Water Lead

Fluidstack; Austin (TX); On-site; USD 200,000 - 350,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health, dental, and vision insurance

Retirement or pension plan

Generous PTO policy

Job summary

Fluidstack, located in Austin, Texas, is seeking a talented individual to manage water and wastewater infrastructure strategies across multiple data center sites. This role involves negotiating agreements, ensuring compliance, and coordinating across various teams.

The ideal candidate will have experience in industrial water projects, track water policy, and possess strong negotiation skills. A competitive salary range of $200,000 to $350,000 per year is offered, along with equity options and comprehensive benefits.

Qualifications

• Experience in managing water infrastructure from site selection to construction.
• Proven track record in negotiating with utilities for water supply agreements.
• Understanding of water policy and regulatory changes affecting sites.

Responsibilities

• Own water infrastructure strategy across all data center sites.
• Negotiate agreements with local authorities and utilities.
• Drive compliance with water withdrawal and permit conditions.

Skills

Water and wastewater infrastructure ownership

Negotiation with utilities

Water policy tracking

Permit process navigation

Cross-functional collaboration

Clear writing skills

Education

Civil or environmental engineering background (bonus)

Job description

About Fluidstack

We exist to make humanity more free. For most of human history, you farmed or you starved. Technology gave people more time for the things they wanted to do, instead of things they had to do. Powerful AI will be the biggest lever for human choice we've ever built - but only if models are aligned with what humanity actually wants. There are groups building AI who don't share these goals. Whoever deploys frontier compute infrastructure fastest will decide whether AI expands human freedom or shrinks it.

We're singularly focused on delivering 10 to 100s of GWs of compute faster than anyone else, rethinking every layer of the stack. We acquire power, design and build data centers, and operate them - with teams spanning hardware and software. Speed and scale are our key differentiators. Come be a part of building civilization-scale infrastructure for AI.

We hire people who care deeply about this problem space. If that is you, please apply!

How We Operate

• High ownership. Full autonomy. Own things end to end often taking on scope outside your core role without being asked to get things done.
• Velocity. We drive everything forward as fast as possible.
• First principles. Challenge every assumption. Zero analogy thinking, no egos, the best idea wins.
• Love of the game. The frontier of AI is the most interesting problem of our time. We put in long hours at high intensity to push the frontier forward.

The Development Team

Examples of key problems the team is working on

• Find enough land to deploy multiple gigawatts a week. By 2030 we need to bring on multiple gigawatts of new capacity every week, which means securing sites at a pace and scale no one in the industry has operated at. You'll own finding and locking that land ahead of the build.
• Get online in months, not years. Most of the clock runs before the lease is ever signed. You'll optimize the pre-signature work, site diligence, permitting, and development, so a site goes from signed lease to live power in under six months.
• Acquire 10GW behind the meter. Reaching 10GW means generating on-site instead of waiting on grid interconnection. You'll secure the supply and strategy to get there.

Role Scope

• Own water and wastewater infrastructure strategy across Fluidstack's full portfolio of data center sites, from initial site assessment and water rights diligence through supply agreements, permitting, and construction.
• Assess water supply risk and delivery feasibility for new sites before lease commitments are made, flagging constraints early enough to keep them off the build schedule.
• Negotiate water supply and wastewater agreements with local authorities, utilities, and service providers across US markets, and own the relationships that make those deals move.
• Drive compliance with water withdrawal limits, NPDES and pre-treatment permit conditions, and end-user flow agreements, tracking data and catching anomalies before they surface as operational or regulatory issues.
• Coordinate water workstreams across Development, Engineering, Design, Construction, and Operations so water timelines never gate a build.

What We're Looking For

The below is a starting point. We always make space for exceptional people, so if you don't fit this role exactly, tell us where you would.

• You've personally owned water and wastewater infrastructure for industrial or data center projects from site selection through construction, across multiple concurrent sites.
• You've negotiated water supply and wastewater agreements with local utilities and authorities, and closed deals where supply volume, rights, or infrastructure access wasn't straightforward.
• You track water policy, legal rights, and regulatory changes across active US markets and know when a state rule or permit condition is going to affect a site before anyone else flags it.
• You've worked with NPDES permits, industrial pre-treatment permits, or decentralized wastewater systems in a US context, and you can navigate the permit process without outside guidance.
• You quarterback across development, engineering, design, construction, and operations on water issues, keeping all open items visible and moving without losing anything in the handoffs.
• You write clearly enough to produce an external water narrative a customer or regulator can act on, and directly enough to close a difficult commercial negotiation with a water authority.
• Bonus: Civil or environmental engineering background. Data center water or cooling infrastructure experience. Water recycling, zero liquid discharge, or water efficiency systems. Decentralized wastewater systems. Multi-state water permitting track record.

Salary & Benefits

• Competitive total compensation package (salary + equity).
• Retirement or pension plan, in line with local norms.
• Health, dental, and vision insurance.
• Generous PTO policy, in line with local norms.

The base salary range for this position is $200,000 - $350,000 per year, depending on experience, skills, qualifications, and location. This range represents our good faith estimate of the compensation for this role at the time of posting. Total compensation may also include equity in the form of stock options.

We are committed to pay equity and transparency.

Fluidstack is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability and protected veterans’ status, or any other characteristic protected by law. Fluidstack will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records pursuant to applicable law.