What are the responsibilities and job description for the Planning Intern position at Alta Planning + Design?
Department: Planning
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Compensation: $24.00 - $26.00 / hour
Alta Planning Design is seeking a Planning Intern to join our team for Summer 2025 in Phoenix, AZ. This is a unique opportunity for anyone who wants to start their career in active transportation. If you are looking for an innovative organization that is an industry leader in active transportation, want to work with talented and passionate professionals, apply with us today!
About Alta
Alta Planning Design is a sustainable transportation company dedicated to creating active, healthy communities through planning, landscape architecture, engineering, and education/encouragement programs. Alta was founded in 1996 when communities were calling for safer streets for people walking and bicycling as the non-motorized transportation movement developed into a profession in the United States. We pioneered the field of active transportation, evolving our planning and design work into a visionary global practice that empowers people to live active, healthy lives and gets them to where they need to go.
Our core values and work bring about positive change by creating places that are geared toward moving people rather than cars, connecting community members to daily needs and human experience, and empowering every person to live an active healthy life. As a global leader in mobility innovation for over 27 years with over 200 staff, we are dedicated to connecting people to places by working across disciplines and scale to address social justice, safety, and environmental resilience.
Summary Overview
This is a temporary, full-time (30 hours a week), entry-level, opportunity to jumpstart your career and gain hands-on experience in the Active Transportation world. With an internship at Alta, you'll be exposed to a variety of projects, learn about consulting, and collaborate across disciplines and geographies with passionate engineers, landscape architects, urban planners, graphic designers, and civic data analysts. You'll be able to have an impact on communities and how people get around.
The internship program is more than just a job - we want you to focus on learning about our world, everything from proposals to project retrospectives. We aim to prepare you for your career in active transportation, even if it's not at Alta; the world needs more passionate people making real-world changes, and we're here to help you take that next step.
When you join our program, you'll:
- Be paired with a supervisor who will provide mentorship and hands-on training in your area of study.
- Attend Alta University sessions (in-house training sessions on service areas, project management, DE&I training, and business fundamentals)
- Meet with other interns regularly to discuss the program.
- Work on incubator projects - emerging work and products that Alta is working on behind the scenes.
- Help produce deliverables on some of Alta's ongoing and most exciting projects.
A general understanding of the field of urban planning, landscape architecture, or transportation engineering, a passion for active transportation, and the ability to collaborate across discipline boundaries are required to successfully meet the requirements of this position.
The essential priorities of this position are to:
- Gain functional knowledge and skills in urban planning, landscape architecture and design, or civil engineering that pertain to active transportation
- Learn about the world of consulting
- Contribute to the production of project deliverables.
- Participate in ongoing research and development efforts
Additional responsibilities of this position may include, but are not limited to:
- Participating in field investigations, site analysis, or public outreach events
- Participating in research activities in support of project planning deliverables
- Contributing to a variety of project deliverables that may include: cost estimates and design details for construction documents; plant palettes and landscape design recommendations; aligning trails and other design elements to meet appropriate ADA requirements; assisting in the creation of photo-renderings, concept sketches, and construction drawings; design or redesign of roadways to follow complete street principles
A general understanding of the field of urban planning, landscape architecture, or transportation engineering, a passion for active transportation, and the ability to collaborate across disciplines are required to successfully meet the requirements of this position. Additionally, you must be:
- Students currently enrolled in a bachelor's (junior year or above) or master's program in the field of study related to Alta's practices, OR recent graduates who have no career experience in the field
- Strong initiative, attention to detail, and a can-do mindset
- Ability to work in an environment of competing priorities and multiple simultaneous projects
- Good interpersonal, written and verbal communication skills
- Exhibits accuracy, attention to detail and strong organizational skills
- Ability to learn new technical skills and problem solve
- General understanding of MS Excel, Word, Adobe Creative Suite, G-Suite
Compensation
- The pay for this internship is $24/hour for those in bachelor's programs, $26/hour for those in master's programs.
- Temporary employees are not eligible for other benefits unless mandated by state or local law.
Salary : $24 - $26
