NSBE/SHPE RPI Career Fair

what interlaken is

I graduated from RPI in 2006. After working for municipalities on the east coast for over 10 years, I moved to Seattle for my (now) wife’s academic career. Not having a job and knowing that it would likely be a short term stay, it seemed like a unique opportunity to do something I’d idly considered for a while; starting a business.
As Interlaken took shape it became clear that there was an unmet need for a firm specializing in single-family drainage design in the Greater Seattle area. Because I had ten years experience writing drainage codes before I started Interlaken, this seemed like a gap I could fill. Providing high-quality engineering for small projects has worked well, and Interlaken has blossomed by focusing on primarily single-family projects

As all this was happening I came to appreciate that the nature of the work I was doing, plus my wife’s graduate school schedule, afforded us a lot of time to explore the Pacific Northwest in my RV. For the first few years of Interlaken, the work was done with some incredible backdrops.

Engineering can provide both a fulfilling career and time and resources to pursue meaningful things outside of work. As Interlaken grew, I focused on hiring people who shared my ‘work to live, not live to work’ vision. My goal is to provide all Interlaken employees with cool projects, and the opportunity to come in late because they went skiing, work part-time because they’re playing minor league baseball, hop out for a few hours at lunch to chase a bird for your life list, leave early on a Friday for a quick backpacking trip on the Olympic Peninsula, or take their pre-schooler for ketchup and french fries at a diner in the middle of the day.

what interlaken does

Interlaken Engineering and Design is a civil engineering firm that focuses on drainage design for land development and specializes in small lot and in-fill residential projects. The majority of our projects are located in Western Washington with plans to expand into Massachusetts in 2025.

what interlaken offers its employees

Interlaken is a small firm (half of the firm are RPI alumni).
We not only support the growth and development of our employees, but we strive to give employees real opportunities to influence the growth and development of Interlaken.
In order to support our flexible culture, we give employees a lot of autonomy over their work. This means that from an early stage engineers are given ownership over individual projects and empowered to interface directly with clients. We are also fully remote and support employees working from anywhere they choose. Because people have so much autonomy, it also means that we are open to lots of different types of arrangements, including part time or non-traditional hours.

Above all, we really prioritize being a place that people enjoy working. Which to us means fostering a culture of kindness and collaboration and providing people with every possible support to have a rich and fulfilling experience outside of and at work.