Senior Process Engineer

Melbourne Water; Melbourne; On-site; AUD 140,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

Melbourne Water is seeking a Senior Process Engineer, Sewerage Planning, to shape Melbourne’s future sewerage services. You will develop adaptive, long-range strategies, evaluate infrastructure needs, and build business cases, advising senior leaders and stakeholders.

You will lead projects, manage specialists, and translate complex technical information into practical solutions while aligning with regulatory trends and city-wide resilience goals.

Qualifications

• Experience in sewerage systems and planning or related water infrastructure.
• Ability to translate complex technical information for diverse audiences.
• Proven capability to lead in ambiguous, complex, environments.

Responsibilities

• Develop long-term sewerage strategies and 5–50+ year plans.
• Identify current and future sewerage opportunities and risks.
• Support business case development for capital assets and initiatives.
• Provide clear, evidence-based advice to senior leaders and boards.
• Stay informed on trends in local and international sewerage regulation and policy.

Skills

Strategic Planning

Stakeholder Engagement

Technical Leadership

Communication

Education

Bachelor of Engineering or equivalent

Job description

In Melbourne, water is essential to our way of life.

As caretakers for Melbourne’s water cycle, and our catchments. We care for water, life, and land throughout Melbourne: both its people and its biodiversity.

Each time you drink from the tap, flush a toilet, or kayak down the Yarra we’re there. Primed and ready, quietly delivering some of the world’s cleanest water for over five million residents and wildlife that call Melbourne home, just as we have for over 130 years.

About the Role

As Senior Process Engineer, Sewerage Planning, you will help shape the long-term future of Melbourne’s sewerage services. You will develop adaptive strategies and plans that respond to emerging challenges and opportunities, including population growth, climate change, community and environmental impacts, and resource recovery.

Drawing on your technical expertise, you will identify and evaluate future infrastructure and operational requirements, contribute to concept designs, trials and business cases, and provide clear, evidence-based advice to senior leaders and stakeholders. You will also build strong internal and external relationships, manage specialist consultants and help translate complex technical information into practical, forward-looking solutions.

• Develop strategies and plans with a 5-50+ year view related to the sewerage service, and work across the organisation to manage the implementation of relevant plans. These plans should be adaptable to a range of potential future scenarios.
• Identify and quantify current and potential future sewerage systems opportunities and risks, including (but not limited to) community and environmental impacts, climate change, population growth and resource recovery.
• Identify, investigate, evaluate (including supporting development of concept designs and trials/pilots where required), and support development of business cases for potential future capital assets, operational activities, planning controls, and other initiatives that could contribute to managing the sewerage service.
• Provide clear, evidence-based advice to internal and external stakeholders, including senior executive and board level stakeholders, in relation to the sewerage service.
• Maintain a sound understanding of trends in local and international sewerage system, sewage treatment practices regulation and policy to inform medium – long term plans.

This role will suit an experienced engineering professional who brings expertise in sewerage systems and treatment, strategic and adaptive planning, and the confidence to influence decisions in complex and uncertain environments.

• Expertise and technical leadership skills in developing and implementing strategies and plans (including adaptive planning) and influencing policies.
• Expertise and technical leadership skills in sewerage services.
• Demonstrated capability to confidently, professionally, and persuasively communicate detailed technical information to a range of audiences including senior executive and board level stakeholders, in both written and oral formats.
• Demonstrated capability to support and make decisions in ambiguous, complex, and uncertain contexts.
• Understanding of strategy development and long-term planning
• Understanding of trends in local and international sewerage system, sewage treatment practices regulation and policy to inform medium – long term plans.
• Relevant Tertiary qualification in Engineering

At Melbourne Water, we care deeply about water and the life it sustains.

Our team is inspired by passion and purpose, with an unwavering commitment to safety. We are on a mission to protect every Melburnian’s way of life, one drop at a time.

We don’t just talk about flexible working - we live it. Our culture of purpose, safety, results, and learning flows through everything we do. We're dedicated to doing what's right, and this commitment extends to the meaningful work we do in a supportive and inclusive culture that encourages you to make the most of your talents.

Our long-standing commitment to Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging means that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, LGBTIQ+ individuals, Neurodivergent Individuals, people living with disability, mature age and young jobseekers from all cultures can apply with confidence knowing they are safe, affirmed, and celebrated.

If you’re curious, action-orientated, outcomes-focused, and enthusiastic about public resources, community, and the environment, we'd love to receive your application and learn if you could be a great fit.

For over 130 years, Melbourne Water has been planning and innovating for Melbourne’s future.

Owned by the Victorian Government, we manage and protect the city’s water supply ensuring reliable, high-quality drinking water is available now and into the future.

We're also responsible for reliable sewerage, healthy waterways, and drainage and flood managemen.

With the ever-present challenges of population growth, urbanisation and an increasingly changing and variable climate, we are also working hard to build a more resilient and water-sensitive city, one with a smart and sustainable water supply.

For over 130 years, Melbourne Water has been planning and innovating for Melbourne’s future.

Owned by the Victorian Government, we manage and protect the city’s water supply ensuring reliable, high-quality drinking water is available now and into the future.

We're also responsible for reliable sewerage, healthy waterways, and drainage and flood managemen.

With the ever-present challenges of population growth, urbanisation and an increasingly changing and variable climate, we are also working hard to build a more resilient and water-sensitive city, one with a smart and sustainable water supply.