thinker. We look for curious, solution-focused people who can adapt quickly to an ever-changing industry. There is no single way to solve a problem, so we encourage innovation.

Duties and Responsibilities (may include some or all of the below):

• Analyzing project maps, plans, and data sets and summarizing evacuation conditions for inclusion in reports and management plans.
• Conducting field assessments to evaluate evacuation hazard conditions.
• Analyzing field data, GIS data, and conducting project-related research.
• Preparing or supporting preparation of evacuation plans, technical reports, and development of supported recommendations.
• Attending meetings to discuss the results of project-related assessments and analyses.
• Working with and mentoring junior staff.
• Attending meetings and hearings as a subject matter expert in evacuation planning and wildfire hazard and risk reduction.

Minimum Requirements

• 7+ years of documented professional experience in the fire service sector in the field of emergency planning.
• Ability to conduct research and evaluate data sets and planning documents and summarize pertinent information into reports.
• Ability to understand and interpret site development plan drawings.
• Ability to speak professionally and relate evacuation concepts and issues to project planning teams and decision-making bodies.
• Excellent writing and analysis skills.
• Must possess a valid driver’s license and have active personal automobile liability insurance by the first day of employment.

* As a federal contractor, successful candidates are required to pass the following pre-employment requirements prior to beginning employment: pre-employment drug test and background check.

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in emergency planning, fire science, law enforcement, fire ecology, environmental science, or other related field.
• Desirable certifications/qualifications: FEMA ICS 100, ICS-200, IS-700.B, and IS-800.D.
• Proficiency with evacuation modeling and analysis software packages and toolkits is highly desirable.

Physical Requirements

Working Conditions:

• This job operates in a remote or office-based environment and this role routinely uses standard office equipment such as computers, phones, printers, etc.
• This job requires occasional project site visits-based outdoors which can include excessive noise, uneven walking surfaces, extreme weather, moving vehicles, and equipment.

Physical Requirements: The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met in order to successfully perform the essential functions of the job.

• This job requires working on a computer, sitting or standing for long periods of time in an office or remote office setting.
• This job requires attending meetings, both in person and virtually as well as speaking on the phone with peers, clients, etc. Speaking, hearing, and listening are required.
• Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and ability to adjust focus.
• Outdoor activity may involve walking/trekking in uneven terrain over long distances in extreme weather conditions for extended periods of time.

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Proposed Salary Range: $80,000 - $105,000 annually*

*Final agreed upon compensation will be based on a variety of factors including but not limited to an individual’s related experience, education, certifications, skills, and work location.

Perks of Being a Dudekian

At Dudek, we will provide you with a competitive salary in an environment that promotes growth, career development, and a flexible work-life balance. Dudek offers an array of benefits, from medical, dental, and vision coverage, to discretionary bonuses based on firmwide, divisional, and individual performance.

We also offer a yearly merit review, an employee stock ownership program, and dog-friendly offices! To honor our key value of well-being, Dudek provides a generous vacation package. If you’re tired of an overly bureaucratic decision-making process and want to be part of a work culture that puts its employees first, speak with your recruiter to learn more about the great perks of being a Dudekian.

Dudek is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national or ethnic origin, age, disability, protected veteran status, or other characteristics protected by applicable law.

Dudek is a U.S.-based employer. All positions are based in the U.S. and require U.S. work authorization.