Engineer, Principal (Process Engineer)

City of Richmond; Richmond (VA); On-site; USD 110,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

City of Richmond is seeking two qualified candidates to serve as Principal Engineers for Water and Wastewater Operations. Under supervision from senior leadership, you will develop process targets, monitor performance, and support improvements across treatment plants, pump stations, and storage facilities.

The role emphasizes regulatory compliance, data analysis, and collaboration with plant managers to ensure safe, efficient operations.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in engineering from an accredited program.
• At least five years of professional engineering experience in water or wastewater.
• Virginia PE license or ability to obtain within one year.

Responsibilities

• Develop targets and monitor process performance for water and wastewater plants.
• Lead optimization efforts and support CIP and maintenance projects.
• Coordinate with plant Superintendents and leadership on regulatory compliance and reporting.
• Review sampling plans, data quality, and regulatory submissions.
• Provide technical input to Capital Improvement Plan and project specifications.

Skills

Regulatory knowledge

Analytical skills

Communication skills

Team collaboration

Project management

Education

Bachelor's Degree in Engineering

Tools

SCADA

MS Office

Data analysis tools

Job description

The City of Richmond Department of Public Utilities is seeking two qualified candidates to serve as Principal Engineers- one for Water and one for Wastewater operations.

With limited supervision from the Sr. Deputy Director and deputy director (Water) for W & WW O&M, and in close collaboration with the Plant Superintendents, the Maintenance Supervisor, and the Engineering Services Lead, the Process Engineer is responsible for developing targets, monitoring process performance, and supporting improvement projects (maintenance and CIP) to ensure complaint and efficient operations of DPU's water and wastewater treatment plants, pump stations, tanks, and retention facilities. This position is also responsible for following industry trends, research, and technology development.

• Meets and responds to changing regulatory drivers:
  • Monitors regulatory trends and plans for future process impacts, recommends improvements to process and equipment to meet future challenges.
  • Sets targets and makes process recommendations to maintain compliance with water and wastewater permit requirements.
  • Communicates regularly on process performance to internal stakeholders.
  • Sets early warning parameters, troubleshoots, and identifies corrective actions to avoid process upsets.
  • In coordination with leadership, reviews and revises internal process sampling plans and monitoring programs to ensure efficient plant operations.
  • Leads and manages internal operational database, ensures data quality, supports data requests from internal and external partners.
  • Supervises the development of and reviews regulatory reports to ensure data quality and timely submission.

• Optimizes plant processes:
  • Leads strategy and manages instrumentation used for process monitoring.
  • Performs in-depth analysis to support optimization of liquids and solids processes.
  • Sets process target goals and measures performance towards goals.
  • Sets targets, monitors, and reports on chemical and energy use. Supports testing of alternative chemical products and development of specifications.
  • Develops seasonal process plans to most efficiently use chemicals and energy while meeting process parameters most efficiently.
  • Leads research and pilots in collaboration with internal and external partners.
  • Develops, reviews, and provides technical comments on standard operating procedures to support plant performance.
• Supports process infrastructure projects:
  • Provides technical input into the development of Capital Improvement Plan to ensure timely upgrades and renewal of equipment to meet process goals.
  • Reviews and provides technical comments on engineering project specifications, designs, and timelines.
  • Serves on project advisory committees to support design and construction of infrastructure projects.
  • Develops scopes and manages contracts for external vendors to support plant process.
• Performs other duties as required.

MINIMUM TRAINING AND EXPERIENCE:

• Bachelor's Degree in engineering
• Five years of professional engineering experience in water or wastewater treatment operations

LICENSING, CERTIFICATIONS, and OTHER SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS:

• Virginia Professional Engineering (PE) license or ability to obtain within one year of employment

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES:

TYPICAL KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES: These are a representative sample; position assignments may vary.

• Accountability and Dependability
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills, both written and verbal.
• Decision Making: ability to prioritize infrastructure and process improvements and workloads
• Initiative: Self-motivated with the ability to work collaboratively and independently.
• Safety Awareness
• Teamwork: ability to work with and integrate the work of O&M and Engineering
• Technical Water/Wastewater knowledge:
  • Advanced understanding of processes and instrumentation associated with municipal water and wastewater treatment.
  • Ability to perform mass, energy balance, chemical, and hydraulic calculations.
  • Understanding of state and federal regulatory requirements related water and wastewater facility permits.
  • Experience reading and commenting on process control narratives for programming of process control systems.
  • Ability to understand and explain piping and instrumentation diagrams.
  • Knowledge of business and management principles to support the development of annual budgets and process plans.
  • Proficient with Microsoft (MS) Office Suite, Database Management, SCADA

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of the job. Prospective and current employees are invited to discuss accommodations.

ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARDS:

Working conditions may include exposure to travel to other locations within the City of Richmond as well as outside of the City of Richmond; exposure to hazardous physical conditions such as mechanical parts, electrical currents, vibrations, etc.; atmospheric conditions such as fumes, odors, dusts, gases, and poor ventilation; inadequate lighting; intense noise; and environmental hazards such as disruptive people, imminent danger, and a threatening environment.

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS AND WORKING ENVIRONMENT:

Due to the nature of work assignments, incumbents must be able to perform detailed work on multiple, concurrent tasks, with frequent interruptions and under time constraint. While performing the essential duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to finger (pick, pinch, type or otherwise work primarily with fingers), talk, see, hear and use substantial repetitive motions of the wrists, hands, and fingers. The employee is frequently required to stand, walk, and feel; and the employee is occasionally required to climb, balance stoop, kneel, crouch, and reach extending hands and arms in any direction, push, pull, or lift. In terms of the physical strength to perform the essential duties, this classification is considered to be sedentary, exerting up to 10 pounds of force occasionally, and a negligible amount of force frequently or constantly to move objects.