How to Hire Veterans for Architecture and Engineering Firms

Your backlog is full and your bench is thin. You need a CAD tech who can pick up redlines on Monday. You need a survey crew chief and a field rep for construction administration. You need someone to keep the schedule honest.

The local pool for those seats is small. The good people already work for the firm across the street.

There's a group you may be overlooking. The military trains its own drafters, surveyors, and engineering techs. It runs design shops, survey teams, and construction oversight on bases around the world. Those people leave the service every year with real project hours behind them.

This guide shows how to hire veterans at architecture and engineering firms. It covers which seats they fill and which military jobs feed them. It shows how a new hire gets to billable work. It also covers licensing from the firm's side and what to expect on federal A/E work.

Want the broad picture and the PE basics? Start with our guide to hiring veterans for engineering roles. This one is about staffing the firm itself.

Which seats in an A/E firm can a veteran fill?

Start with the org chart, not the resume. Many A/E firms share the same core seats. Veterans can fill more of them than you might think.

Notice what's missing. This list is about the office and the field rep, not the jobsite crew. If you also build, our guide to hiring veterans for construction roles covers the trades. Does your firm do mapping or GIS? Read our piece on hiring veterans at GIS and geospatial companies.

Which military jobs feed those seats?

You don't need to learn every job code. A handful of them point straight at A/E work. The Army, Navy, and Air Force each have their own version. The training overlaps more than you'd guess.

The enlisted design and survey jobs

The Army's 12T Technical Engineer is a close match to a civil tech. The Army's own account of the course at Fort Leonard Wood walks through it. Students draw floor plans by hand, then add foundation, utility, and elevation drawings in design software.

They test soil, mix and check concrete, and learn survey math. Then they stake out points and design drainage and roads. The first phase of that course trains soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines together.

The Navy's version lives in the Seabees. The EA Engineering Aide rating covers design prep, surveying, drafting, materials testing, and construction management. That's a near match for a junior civil tech who also goes to the field.

The Air Force calls its job 3E5X1 Engineering. Its April 2024 training plan says these airmen do civil design, drafting, surveying, and contract surveillance. They prepare CAD drawings, contract specs, and cost estimates.

They produce architectural, structural, civil, mechanical, and electrical drawings. They also keep record drawings and base plans current. Read that list again. It's most of a junior CAD tech job description.

The officer pipeline

The Army and Air Force have engineer officers. The Navy has its Civil Engineer Corps. Many of them hold engineering degrees. Some have managed design and construction contracts for a whole base. Those are your candidates for a project engineer or design seat on the license track.

An enlisted tech may have deep hands-on skill and no degree. That's fine for CAD, survey, CA, and controls. It's a different story for a seat that needs a stamp down the road. Match the person to the seat. Don't pass on a strong tech over a license they can't get today.

How fast can a veteran hire get to billable work?

This is the question your principals will ask first. It's fair. A/E firms live on billable hours. A hire who sits on overhead for six months costs real money.

There's no industry number for this that we can point you to. So think about it seat by seat. Some seats bill early because the work looks like what the person already did.

Seats that can bill early

• Construction administration: A veteran who watched contract work on a base knows how to walk a site. They know how to write what they saw and follow up. They will still need to learn your CA process. The habit is already there.
• Project controls: Schedules and status reports carry over well. The tools may change. The work of tracking dates and flagging slips stays the same.
• Survey: A tech who ran total stations and GPS can often join a crew fast. They'll need your state's rules and your field note format.
• CAD support: Redlines, sheet setup, and record drawings are a fast start. Your CAD standards and templates take time to learn.

Design seats take longer. A new designer has to learn your codes, your standards, and how your reviewers think. That's true of any new hire, veteran or not.

Pair them with a project manager

A real project with a real PM speeds up the ramp. Put the new hire on one active job from week one. Give them a narrow task they can own, like site visit reports or the weekly schedule update. Then widen it.

Have the PM review their first few deliverables closely. Veterans are used to feedback that's short and direct. They usually take it well and fix it fast. Do you bill federal contracts by labor category? Our guide to mapping military experience to billable labor categories shows how to place them.

What does licensing look like from the firm's side?

Licensing is where A/E firms differ from most employers. Your firm doesn't just hire the person. A licensed professional on your staff often signs off on their experience. So you're part of the path.

The rules are set by each state board. What follows is the general shape. Check your state board before you promise a timeline.

Engineers: the FE exam and the EI step

According to NCEES, the FE exam is generally the first step toward a PE license. It's a computer-based exam given year-round at approved test centers.

Passing it is usually what lets a person apply for the engineer intern title in their state. Some states call it EI and some call it EIT. The engineering roles guide linked above covers the rest of the PE path.

Your role is practical. Offer to cover the exam fee or give study time. Keep a clean record of the work they do under a licensed engineer. That record is what the state board will ask for later.

Architects: AXP and the ARE

Architecture runs through NCARB's Architectural Experience Program. The AXP asks for 3,740 hours across six practice areas.

At least 1,860 of those hours must come from Setting A. That means paid work at an architecture firm. An architect licensed in the U.S. or Canada has to supervise it. Up to 1,860 hours can come from Setting O, which covers work outside an architecture firm.

That split matters for a veteran. Military design work may count under Setting O, but only if it meets those rules. Some of it won't map one for one.

So a veteran who wants an RA will likely need real hours at your firm. Plan on being their Setting A home. The candidate also takes the ARE exams, and each state sets its own extra rules.

Surveyors: FS, then the state license

Survey licensure follows a similar path. NCEES says the FS exam is generally the first step toward a professional surveyor license. After that, the titles and steps vary by state.

Texas, for example, uses a Surveyor-in-Training title before the full license. Other states use LSIT and PLS. Check your state board for the exact steps and how much field time counts.

How do veterans fit federal A/E work?

Many midsize A/E firms chase federal work. If you do, the rules are different from private clients. It helps to know them before you staff a pursuit.

Federal A/E contracts follow the Brooks Act. The law sets the policy in 40 U.S.C. 1101. It says the government will announce A/E needs in public. It says contracts are negotiated "on the basis of demonstrated competence and qualification." The price must also be fair and reasonable. People call this qualifications-based selection.

Many agencies now buy A/E services under a rewritten FAR Part 36. That text came through class deviations under the Revolutionary FAR Overhaul. The old Subpart 36.6 numbers no longer match it. A formal rule was proposed on September 18, 2026. It is not final yet. Read your agency's current Part 36 text before your next pursuit.

Your firm's qualifications go on the SF 330. GSA lists the current revision as July 2021.

We know of no federal rule that scores a firm higher for hiring veterans. So don't staff a pursuit with that in mind. The value is plainer than that.

Some veterans worked with USACE, NAVFAC, or AFCEC. They may know how those clients plan and review projects. They may know the base, the forms, and the people on the other side of the table. That can help your team read the client. It won't win the job on its own.

Where do you find these candidates?

Many of these people aren't on the big job boards. Many are still in uniform. Some are in a Guard or Reserve unit near you right now. Go where they are.

Host a SkillBridge intern

Through DoD SkillBridge, a service member near the end of their service can train at your firm. The military still pays them. You pay no wage during the program.

Your firm can apply to host. But the current SkillBridge MOU sets a gate. Your business must have been registered with a U.S. state for at least three years. It must also stay in good standing. Federal, state, and local government offices are the exception. A firm under three years old can't host.

You can make the intern an offer during the program. You cannot pay them during it. Employment and pay normally start after the separation date. Our guide on becoming a SkillBridge host company walks through the steps.

Build an apprenticeship

A registered apprenticeship works well for CAD and survey techs. You set the skills and hours. The veteran may be able to use GI Bill benefits if VA approves your program. Read how to set up a registered apprenticeship to hire veterans.

Look at local Guard and Reserve units

Guard and Reserve engineer units drill near you. Their members already live in your area and often want civilian work in the same field. Plan for drill weekends and annual training. Our employer guide to hiring Guard and Reserve members covers what to expect.

Search a veteran talent pool

A pool built for veterans lets you search by background and reach out first. That's faster than posting a job and hoping the right person sees it.

How do you read the resume and run the interview?

A military engineering resume can look like alphabet soup. Read it in two passes. First, find the job code and the rank. The code tells you the trade. The rank tells you how much they led. Then read the bullets for the work itself.

Look for the words your firm already uses, like drafted, surveyed, estimated, and tested. Then look for scale. How many projects? What size? How many people on the crew?

Does the resume list project leadership? Our guide on how to spot project management experience on a military resume helps you size it.

Interview with a real sheet

Skip the trick questions. Hand them a marked-up sheet from an old project and ask what they see. Ask them to walk you through a site visit they ran. Ask what they did when the field didn't match the plans. A good candidate will talk you through it step by step.

Listen for "we" and "I." The military trains people to credit the team. So when they say "we surveyed the airfield," ask what their part was. The goal is to help them show you their own work. For a fuller playbook, read how to interview a veteran candidate.

How do you onboard and keep a veteran in a design practice?

Getting the hire is half the job. Keeping them is the other half. A veteran joining an A/E firm is learning two things at once. They're learning private-sector design work, and they're learning your firm.

Time tracking surprises a lot of new hires. Military work isn't billed to a client by the quarter hour. Teach the time codes early and explain why they matter. Once they see the link to the firm's health, they'll usually track it well. Consulting firms run on billable hours too. Our guide to hiring veterans at management consulting firms covers utilization and the bench.

Show them the ladder. Veterans came from a world with clear ranks and clear steps up. Show them how a CAD tech grows into a designer at your firm. Show them how an EI moves up to PE.

A visible path up gives them a reason to stay. Our 90-day onboarding plan for veteran employees lays out the full first quarter.

The demand isn't going away. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects about 174,800 openings a year in these jobs. That's the 2025 to 2035 projection for architecture and engineering. BLS says these openings come from job growth and from replacing workers who leave. You'll be hiring for these seats again.

Start with one hire

One open seat and a PM willing to coach is enough. Pick the seat that bills early, like CA, survey, or project controls. Write the posting so military design and survey work counts. Read the resumes by hand. Then make the call.

One good hire teaches your firm how to do the next one. They know other techs and engineers getting out. The second hire can come easier than the first.

BMR makes that first search simple. We add over 1,000 new profiles a month. Veterans have built 77,901 resumes on BMR. You can search real experience and reach out first. To start, search BMR's veteran talent pool. If your firm wants a longer pipeline, partner with BMR.