Process Engineer

About Us

AlexRenew is one of the most advanced wastewater utilities in the United States, serving over 300,000 customers in Alexandria, VA, and parts of Fairfax County. Each year, our facility processes and treats approximately 13 billion gallons of wastewater received from area homes, schools, and businesses to protect public health and the environment. If you are interested in working for a leader in the wastewater industry, we invite qualified candidates to apply for our Process Engineer position. 

What we do and how we do it is driven by our five Goals:

• Operational Excellence: Taking proactive steps to meet current and future challenges.
• Thriving Workforce: Investing in our staff and fostering a culture of belonging.
• Strategic Partnerships: Promoting watershed-level thinking.
• Environmental Sustainability: Being good stewards of our resources to minimize our impact.
• Commitment to the Community: Strengthening connections with the public and providing affordable service.

Summary:

With limited supervision from the Chief Water Quality Officer, and in close collaboration with the Chief Operator, the Process Engineer is responsible for developing targets, monitoring process performance, and supporting future improvements to ensure complaint and efficient operations of AlexRenew’s water resource recovery facility (WRRF). This position is also responsible for following industry trends, research, and technology development. The Process Engineer supervises a Senior Process Analyst and a cross-functional team of Process Specialists. 

Essential Duties & Responsibilities:  

• Meets and responds to changing regulatory drivers:
  • Sets targets and makes process recommendations to maintain compliance with permit requirements for effluent, biosolids, and reclaimed water.
  • Communicates regularly on process performance to internal stakeholders. 
  • Sets early warning parameters, troubleshoots, and identifies corrective actions to avoid process upsets. 
  • In coordination with Water Quality Manager, reviews and revises internal process sampling plans to ensure efficient plant operations.  
  • Leads and manages internal operational database (OP10), ensures data quality, supports data requests from internal and external partners. 
  • Supervises the development of and reviews regulatory reports to ensure data quality and timely submission. 
  • Monitors regulatory trends and plans for future process impacts, recommends improvements to process and equipment to meet future challenges. 

• Optimizes plant processes:
  • Performs in-depth analysis to support optimization of liquids and solids processes.
  • Sets process target goals and measures performance towards goals. 
  • Sets targets, monitors, and reports on chemical and energy use. Supports testing of alternative chemical products and development of specifications. 
  • Develops seasonal process plans to most efficiently use chemicals and energy while meeting process parameters most efficiently. 
  • Leads research and pilots in collaboration with internal and external partners. 
  • Develops, reviews, and provides technical comments on standard operating procedures to support plant performance. 
  • Leads and manages the process model (SUMO), ensures model accuracy, supports model requests from internal and external partners. 

• Supports process equipment effectiveness:
  • Leads strategy and manages instrumentation used for process monitoring. 
  • Provides technical input into the development of Capital Improvement Plan to ensure timely upgrades and renewal of equipment to meet process goals. 
  • Reviews and provides technical comments on engineering project specifications, designs, and timelines.
  • Serves on project advisory committees to support design and construction of new equipment.  
  • Develops scopes and manages contracts for external vendors to support plant process. 

• Mentors and develops staff:
  • Supervises Process Analyst team; establishes goals, mentors, and evaluates and documents performance.
  • Supervises cross-functional process specialist team; leads weekly meetings, supports continued professional development. 
  • Identifies internal process training needs and makes recommendations for courses. 
  • Identifies topics, supports internal teams and process to develop and submit technical papers to state and national conferences. 
  • Supports apprenticeship and continuing operator training on plant processes. 

• Performs other duties as required.

Qualification Requirements:

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the education, experience, knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. 

Key Competencies:

• Accountability
• Communication
• Dependability
• Decision Making
• Initiative
• Safety Awareness
• Teamwork

Education and/or Experience:

• Bachelor’s Degree in environmental engineering; or civil or chemical engineering with an environmental focus preferred.  
• Five (5) years’ related work experience in water or wastewater treatment operations, focus on advanced wastewater treatment and reclamation process desired; including staff supervision.
• Virginia Professional Engineer license or ability to obtain within one year of employment.
• Advanced understanding of processes and instrumentation associated with municipal wastewater treatment.
• Ability to perform mass, energy balance, chemical, and hydraulic calculations.
• Understanding of state and federal regulatory requirements related wastewater facility permits.
• Experience reading and commenting on process control narratives for programming of process control systems.
• Ability to understand and explain piping and instrumentation diagrams.
• Self-motivated with the ability to work collaboratively and independently.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills, both written and verbal.
• Knowledge of business and management principles to support the development of annual budgets and process plans.
• Proficient with Microsoft (MS) Office Suite, Database Management, SCADA, and wastewater process modeling, experience with SUMO process model preferred.

Physical Demands:

The physical demands described here are representative of those that an employee may perform on an occasional to regular basis while performing functions of this job.  A detailed Physical Demands Analysis is available in Human Resources and a copy will be provided to all incumbents in this position.  While performing the duties of this job, typical with office work, include lifting up to 15 pounds, and minimal pushing or pulling. 

Work Environment:

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Environmental conditions necessitate following strict safety guidelines and use of Personal Protective Equipment.  While performing the duties of this job, the employee performs work indoors in a climate controlled environment, and outdoor on-site evaluations, pilot testing and investigations.  

Disclaimer:

The above information on this job description has been designed to indicate the general nature and level of work performed by employees within this classification.  It is not designed to contain or be interpreted as comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities and qualifications required of employees assigned to this job.