Director, Anaerobic Wastewater Treatment

GreenGasUSA Holdings, LLC; United States; Remote; USD 150,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

Mobius Renewables seeks a senior wastewater leader to serve as the primary technical authority for industrial wastewater treatment within the anaerobic digestion business across the USA. You will guide treatment design, operations, and project development, leveraging deep knowledge of high-strength wastes and digestion processes.

The role requires 10+ years in the field, strong communication skills, and ability to travel up to 50% to facility and project sites. Advanced degrees are preferred.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Biological Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
• 10+ years of progressively responsible experience in industrial wastewater treatment, process engineering, biological treatment, anaerobic digestion, or related fields.
• Deep technical knowledge of high-strength industrial wastewater treatment and biological processes.
• Demonstrated experience designing, commissioning, operating, optimizing, or troubleshooting wastewater treatment systems.
• Experience with anaerobic treatment technologies and/or anaerobic digestion strongly preferred.
• Experience with food and beverage, agricultural, manufacturing, or other high-organic-load wastewater streams strongly preferred.
• Strong understanding of wastewater characterization, mass balances, biological kinetics, process controls, nutrient requirements, solids management, and treatment-system performance.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to communicate complex technical matters to nontechnical audiences.
• Ability and willingness to travel (up to 50%) to Mobius facilities, customer sites, and project locations as required.

Responsibilities

• Serve as Mobius Renewables’ primary technical authority for industrial wastewater treatment within the anaerobic digestion business.
• Evaluate wastewater characteristics including COD/BOD, TSS, FOG, nutrients, pH, alkalinity, toxicity/inhibition, temperature, and other factors affecting biological treatment and anaerobic digestion performance.
• Provide technical guidance related to aerobic and anaerobic biological treatment, clarification, solids handling, DAF, nutrient management, pretreatment, polishing, and related wastewater technologies.
• Maintain knowledge of emerging wastewater and resource-recovery technologies and assess their applicability to Mobius projects.
• Candidate should have strong technical background covering both the biology and physical operation of these systems, including: (i) Covered anaerobic lagoons and high-strength industrial wastewater; (ii) hydraulic short-circuiting, dead zones, retention time, and inlet/outlet configuration; (iii) sludge accumulation, lagoon capacity loss, dredging, and solids management; (iv) FOG accumulation, floating crusts, and fat-cap prevention or removal; (v) mixing, recirculation, heating, pH, alkalinity, nutrients, and organic loading; (vi) process upsets, inhibition, foaming, odor, and declining gas yield; (vii) cover condition, gas collection, condensate, pressure, and methane recovery; (viii) field diagnostics and practical corrective-action planning.
• Partner with Development and Commercial teams during evaluation of new wastewater and anaerobic digestion opportunities.
• Conduct or oversee technical due diligence of wastewater streams, existing treatment infrastructure, and proposed projects.
• Assess the treatability and variability of prospective feedstocks and wastewater streams and identify potential process risks.
• Identify opportunities to improve project economics through process optimization, resource recovery, reduced chemical or energy consumption, and improved biogas production.
• Partner closely with Operations to optimize wastewater treatment and anaerobic process performance across operating facilities.
• Diagnose process upsets and recurring performance issues and lead development of corrective actions.
• Analyze operating data and identify trends affecting treatment efficiency, system stability, biogas production, chemical consumption, solids generation, and operating cost.
• Develop operating parameters, KPIs, monitoring requirements, and performance standards for wastewater systems.
• Support root-cause investigations following significant process or treatment events.
• Lead technical discussions with customers, regulators, engineering firms, and other external stakeholders as appropriate.
• Develop capital and operating-cost budgets for improvements to the wastewater treatment systems, including any solutions identified for mitigations of problems, and work with operations to integrate into financial planning.

Skills

Wastewater treatment

Anaerobic digestion

Process optimization

Biological engineering

Troubleshooting

Education

Bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering or Environmental Engineering

Advanced degree preferred

Tools

DAF systems

Job description

Position Summary:

Mobius Renewables operates a growing fleet of plants across the USA, currently 13, that convert biogas derived from the anaerobic digestion of wastewater in covered lagoons into renewable natural gas (RNG).

Key Responsibilities:

Technical Leadership on Wastewater Treatment

• Serve as Mobius Renewables’ primary technical authority for industrial wastewater treatment within the anaerobic digestion business.
• Evaluate wastewater characteristics including COD/BOD, TSS, FOG, nutrients, pH, alkalinity, toxicity/inhibition, temperature, and other factors affecting biological treatment and anaerobic digestion performance.
• Provide technical guidance related to aerobic and anaerobic biological treatment, clarification, solids handling, DAF, nutrient management, pretreatment, polishing, and related wastewater technologies.
• Maintain knowledge of emerging wastewater and resource-recovery technologies and assess their applicability to Mobius projects.
• Candidate should have strong technical background covering both the biology and physical operation of these systems, including: (i) Covered anaerobic lagoons and high-strength industrial wastewater; (ii) hydraulic short-circuiting, dead zones, retention time, and inlet/outlet configuration; (iii) sludge accumulation, lagoon capacity loss, dredging, and solids management; (iv) FOG accumulation, floating crusts, and fat-cap prevention or removal; (v) mixing, recirculation, heating, pH, alkalinity, nutrients, and organic loading; (vi) process upsets, inhibition, foaming, odor, and declining gas yield; (vii) cover condition, gas collection, condensate, pressure, and methane recovery; (viii) field diagnostics and practical corrective-action planning.

Project Development & Engineering

• Partner with Development and Commercial teams during evaluation of new wastewater and anaerobic digestion opportunities.
• Conduct or oversee technical due diligence of wastewater streams, existing treatment infrastructure, and proposed projects.
• Assess the treatability and variability of prospective feedstocks and wastewater streams and identify potential process risks.
• Identify opportunities to improve project economics through process optimization, resource recovery, reduced chemical or energy consumption, and improved biogas production.

Operations & Performance Optimization

• Partner closely with Operations to optimize wastewater treatment and anaerobic process performance across operating facilities.
• Diagnose process upsets and recurring performance issues and lead development of corrective actions.
• Analyze operating data and identify trends affecting treatment efficiency, system stability, biogas production, chemical consumption, solids generation, and operating cost.
• Develop operating parameters, KPIs, monitoring requirements, and performance standards for wastewater systems.
• Support root-cause investigations following significant process or treatment events.
• Lead technical discussions with customers, regulators, engineering firms, and other external stakeholders as appropriate.
• Develop capital and operating-cost budgets for improvements to the wastewater treatment systems, including any solutions identified for mitigations of problems, and work with operations to integrate into financial planning.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Biological Engineering, or a related technical discipline; advanced degree preferred.
• 10+ years of progressively responsible experience in industrial wastewater treatment, process engineering, biological treatment, anaerobic digestion, or related fields.
• Deep technical knowledge of high-strength industrial wastewater treatment and biological processes.
• Demonstrated experience designing, commissioning, operating, optimizing, or troubleshooting wastewater treatment systems.
• Experience with anaerobic treatment technologies and/or anaerobic digestion strongly preferred.
• Experience with food and beverage, agricultural, manufacturing, or other high-organic-load wastewater streams strongly preferred.
• Strong understanding of wastewater characterization, mass balances, biological kinetics, process controls, nutrient requirements, solids management, and treatment-system performance.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to communicate complex technical matters to nontechnical audiences.
• Ability and willingness to travel (up to 50%) to Mobius facilities, customer sites, and project locations as required.

Preferred Qualifications:

• High-strength industrial wastewater
• Food and beverage wastewater
• Anaerobic biological treatment
• Anaerobic digestion
• Renewable natural gas and biogas
• DAF systems
• Aerobic biological treatment
• Nutrient removal and management
• Solids separation and handling
• Wastewater reuse and resource recovery
• Treatment-system commissioning and startup
• Process troubleshooting and optimization
• Industrial pretreatment programs
• Wastewater permitting and regulatory compliance
• Evaluation of greenfield and brownfield treatment facilities