Careers
Transportation Planning (GIS) Intern
Part-Time
Background:
The Santa Barbara County Association of Governments (SBCAG) is a federally designated Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) that tackles significant challenges, seeking solutions to achieve sustainable transportation, housing, and an equitable quality of life throughout Santa Barbara County. Some of the key roles and responsibilities are to develop the Regional Transportation Planning-Sustainable Communities Strategy (RTP-SCS), the Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA), the local sales tax Measure A, and the Regional Data Hub. To efficiently and effectively plan for the region, data plays a central role in all key roles and responsibilities. SBCAG strives to become the regional leader by providing an insightful and valuable information hub through the utilization of tabular and spatial analytics to foster local and regional collaboration.
SBCAG is accepting applications for a paid internship position within the Division of Planning that provides unique work experience for recent graduates and students. The successful candidate reports to the Principal Transportation Planner and starts approximately April 2026. The intern is expected to work at least 15 hours per week.
About Planning Division:
The Division of Planning has a staff of four with responsibilities generalized as follows:
- Planning Director – Management and oversight of the Division, development of the Division’s work, and active participation in a variety of projects
- Principal Transportation Planner – Travel demand and land use modeling and general planning work
- Principal Transportation Planner – GIS governance and modeling and general planning work
- Transportation Planner – Census and general planning work
The Division is responsible for a variety of SBCAG’s work, including RTP-SCS development, Airport Land Use Commission (ALUC) responsibilities, RHNA, unmet transit needs, regional growth forecast, and modeling, among others. In addition, the Division performs or manages other projects as directed.
About the Position:
The intern will mainly play a pivotal role in supporting the implementation of the agency’s Geographic Information System (GIS) Governance by performing various technical and analytical tasks, aiding in the research and document preparation, and assisting with data requests related to urban and regional planning projects. Some of the example tasks include updating a regionally significant map in ArcGIS Pro, modifying a StoryMap within an ArcGIS Online environment, or developing metadata for the publicly available geospatial datasets.
In this role, the intern can expect to:
- Assist in GIS governance including data cleaning, processing, and analysis to enhance tabular and spatial datasets, as well as updating SBCAG’s Regional Data Hub
- Assist in researching and developing value-added web-based mapping applications to support various regional planning policies
- Assist in providing technical assistance on data requests from internal and external stakeholders
- Perform other duties as assigned
Payment Details:
$25.00/hr
Part-time/Temporary
Tentative: April – December 2026