Manager - Industrial Water & Waste Systems Area

What’s Upstate; Durham (NC); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Childcare assistance

Paid parental leave

Continuing education assistance

Employee Resource Groups

Job summary

Wolfspeed is seeking a Facilities Industrial Water & Waste Area Manager in Durham to lead the engineering and maintenance teams for Industrial Water and Waste. You drive safety, quality, and continuous improvement to reduce costs and energy use while improving reliability.

You will manage cross-functional teams, recruit and develop staff, and partner with project teams to commission new systems. A strong background in water/wastewater engineering and cost optimization is required.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Chemical, Environmental, or Mechanical Engineering.
• 8–12+ years in industrial water/wastewater engineering and operations.
• Experience with system hardening, optimization, and cost reduction initiatives.
• Experience leading engineering and operations teams.
• Experience supporting multi-site organizations; semiconductor/advanced manufacturing preferred.
• Proven record delivering OPEX savings and reliability improvements.
• Deep expertise in water systems: RO/DI, UF, IX, filtration, reclaim; wastewater treatment.

Responsibilities

• Provide technical leadership for water, wastewater, reclaim, and hazardous waste systems.
• Lead system hardening initiatives to improve reliability, redundancy and resilience.
• Identify and eliminate SPOFs through robust redundancy and design improvements.
• Drive RCFA and implement corrective and preventive actions across sites.
• Manage IW&W team members and coach staff; delegate assignments.
• Collaborate with project teams to start-up and commission facilities systems and equipment.
• Ensure compliance with local, state, and national codes; support negotiations on services and power agreements.

Skills

Leadership

Data analysis

Stakeholder influence

Problem solving

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering

Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Engineering

Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering

Tools

PLC/SCADA systems

Automation

Water treatment tech (RO/DI, UF, IX)

Cost optimization tools

Job description

Job Description

At Wolfspeed, we do amazing things in a human way.

We know that the achievements of our organization are due to the passion, hard work and creativity of our employees. We celebrate different perspectives to foster excellence across our organization, and our goal is to make diversity a foundation of what we do. We are proudly building an environment where you can bring your authentic self to work.

• Enjoy doing things that people say can’t be done? Innovation is at the center of everything we do.
• Hate red tape? We remove roadblocks instead of creating them.
• Working parent? We provide childcare assistance and paid parental leave.
• Student? We offer continuing education assistance.
• Looking for community? There are many ways to get involved, from Employee Resource Groups to local outreach.

Here’s the Gist:

Wolfspeed is seeking a Facilities Industrial Water & Waste Area Manager to lead the engineering and maintenance teams for Industrial Water and Waste at our Durham Campuses. You lead by promoting a safety and quality mindset to your teams through continuous improvement of processes, policies, and procedures. You provide daily assistance to your team and develop creative approaches to improve reliability while reducing operational costs and energy consumption.

The Day-to-Day

• Provide technical leadership for water, wastewater, reclaim, and hazardous waste systems, including RO/DI, UF, ion exchange, and advanced wastewater treatment technologies.
• Lead system hardening initiatives to enhance reliability, redundancy, and resilience of critical utility infrastructure.
• Identify and eliminate single points of failure (SPOFs) through robust redundancy and design improvements.
• Drive root cause failure analysis (RCFA) and ensure implementation of sustainable corrective and preventive actions across all sites.
• Manages and directs the daily activities of facilities IW&W team members – leading leaders, engineers, and technicians
• Recruits, selects, manages, coaches, and motivates staff; provides guidance and direction on problems and issues; delegates work assignments
• Works with project teams to start-up and commission facilities systems and equipment
• Ensures compliance to local, state, and national codes and compliance requirements.
• Supports commercial negotiations and establishment of terms related to services, projects, and power purchase agreements
• Guides the team to hit key metrics - continuously improving uptime and reliability performance
• Collaborates with other leaders and facilities teams in the development of overall objectives and long-term company goals. Provides input into the facility annual operating plan and manages expenses under budget

This Job is Right for You if You Have (Minimum Requirements):

• Bachelor’s degree in Chemical, Environmental, Mechanical Engineering, or related field (required)
• 8–12+ years of experience in industrial water/wastewater engineering and operations
• Demonstrated success in system hardening, optimization, and cost reduction initiatives
• Experience leading and mentoring engineering and operations teams preferred
• Experience supporting multi-site organizations
• Semiconductor or advanced manufacturing experience strongly preferred
• Proven record delivering quantifiable OPEX savings and reliability improvements
• Deep expertise in:
  • Water systems: RO/DI, UF, IX, filtration, reclaim
  • Wastewater systems: chemical and advanced treatment processes
• Familiarity with emerging regulatory challenges such as POTW compliance is preferred
• Strong understanding of process integration, automation, and PLC/SCADA systems
• Proficiency in data analytics, performance trending, and process optimization tools
• Ability to lead enterprise-wide initiatives without direct authority
• Strong coaching, mentoring, and talent development skills
• Excellent communication and stakeholder influence capabilities
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and decision-making abilities
• Hands‑on leadership style with a people-first, cost-focused mindset

This role may require additional duties and/or assignments as designated by management.

To put it legally –Wolfspeed is an equal opportunity employer.

We recruit, employ, train, compensate and promote regardless of race, sex, religion, color, national origin, disability, age, veteran status, gender identity, sexual orientation and other protected status as required by law.

We are an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.