Why CEC

Putting People First
We Own It.

At CEC, people come first. Always. We put people first because we believe that our employees do their best work when they’re supported and valued. It’s why we’re an employee-owned company. It’s why we offer competitive benefits and generous professional development opportunities. And it’s why, in an industry known for turnover, so many of our people have chosen to build their entire career at CEC. Explore below to find your reasons why. When you’re ready, apply to start your CEC journey!

Own It
Our employees share in our success through stock ownership. When you own the company you work for, you approach your job differently. Your hard work creates more success for your clients, your team, and ultimately you. It’s empowering to know that your future is in your own hands.

Stability
Our stock has consistently outperformed the public markets. Many employees who were not founders have equity positions in excess of $1 million. And employee ownership is allowing us to seamlessly transfer ownership from our four founders to a new generation of owners.

Compensation
We provide a competitive base compensation package based on your performance, experience, skill levels, and role. And we believe your time and expertise contribute significant value to our clients, so we pay all staff (below the senior leadership level) for the hours they contribute above and beyond the normal work week on projects.

401(k) Plan
We offer a 50% 401(k) match of the first 6% contributed by the employee plus up to an additional 2% for all 401(k) participants through a profit-sharing benefit.

Performance Bonuses
Our company-wide performance bonus program includes all employees, full time and part time, hourly and salaried. This is part of our practice of sharing 50% of profits with employees.

Profit Sharing
Between the 401(k) profit-sharing benefit and the performance bonuses, we split our annual profits 50/50 between our employees and equity building. By putting 50% back into the company, we’re making an investment in our future growth.

Flexibility
Employees are provided flexibility in a variety of ways. Many roles are eligible to work 2 days per week remotely once a new employee has been onboarded.

You’re Covered
CEC provides comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage, plus an array of optional benefits including health savings and flexible spending accounts. Our employees can also take advantage of free on-site Biometric Screenings and Health Assessments.

CECFit!
Our commitment to wellness means educating you and your family on how to better manage your care and make healthy lifestyle choices. The CECFit! program brings this commitment to life. CEC’s Wellness Committee shares beneficial information and creates entertaining activities. Get support and inspiration as you participate in brown bags, awareness days, walk-at-lunch days, local marathons/5Ks (We’ll cover $100 of your costs annually), healthy potlucks, smoking cessation programs, and wellness challenges with prizes!

A Bundle of Joy
CEC dads- and moms-to-be receive a special package a few months before their due date with a wealth of information on insurance, post-partum depression, CEC benefits like short-term disability and New Parents’ Time Off,  and other topics. Not to mention samples of diapers, wipes, and supplies, CEC swag, and a “Future CEC Employee of the Month!” onesie.

Transparency
You’ll always know where the company stands and the progress we are making toward our goals. We’ll keep you informed through shareholder meetings, annual reports, and our robust intranet with detailed project information.

Reduced Red Tape
Our founders are engineers and scientists who enjoy practicing their professional skills. We want you to focus on that while working for CEC, too. That’s why we have no weekly project reporting requirements and minimal monthly reporting.

Unobstructed Structure
CEC has had a non-hierarchical structure since our formation because it maximizes opportunities for our employees. Advance into a leadership position without the need for a more senior CEC professional to advance to create an opening.

Ideas Welcome
We empower our employees to be entrepreneurial and bring forth new ideas, technologies, and ways of solving problems. If you find a good opportunity to pursue, know you will have the support of a large and capable firm.

Awards for Innovation
Each year, CEC presents a trophy and cash award to individuals or groups of individuals who turn their innovative ideas into measurable value for CEC and our clients. Not only do we want to identify and recognize excellence in development, we also want to invest in knowledge-sharing while affirming our firm’s Core Values.

Leadership Development
To hone the skills of our talented professionals, CEC offers a Senior Leadership Development Program that focuses on developing the talents of our current and future leaders. This is part of our leadership transition process to always be looking toward the future of our company.

Professional Development
We provide internal and external opportunities for our employees to attend advanced and continuing education courses and seminars for professional development. CEC also offers tuition reimbursement and reimbursement for prep courses necessary to acquiring your professional registrations, certifications, and licenses.

Happy hours, cooking contests, potlucks, professional sports team outings, holiday gatherings, summer picnics, ping-pong and foosball tournaments, food trucks, doughnut and pretzel days, team-building activities, volunteer activities, birthday celebrations, book clubs, running/relay teams, sports league teams, house bands, mini-golf hole design competition, beer exchanges, office Olympics…

What will YOU want to add?

Cool Projects
You’ll provide services for some of our clients’ most complex and prominent projects. A number of these projects are recognized for excellence at the regional and national level. To help solve new challenges, you’ll learn how to use and implement cutting-edge technologies that complement our expertise.

Nationally Ranked
Our firm is consistently ranked in the top half on Engineering News-Record’s Top 500 Design Firms and Top 200 Environmental Firms lists.

CEC is currently ranked #98 among design firms (#78 among the top 100 pure designers) and #104 among environmental firms.

CEC also ranked among the best in 13 of Engineering News-Record’s Top Market lists for 2023:

#3 Steel and Non-Ferrous Plants
#5 Solid Waste
#10 Mining
#15 Mixed Use
#17 Pipelines
#17 Refineries and Petrochemical Plants
#18 Multi-Unit Residential
#19 Fossil Fuel
#19 Chemical Plants
#25 Retail
#26 Industrial Process
#30 Petroleum
#33 Sewer and Waste

Be Seen as an Expert
We encourage you to share your expertise through speaking engagements or panel discussions at conferences, industry or association meetings, and educational events as part of your professional goals. And we’ll provide support along the way. We’ll also help you develop topics and content for peer-reviewed papers or articles in trade magazines and help you to get published. To recognize these accomplishments, CEC offers an honorarium to those who are eligible.

CEC Community
Our team members enjoy lending their time and talents to serve, enrich, and enhance the communities in which we all live, work, and play. This employee-driven initiative encourages and celebrates our employees’ efforts. Giving back has always been a part of who we are… we just gave it a name!  Learn more on our CEC Community page.

CEC provides one hour of paid time off to match every hour that our employees volunteer for a charitable organization, up to 4 hours of matching time per calendar year.

CEC iDEA
i = Inclusion as central to professional life; D = Diversity in the work force; E = Equality in opportunity; A = Awareness to understand, respect, and appreciate others. We encourage all employees to work with us as we develop processes and implement programs for increasing inclusion, diversity, and opportunities within CEC and our communities. Learn more on our CEC iDEA page.

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