Drinking Water Process Technical Expert

Kennedy Jenks is seeking a National Water Treatment Technical Expert in Virginia to provide drinking water quality and treatment expertise for clients and project teams across the firm.

The ideal candidate will bring deep experience in drinking water treatment technologies, regulations, and water quality management, along with a passion for mentoring developing professionals and advancing technical excellence. This role supports complex drinking water, water reuse, and advanced purification projects while helping clients navigate evolving treatment challenges and regulatory requirements.

As a National Water Treatment Technical Expert, you will provide technical leadership, strategic guidance, and client-facing support for complex water quality and treatment initiatives.

• Provide technical expertise: Serve as a technical expert for municipal drinking water treatment, water reuse, and advanced water purification, including treatment process evaluation and selection, preliminary engineering studies, and operations optimization.
• Support business development: Support client service managers and business development activities through technical consultation, client meetings, project interviews, and strategic pursuits.
• Lead pursuits and technical approaches: Contribute to project pursuits by developing innovative treatment approaches, technical strategies, and scope recommendations.
• Guide planning and pilot testing: Mentor and lead process planning efforts, including feasibility studies, facility planning, and pilot testing programs for complex water projects.
• Lead preliminary design: Advise preliminary process design, including basis of design reports and preliminary engineering drawings and specifications for complex water projects.
• Review technical deliverables: Guide development and provide quality control review of process flow diagrams, design criteria, and process and instrumentation diagrams.
• Optimize facility performance: Evaluate treatment performance and identify opportunities to improve operations at existing facilities.
• Engage the industry: Actively participate in water-focused professional organizations; submit abstracts and present technical material at conferences.
• Collaborate on research: Work with Applied Research Group staff on water quality and water treatment processes research.
• Support private sector work: Team up with private sector water treatment staff to support and participate in industrial water quality and water treatment process projects.

• Firmwide technical influence: Serve as a trusted technical expert supporting clients and project teams across the firm.
• Solve complex water challenges: Apply your expertise to advanced treatment, reuse, purification, and optimization projects with meaningful community impact.
• Mentorship and knowledge-sharing: Help develop mid-level staff by sharing expertise in water quality, treatment processes, regulations, and practical project delivery.

• Deep water treatment expertise: Broad knowledge of drinking water treatment technologies, treatment process evaluation, water quality management, and regulatory frameworks.
• Technical leadership: Ability to provide technical direction on planning studies, pilot testing programs, process design efforts, and facility optimization initiatives.
• Client-facing communication: Strong communication skills with the ability to translate complex technical information for clients, project teams, and stakeholders.
• Technical interpretation: Ability to analyze and interpret professional journals, technical procedures, government regulations, reports, design drawings, specifications, and technical memos.
• Quality control and documentation: Experience reviewing technical deliverables and providing constructive guidance to multidisciplinary project teams.
• Industry engagement: Ability to build relationships across teams, support collaboration, and mentor engineers and technical staff.
• Proactive mindset: A proactive, solutions-oriented approach to addressing complex treatment and water quality challenges.

• Education: Bachelor's or Master's degree in Civil Engineering, Environmental Engineering, or a related scientific discipline required.
• Experience: 15+ years of experience in drinking water treatment engineering.
• Licensure: Professional Engineer (PE) license required; license in one or multiple states preferred, including CA, CO, FL, HI, OR, TX, VA, and WA.

Kennedy Jenks supports a healthy work-life balance and utilizes a hybrid model of home and office work, with a minimum of two days per week in the office. This approach empowers our people to thrive, collaborate, and do their best work.

Salary range for this position is anticipated to be $150,000 to $200,000 and may vary based upon education, experience, qualifications, licensure/certifications and geographic location.

Benefits summary: Medical, dental, vision, life and disability insurance; a health savings account; a 401(k); bonus programs; tuition reimbursement; employee ownership opportunity; professional registration support; business travel assistance; competitive paid time off and holidays; an employee assistance program; and additional programs that support your wellbeing and professional growth.

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