Water Engineering and Ops Manager - Facilities

talisman; North Carolina; Hybrid; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Talisman is seeking an Facilities Engineering & Operations Manager to lead a multi-site team dedicated to water, wastewater, and reclaim systems across U.S. facilities.

You will standardize practices, reduce SPOFs, and deliver measurable OPEX savings while staying fully compliant with environmental rules. You will mentor engineers and supervisors, drive reliability improvements, and coordinate cross-functional initiatives with EHS, manufacturing, and corporate engineering.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Chemical, Environmental or Mechanical Engineering is required.
• 8–12+ years of experience in industrial water/wastewater engineering and operations preferred.
• Experience leading and mentoring engineering and operations teams is desirable.

Responsibilities

• Provide technical leadership across sites for water, wastewater, reclaim and hazardous waste systems.
• Lead system hardening to improve reliability and resilience of critical utility infrastructure.
• Drive RCFA and implement lasting corrective actions across all sites.
• Set up improvement forums and steering committees to share best practices across sites.
• Champion FMEA and MOC processes to manage system risks and changes.

Skills

Leadership

Cross-functional collaboration

Communication skills

Data analytics

Problem-solving

Education

Bachelor's degree in Chemical, Environmental or Mechanical Engineering

Master's degree preferred

Tools

PLC/SCADA systems

Data analytics tools

Automation & process optimization

Job description

Our client, a leading advanced manufacturing company, is looking for a Facilities Engineering & Operations Manager - Water & Wastewater Treatment. You'll lead a multi-site team of engineers, supervisors and technicians. The team keeps water, wastewater and reclaim systems at U.S. facilities reliable, hardened against failure and cost-efficient. The role includes up to 20% domestic travel to support multi-site operations and improvement work.

The focus is operational excellence, getting the most out of assets over their full life and cutting operating costs (OPEX) for good. The main job is strengthening and optimizing existing infrastructure, not building new sites. You'll be the central technical authority. That means standardizing practices across sites, making systems more robust, removing single points of failure (SPOFs) and delivering measurable savings, all while staying fully compliant with environmental rules.

You'll also develop engineering talent and build a high-performance culture, with high engagement and morale across teams in different locations.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide technical leadership across sites for water, wastewater, reclaim and hazardous waste systems, including RO/DI, UF, ion exchange and advanced wastewater treatment technologies.
• Lead system hardening work to improve the reliability, redundancy and resilience of critical utility infrastructure.
• Find and remove single points of failure (SPOFs) through redundancy and design improvements.
• Drive root cause failure analysis (RCFA), and make sure lasting corrective and preventive actions are put in place at every site.
• Set up and lead improvement forums and steering committees to share best known methods (BKMs) and lessons across sites.
• Champion FMEA and management of change (MOC) processes to manage system risks and changes before problems occur.

Operational Excellence & Cost Optimization

• Lead cross-site efforts to cut operating costs (chemicals, energy, consumables, waste disposal) while keeping or improving system performance.
• Improve system performance through setpoint tuning, higher recovery and more efficient processes.
• Define, track and enforce KPIs such as cost per unit treated, chemical intensity, energy use and system uptime.
• Use Lean, Six Sigma and continuous improvement methods to drive lasting performance gains.

Reliability Engineering & Maintenance Strategy

• Build and run predictive and preventive maintenance programs for critical water and wastewater assets.
• Standardize spares strategies, redundancy philosophies and maintenance procedures across all sites.
• Use condition monitoring, data analytics and digital tools to reduce unplanned downtime.
• Mentor and coach early-career engineers and supervisors to deepen their technical and problem-solving skills.
• Build a culture of continuous learning, innovation and accountability at all sites.
• Set up structured career paths, training programs and competency frameworks.
• Recognize high performance and close skill gaps early to build a motivated, highly capable team.

Regulatory & Compliance

• Ensure compliance with EPA, NPDES and state regulatory requirements.
• Support audits, inspections and regulatory reporting.

Targeted Capital & Retrofit Execution (ROI-Driven)

• Lead retrofit and debottlenecking projects at existing (brownfield) facilities that improve reliability and cut OPEX.
• Prioritize investments by ROI, payback and risk reduction rather than capacity expansion.
• Review and approve engineering designs, technical solutions and vendor proposals.

Cross-Functional Leadership

• Work with EHS, manufacturing and corporate engineering to align on reliability, cost and sustainability goals.
• Lead technical support for incident investigations and corrective actions.
• Report performance metrics, risks and cost-saving opportunities to executive leadership clearly, backed by data.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Chemical, Environmental or Mechanical Engineering, or a related field (required); Master's degree preferred
• 8-12+ years of experience in industrial water/wastewater engineering and operations
• A track record of success in system hardening, optimizing existing facilities and cutting costs
• Experience leading and mentoring engineering and operations teams preferred
• Experience supporting multi-site or centralized engineering organizations
• Semiconductor or advanced manufacturing experience strongly preferred
• Proven results delivering measurable 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 issues such as PFAS, azoles and POTW (publicly owned treatment works) compliance preferred
• Strong understanding of process integration, automation and PLC/SCADA systems
• Skill with data analytics, performance trending and process optimization tools
• Ability to lead initiatives across the whole organization without direct authority
• Strong coaching, mentoring and talent development skills
• Excellent communication skills and the ability to influence stakeholders
• Strong analytical, problem-solving and decision-making skills
• Hands-on leadership style with a people-first, cost-focused mindset