Lauda worked as a civil servant.[2] From 1881 to 1884, he worked on civil engineering and bridge construction.[2] He started out repairing the Stein-Mautern bridge that crosses the Danube river, as well as bridges across the Vltava river.[2]
In 1895, Lauda was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Hydrographic Central Office in Vienna. In 1909, Lauda became head of the hydraulic engineering department at the Ministry of Public Works.[2] In his role, he helped regulate the Danube river, which was prone to flooding.[5] Lauda blamed the flooding on increased deforestation around the Danube river, and the issue of deforestation around the Danube and the Seine were discussed at the 1909 International Congress of Navigation.[6] Ernst's great-grandson Niki Lauda said that Ernst's work on the Danube was the main reason why he was given heraldic honours.[7]
From 1915 to 1916, Lauda was President of the Austrian Association of Engineers and Architects, and from 1917 to 1918, he focused on repairing buildings damaged during the First World War. Lauda retired as an engineer in 1918, although he still gave occasional lectures at the Vienna University of Technology in the 1920s.[2]
^ abKerschbaumer, Arno (2017). Nobilitierungen unter der Regentschaft Kaiser Franz Joseph I. / I. Ferenc József király (1914–1916) (in German). Arno Kerschbaumer. pp. 253–255. ISBN978-3-9504153-2-2.
^ abcdKerschbaumer, Arno (2016). Arno Kerschbaumer: Nobilitierungen unter der Regentschaft Kaiser Karl I. / IV. Károly király (1916–1921) (in German). Arno Kerschbaumer. p. 74. ISBN978-3-9504153-1-5.