Plant Operations Coordinator

City of Durham; Durham (NC); On-site; USD 65,000 - 75,000; Full time

Job summary

The City of Durham’s Department of Water Management is seeking a Plant Operations Coordinator to run and supervise wastewater facilities, ensuring safe, compliant operations and effective lab work.

The role involves advanced plant operations, data review, and leading a team, with a focus on safety, documentation, and continuous improvement.

Qualifications

• High School Diploma or equivalent and one year of vocational training.
• Three years of experience in wastewater treatment plant operations.
• Valid, unrestricted North Carolina driver’s license or ability to obtain NC license within 60 days.

Responsibilities

• Operate, maintain, and monitor wastewater treatment facilities and labs to ensure permit compliance.
• Train and lead other staff; coordinate scheduling and safety.
• Prepare reports, logs, and documentation; review data for accuracy.
• Inspect equipment and perform preventative maintenance.

Skills

Operation and maintenance

Process control

Inspect equipment

Lab analysis

Record keeping

Safety principles

Education

High School Diploma or Equiv.

One year vocational training

Tools

SCADA interface

CMMS program

Job description

Work, Serve, Thrive. With the City of Durham

Advance in your career while making a real difference in the community you serve.

Hiring Range:$64,507.00 – $74,668.00

Workday/Hours:8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Work Schedule/Hours:
The regular work schedule will be 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. initially after hire. This schedule will change to either of the schedules below after a period acceptable to be trained in the reclamation facility posting:

• 1:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m., Tuesday–Tuesday, or
• 10:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m., Tuesday–Tuesday

A $1.50 per-hour shift differential will be provided once the employee is assigned to an off-shift schedule.

The City of Durham’s Department of Water Management (DWM) wants YOU to join our team of more than 380 talented and dedicated employees that provide critical water and sewer services for Durham’s 330,000 plus residents. Not only do we deliver the Best Tasting Water in the State to our customers every day, we also reclaim nearly 22 million gallons of water from our city at our water reclamation facilities each day. DWM has a wide-ranging variety of positions to match your skill set including but not limited to: Engineers, Maintenance Mechanics, Maintenance Technicians, Financial Specialists, Human Resources Specialists, Plant Operations, Safety Administration, and many more. If you have a passion for managing vital water resources, protecting the environment, providing excellent customer service, and keeping the water and wastewater in the pipes, bring your skills and talent to Durham!

We work diligently to make sure that the wastewater leaving our facilities is treated to the best of our ability to protect public health, our reservoirs and the environment.

This position is devoted to the operation of water and wastewater treatment facilities through the performance of skilled labor and technical work. The Plant Operations Coordinator will perform the most advanced plant operations work including advanced sampling and lab analysis to determine process adjustments; completing special projects related to essential operations activities; and assisting the plant supervisor with activities such as maintaining plant safety equipment, laboratory operations or maintenance activities.

This role is responsible to provide continuous plant operations support delivering actions in operating, maintaining, and adjusting equipment; maintaining records; cleaning and calibrating equipment; monitoring chemical feeds and making process adjustments; training employees; collecting samples, performing laboratory analysis and calibrating chemical meters; testing safety equipment; and loading and unloading bulk chemicals and supplies.

• Monitors and reports plant operations status; maintains and adjusts treatment plant equipment; prioritizes and assigns work; trains employees; monitors chemical feeds and makes process adjustments; collects samples; performs laboratory analysis; calibrates chemical meters; troubleshoots complex or escalated plant operation issues; and ensures that plant operations comply with permit and other applicable regulations, policies, and procedures.
• Coordinates and performs plant equipment and system inspections; calibrates and tests safety and other plant equipment; performs preventative maintenance, including performing minor repairs and maintaining lubricant levels in equipment, to ensure proper working condition and functioning of equipment.
• Participates in reviewing operational policies and makes recommendations; cleans equipment and other housekeeping duties in assigned areas, including washing filters and removing sludge; and loads and unloads bulk chemicals and supplies.
• Prepares and coordinates the preparation of reports, records, logs, work orders, and other documentation; enters, updates, gathers, compiles, reviews and/or submits information; reviews and proofs information for accuracy and completeness.

Skill In:

• Operation, maintenance and process control functions of a wastewater treatment plant to maintain permit compliance.
• Standard practices, methods and materials of assigned work.
• Inspect equipment and monitor maintenance needs.
• Review system data and laboratory results and take appropriate action.
• Organize tasks, meet deadlines, and manage competing priorities.
• Business math concepts.
• Filing and record-keeping principles.
• Occupational hazards and applicable safety principles and practices.
• Uses and properties of supplies and equipment.
• Applicable federal, state and local laws, codes, regulations (based assignment).
• Practices and methods of training and leading the work of others (based assignment).
• Techniques and methods for organizing, prioritizing, assigning and monitoring work (based assignment
• Customer service principles.
• Specialized equipment relevant to area of assignment
• Modern office technology.
• Coordinate deadlines, prioritize workloads, and assign and monitor work, as assigned.

• High School Diploma or Equivalent (GED, HiSET, TASC)
• One year of additional vocational training
• Three years of experience in wastewater treatment plant operations.
• Must have a valid, unrestricted, North Carolina driver's license, or if a valid license from a State other than North Carolina, must be willing and able to obtain a valid, unrestricted NC driver's license within 60 days of hire
• North Carolina Grade III Wastewater Treatment Operator’s License.

• Additional on-the-job and/or safety-related certifications may be required by the City.

• North Carolina Grade IV Wastewater Treatment Operator’s License
• North Carolina Land Application Certification.
• Experience with SCADA interface.
• One year’s experience with a CMMS program.