Equipment Operator Specialist - Panhandle

Grow Your Career with TxDOT – Equipment Operator Specialist Opening in Panhandle, TX
The Amarillo District is looking for a motivated Equipment Operator to join our Panhandle Maintenance Section. Whether you're already part of the TxDOT family or looking to bring your skills to a team that values safety, reliability, and respect, this is a great opportunity to build your career. We offer competitive pay, excellent benefits, and a strong focus on work-life balance. At TxDOT, we live by our core values: improving safety, valuing our employees, and preserving our assets. Join a team that works hard, supports one another, and takes pride in serving the community.

Performs highly complex transportation maintenance work operating heavy equipment such as: a tractor-trailer haul truck, motor grader, large excavator, heavy bulldozer, crane, herbicide truck, heavy asphalt paving machine, self-propelled asphalt distributor, profiling/milling machine, and dump truck. Work requires contact with private entities. Employees at this level perform work independently on assignments; however, all unusual issues are referred to the supervisor.

Essential Duties

• Trains other employees on equipment operation and safety procedures.
• Assists in providing support to local law enforcement officials at accident sites; assists stranded motorists as required. 
•  Assists with traffic control; places and gathers cones, warning signs and barricades; flags traffic.
• Monitors and completes various required reports including time-keeping, equipment forms, inventory, accident forms, Preventative Maintenance Inspection (PMI) checklist, and records work in progress.
• Operates light equipment such as a front-end loader one and a quarter cubic yards or less, pneumatic roller, rotary broom, spreader box, backhoe, street sweeper, and mower.
• Operates one or more types of complex heavy equipment such as tractor-trailer haul truck, motor grader, large excavator, heavy bulldozer, crane, herbicide truck, heavy asphalt paving machine, self-propelled asphalt profiling/milling machine and dump truck.
• Performs preventive maintenance inspections (PMI), routine servicing and minor repairs on equipment; as required uses/moves equipment/tools, materials and products related to these activities to include tires and equipment attachments.
•  May serve as a work crew project lead ensuring work performed meets project specifications.
• Operates heavy equipment performing highly complex transportation maintenance and roadway repairs.
• Sands or cleans bridges and roads, posting warning signs, helping the public and performing other work as directed during emergency situations such as floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, snowstorms, accidents and hazardous material spills.
• Performs other job responsibilities as assigned.

Minimum Qualifications

Education: No education required.

Experience: 2 year(s) experience in maintenance and/or construction equipment operation. (Experience can be satisfied by full time or prorated part time equivalent). Related college education or relevant technical training may be substituted for experience on a year per year basis. Substitutions for Minimum Qualifications

Licenses and Certifications:

• Valid driver's license. This position requires driving a state vehicle.

• Must have a valid Texas Commercial Driver's License for equipment operation at the time of application.

Competencies:

Considerable knowledge of:

• The Texas Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices

• Basic vehicle mechanics, maintenance and repair procedures.

• Applicable industry safety standards, guidelines, and specification codes

Proficient skill in:

• Prioritizing and organizing work assignments

• Using applicable hand and power tools, equipment, and mechanical devices of the trade. 

• Operating light and heavy highway equipment

• Maintaining a safe and effective working relationship with others. 

• Maintaining a safe working environment.

Ability to:

• Communicate effectively

• Follow verbal and written instructions

• Drive and ride in a vehicle for extended periods. 

Physical Requirements and Working Conditions: 

• Subject to inside and outside environmental conditions

• Subject to extreme cold and heat; below 32 and/or above 100 degrees for more than one hour

• Subject to hazards-moving vehicles/mechanical parts, high places/heat, or chemicals

• Required to wear protective gear-respirator, hard hat, or other device

• Medium work: Lift up to 50 lbs at a time and frequently lift or carry objects up to 25 lbs

• Standing-prolonged periods of time

• Walking-moving on foot to accomplish tasks: long distance/from one work site to another

• Visual Acuity-operate motor vehicles and/or heavy equipment

Conditions of Employment:

Please click this link to read the standard conditions of employment for all positions: Standard Conditions of Employment (TxDOT)

• This job has been identified as physically demanding and will require a pre-employment physical.
• Must pass a drug test prior to employment for safety impact positions. This is a Safety Impact position and will be subject to random drug testing.
  • Please note that the Department of Transportation's Drug and Alcohol Testing Regulation – 49 CFR Part 40, at 40.151(e) – does not authorize “medical marijuana” under a state law to be a valid medical explanation for a positive drug test result for an employee in this position.
• Must be able to report for duty within 60 minutes of notification on a 24-hour basis to respond to emergency situations.