Manager - Industrial Water & Waste Systems Area

At Wolfspeed, we do amazing things in a human way. We know that the achievements of our organization are due to the passion, hard work, and creativity of our employees. We celebrate different perspectives to foster excellence across our organization, and our goal is to make diversity a foundation of what we do. We are proudly building an environment where you can bring your authentic self to work.

About the Role

Wolfspeed is seeking a Facilities Industrial Water & Waste Area Manager to lead the engineering and maintenance teams for Industrial Water and Waste at our Durham Campuses. You lead by promoting a safety and quality mindset to your teams through continuous improvement of processes, policies, and procedures. You provide daily assistance to your team and develop creative approaches to improve reliability while reducing operational costs and energy consumption.

Responsibilities

• Provide technical leadership for water, wastewater, reclaim, and hazardous waste systems, including RO/DI, UF, ion exchange, and advanced wastewater treatment technologies.
• Lead system hardening initiatives to enhance reliability, redundancy, and resilience of critical utility infrastructure.
• Identify and eliminate single points of failure (SPOFs) through robust redundancy and design improvements.
• Drive root cause failure analysis (RCFA) and ensure implementation of sustainable corrective and preventive actions across all sites.
• Manage and direct the daily activities of facilities IW&W team members – leading leaders, engineers, and technicians.
• Recruit, select, manage, coach, and motivate staff; provide guidance and direction on problems and issues; delegate work assignments.
• Work with project teams to start-up and commission facilities systems and equipment.
• Ensure compliance with local, state, and national codes and compliance requirements.
• Support commercial negotiations and establishment of terms related to services, projects, and power purchase agreements.
• Guide the team to hit key metrics - continuously improving uptime and reliability performance.
• Collaborate with other leaders and facilities teams in the development of overall objectives and long-term company goals.
• Provide input into the facility annual operating plan and manage expenses under budget.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Chemical, Environmental, Mechanical Engineering, or related field (required).
• 8–12+ years of experience in industrial water/wastewater engineering and operations.
• Demonstrated success in system hardening, optimization, and cost reduction initiatives.
• Experience leading and mentoring engineering and operations teams preferred.
• Experience supporting multi-site organizations.
• Semiconductor or advanced manufacturing experience strongly preferred.
• Proven track record delivering quantifiable 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 challenges such as POTW compliance is preferred.
• Strong understanding of process integration, automation, and PLC/SCADA systems.
• Proficiency in data analytics, performance trending, and process optimization tools.
• Ability to lead enterprise-wide initiatives without direct authority.
• Strong coaching, mentoring, and talent development skills.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder influence capabilities.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and decision-making abilities.
• Hands-on leadership style with a people-first, cost-focused mindset.

Benefits

• Childcare assistance and paid parental leave.
• Continuing education assistance.
• Employee Resource Groups and local outreach opportunities.