Senior Utility Operations Consultant

HDR, Inc.; Englewood (CO); On-site; USD 116,000 - 192,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical benefits

Dental benefits

Vision benefits

Retirement plan with employer match

Tuition reimbursement

Paid time away

Job summary

HDR, Inc. seeks an experienced Senior Utility Operations Consultant to join HDR’s Water Business Group in Colorado.

The role focuses on delivering high-level operations consulting across drinking water, wastewater, and reuse utilities, driving improvements, and advancing asset management strategies to support clients and protect public health. Key responsibilities include advising operators and executives, developing SOPs, and partnering with design and asset teams to translate operational

Qualifications

• 10+ years in water utility operations.
• Experience with asset management strategies.
• Ability to review facility plans and designs from an operational perspective.

Responsibilities

• Provide high-level operational consulting across drinking water, wastewater, and reuse utilities.
• Lead operational troubleshooting to diagnose process upsets and reliability problems.
• Drive process improvements in SOPs, staffing, energy and chemical use.
• Develop asset management programs and life-cycle planning.
• Support regulatory compliance and permit readiness.
• Review designs for operability and maintainability.
• Mentor staff and contribute to workforce development.

Skills

Effective communication

Leadership

Team collaboration

Travel readiness

Operational excellence

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience

Master’s degree in civil/environmental engineering

Professional Engineer (PE) license

Operator licensure (Water/Wastewater)

Tools

Asset management tools

Decision-support tools

Job description

At HDR, our employee-owners are fully engaged in creating a welcoming environment where each of us is valued and respected, a place where everyone is empowered to bring their authentic selves and novel ideas to work every day. As we foster a culture of inclusion throughout our company and within our communities, we constantly ask ourselves: What is our impact on the world?

Watch Our Story: https://www.hdrinc.com/our-story

Each and every role throughout our organization makes a difference in our ability to change the world for the better. Read further to learn how you could help make great things possible not only in your community, but around the world.

Position Summary

We believe that the way we work can add meaning and value to the world – that ideas inspire positive change, that small details yield important realizations, and that collaboration is the best way forward. HDR has an excellent opportunity for an experienced professional to join our Water Business Group as a Senior Utility Operations Consultant within our Utility Management Services (UMS) Business Class.

Primary Responsibilities

• Provide high-level operational consulting at all organizational levels within drinking water, wastewater, and potable reuse utilities – advising operators, supervisors, plant managers, and executive leadership.
• Lead operational troubleshooting to diagnose and resolve process upsets, equipment and performance issues, and reliability problems across treatment, transmission, and distribution systems.
• Drive operating process improvement – optimizing unit processes, standard operating procedures (SOPs), staffing and workflow, energy and chemical use, and overall operational efficiency.
• Develop and implement asset management strategies and programs in partnership with HDR's asset management teams, including asset inventories, criticality and condition assessment, remaining useful life, risk modeling, service-level objectives, and repair/renewal and reinvestment planning.
• Support regulatory compliance efforts across drinking water, wastewater, and reuse programs, helping clients maintain permit compliance and prepare for evolving requirements.
• Provide reuse operations expertise – advising on direct and indirect potable reuse operations, treatment reliability, monitoring, and regulatory frameworks for reuse to ensure our utility clients have the technical and managerial expertise to manage these systems and protect public health.
• Partnered with our drinking water and reuse process designers, perform design review from an operational perspective – evaluating water treatment and reuse facility planning and design for operability, maintainability, constructability, safety, and life-cycle cost, and translating operational insight into design recommendations.
• Serve as a key operations-focused resource as part of HDR's growing Organizational Development practice to help our clients transfer knowledge from retiring water professionals and advance skills of existing operational professionals to overcome today’s workforce challenges.
• Support project delivery across master and facility planning, business case evaluations, operations optimization studies, and asset management programs – including scope, schedule, and budget development.
• Contribute to client development and pursuits – preparing proposals and estimates, participating in interviews, and building trusted-advisor relationships with municipal utility clients.
• Implement effective quality assurance and quality control reviews and commit to HDR values of quality and continuous improvement.
• Mentor and develop technical staff and actively engage in professional and industry organizations through committee participation and conference presentations/publications.
• Perform composite performance evaluations and facilitate self-assessments of water treatment facilities to identify operational strengths, performance limiting factors and opportunities for improvement.
• Serve as a trusted technical and strategic resource to clients by developing and delivering innovative operational protocols, tools and methodologies that optimize process performance, improve system reliability, and advance operational excellence.
• Assist clients in developing operational, and leadership training programs that strengthen technical competency, supervisory effectiveness and workforce development.

Preferred Qualifications

• High level drinking water or wastewater operations license(s).
• 15+ years of progressive experience in drinking water, wastewater, and/or reuse utility operations, including operations troubleshooting and process improvement.
• Demonstrated experience developing and implementing operational and asset management strategies and programs.
• Working knowledge of water/wastewater/reuse regulatory compliance requirements (e.g., Safe Drinking Water Act, Clean Water Act, and Reuse regulations).
• Ability to review facility plans and designs from an operational perspective and communicate operability and maintainability recommendations to design teams.
• Strong client relations skills with an interest in client and business development.
• Excellent communication, teamwork, and interpersonal skills, with the ability to function effectively across integrated project teams and at all organizational levels.
• Ability to travel to client sites and HDR offices as needed.
• Commitment to quality, continuous improvement, and to being an active participant in our employee-owned culture.
• Drinking Water and/or Wastewater Operator licensure (Grade 3 or above) and/or a Professional Engineer (PE) license.
• Master’s degree in civil, environmental, or a related technical discipline within the water sector.
• Previous management or operations leadership experience within a municipal drinking water, wastewater, or reuse utility.
• Hands-on experience with water reuse operations and advanced treatment processes.
• Strong technical background in planning and design, with experience integrating operational perspectives into treatment design and facility planning.
• Experience with asset management technology, condition assessment data management, and operational decision-support tools.
• Active engagement in industry organizations locally and nationally (e.g., AWWA, WEF, WateReuse, state associations).

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience
• A minimum of 10 years experience
• Professional registration, license or certification may be required based on role
• Strong communication and listening skills
• Ability to handle multiple assignments
• Good leadership and organizational skills
• An attitude and commitment to being an active participant of our employee-owned culture is a must

What We Believe

HDR is our company. Together, we build on each other's life experiences and perspectives to make great things possible every day. This shapes our collaborative culture, encourages organizational trust and connects us closer to the clients and communities we serve.

Our Commitment

As employee owners, we all have a role in creating an inclusive environment where each of us is welcomed, valued, respected and empowered to bring our authentic selves to work every day.

Our eight Employee Network Groups (Asian Pacific, Black, Hispanic/Latino(a), LGBTQ+, People with Disabilities, Veterans, Women, Young Professionals) help create a sense of belonging and foster a supportive environment where everyone is empowered to engage and contribute. Each group has an executive sponsor and is open to all employees.

We provide a comprehensive benefits package that promotes employee ownership, employee health, performance, and success, which includes medical, dental, vision, short and long-term disability, life insurance, an employee assistance program, paid time away, parental leave, paid holidays, a retirement savings plan with employer match, employee referral bonus and tuition reimbursement. The expected compensation range for this position depends upon skills, experience, education and geographical location. (Stated benefits are for full-time regular positions. Temporary and part-time roles eligible for limited benefits.) {Colorado}: $116,000 - $192,000

Primary Location: United States-Colorado-Denver Other Locations: United States-Colorado-Durango, United States-Colorado-Colorado Springs, United States-Colorado-Fort Collins, United States-Colorado, United States-Colorado-Englewood Industry: Water Schedule: Full-time Employee Status: Regular BusinessClass: Utility Management Services Job Posting: Oct 23, 2026

At HDR, we are committed to the principles of employment equity. We are an affirmative action and equal opportunity employer (https://www.hdrinc.com/equal-employment-opportunity-employer). We consider all qualified applicants, regardless of criminal histories, arrest and conviction records.