Description

Charlotte’s local government, with more than 9,000 employees and a total budget of $3.65 billion budget, works hard to ensure that the community will be a winning city for everyone – a truly remarkable place to live, work, learn and play.

 Charlotte Water is an enterprise department of the City of Charlotte and one of the largest public water and sewer service providers in the southeast with  over 330,000 customer accounts and over 1100 employees. Our service area includes the City of Charlotte, Mecklenburg County and the towns of Huntersville, Cornelius, Davidson, Mint Hill, Matthews and Pineville. Charlotte Water’s FY 26 budget is $651 million and a five-year capital program of $2.2.28 billion.  We enjoy the highest credit ratings from Moody’s and S&P Global as a result of sound financial planning and management and strong support from our City Council.  We value competent, skilled candidates with a customer service focus to work in a team environment.

JOB SUMMARY:

The Senior Engineer’s work involves infrastructure rehabilitation and upgrade planning, project analysis for improvement in overall efficiency of treatment plant operations and supporting the Division’s efforts to meet compliance obligations. This position provides a high degree of internal/external consulting for City projects and operations as a subject-matter expert in a specialized field.  Work involves some project management functions with emphasis on providing guidance and support to projects in planning, design, and regulatory oversight.  This position provides technical assistance and serves as a lead or supervisor over technical staff.

 ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS:         

•         Contributes to the development and implementation of MOPO plans for construction and rehabilitation projects in order to protect the operational reliability of the treatment plants.
•         Helps develop and maintain the list of needed or potential infrastructure projects for the division by identifying rehab project resources and estimated project costs.
•         Participates on project teams by reviewing preliminary plans and designs and providing technical and professional assistance.  
•         Reviews work of architects, engineers, and other project service providers to ensure regulatory compliance, future access for rehabilitation and repair projects is maintained, and division standards are incorporated. 
•         Conducts or supervises engineering studies to support division planning and to improve overall efficiency in treatment plant operation. 
•         Leads and mentors engineering and technical staff; may supervise the work of professional, technical, and administrative staff.
•         Communicates with engineering project managers, consultants, vendors, contractors, and other interested parties in order to obtain input, provide feedback, exchange information, and report project status.
•         Performs administrative tasks, such as developing scopes of work for service providers and consultants and processing invoices.
•         Assists with or coordinates emergency response measures related to overflows, spills, or equipment failure.
•         Participates in special projects including wastewater equipment/chemical/process pilots.
•         Supports the division’s environmental management program by performing work with a focus on environmental protection, customer service, and continual improvement, and leading corrective action investigations, efforts to meet division objectives, and continuous improvement projects.
•         Coordinates closely with internal team members including engineering staff, treatment plant operations and maintenance professionals, biosolids program team members, water quality scientists, continuous improvement professionals, and administrative staff.
•         Travel to and perform duties as necessary at wastewater treatment plants and other City facilities throughout Mecklenburg County. 
•         Provides professional and technical instruction, guidance, and information to consultants, contractors, engineers, City officials, and the public regarding planning, design, regulatory issues, engineering principles, and standard practices; serves as subject matter expert.
•         Leads and mentors engineering and technical staff; may supervise the work of professional, technical, and administrative staff.
•         Provides technical expertise in the development and implementation of policy and standards regarding engineering principles and practices for public and private development within the City.
•         Identifies project resources and estimates project costs.
•         Reviews work of architects, engineers, and other project service providers; makes design modifications; ensures regulatory compliance; and approves project design.
•         Performs administrative tasks, such as: approving contracts, invoices, or payments; addressing billing problems; and handling human resource (HR) issues and paperwork.
•         Serves on assigned committees and boards; assists with ISO 14001 certification.
•         Performs other related job duties as assigned.

 MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS TO PERFORM WORK: 

Bachelor’s degree in engineering, construction management, or a related field from an accredited school.
Five (5) years of related work experience in design, technical, and/or planning work preferably in civil engineering or municipal capital improvement projects. 
 

Licenses, Certifications or Registrations: 

• Requires a valid driver’s license.
• Obtain and maintain a City Driving Permit.
• Prefers Engineer-in-Training (EIT) certification; prefers licensure as a Professional Engineer (or equivalent credentials in a field of specialty); may be required depending on assigned area.
   

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

•         Requires experience in planning, design and/or construction of wastewater treatment facilities. 
•         Must have a basic knowledge and understanding of wastewater treatment principles and practices.
•         Requires experience with budgeting and cost estimating.  
•         Must have excellent oral/written communication skills and organizational skills.
•         Must have skill in producing technical reports.
•         Requires the ability to work cooperatively with other city employees and external team members.
•         Staff management and/or project team management skills
•         Ability to establish and maintain collaborative working relationships with contractors, consulting engineers, regulatory officials, and vendors.
•         Demonstrate a flexible and adaptable mindset as well as self-motivation. Knowledge of principles and concepts in area of professional specialization.
•         Ability to apply and direct change control principles to project planning and implementation.
•         Ability to apply fundamental and advance engineering principles to project design or planning.
•         Flexibility for occasional schedule work off-shift or afterhours, depending on the needs of a project or response.
•         Ability to apply conflict resolution techniques.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS:

Ability to lift up to 20 pounds with occasional walking, standing and bending.

 WORK ENVIRONMENT:      

Work is performed in a dynamic environment that requires sensitivity to change and responsiveness to changing goals, priorities, and needs. Requires occasional on-call emergency work.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

This job description is not intended to be and should not be construed as an inclusive list of all the responsibilities, skills, or working conditions associated with the position. While it is intended to accurately reflect the position activities and requirements, management reserves the right to modify, add or remove duties and assign other duties at any time.  This job description does not constitute a written or implied contract of employment.

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform the essential job functions satisfactorily. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the primary job functions herein described. Since every duty associated with this position may not be described herein, employees may be required to perform duties not specifically spelled out in the job description, but which may be reasonably considered to be incidental in the performing of their duties just as though they were written out in this job description.