Principal Water Quality Compliance Engineer

Key Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end water quality compliance efforts, including pollutant loading and mass balance analyses
• Direct NPDES/CDPS permitting strategies and oversee complex regulatory submittals
• Interpret and apply federal and Colorado water quality regulations (Clean Water Act and associated programs)
• Evaluate treatment processes, design changes, and capital projects for compliance and permitting impacts
• Partner with operations and engineering to integrate environmental requirements into projects and long-term planning
• Lead regulatory engagement, including rulemaking strategy and implementation
• Oversee biosolids, stormwater, SPCC, and related compliance programs
• Provide technical leadership on compliance evaluations, environmental release response, and fate and transport analyses

Qualifications

• Knowledge/Skills/Abilities
• Knowledge Of Federal and Colorado environmental regulations applicable to Metro’s operations and facilities
• Advanced principles and practices of environmental and process engineering
• Comprehensive and expert-level knowledge of the regulatory and technical requirements of the federal Clean Water Act and associated Colorado regulations and programs (CWA/CO), including NPDES/CDPS permitting, SPCC, 401 water quality certification, site location and design approval, biosolids management, stormwater, and other related federal and Colorado regulations and policies
• Engineering methodologies for evaluating treatment process modifications, hydraulic and organic capacity changes, and implications for regulatory compliance and facility design approval
• Methods for fate and transport evaluations and environmental release response, including assessment of pollutant migration, transformation, and mitigation strategies
• Best practices in engineering design review, technical quality assurance, and documentation for regulatory defensibility
• Colorado professional engineering laws and regulations governing the preparation, signing, and sealing of engineering documents
• Principles of professional engineering judgment and certification for regulatory engineering submittals such as SPCC Plans
• Project and consultant management principles as applied to technical engineering and regulatory work
• Effective technical writing, presentation, and communication strategies for regulatory and technical audiences
• Skilled At Leading, performing, and reviewing complex and highly technical engineering and regulatory analyses related to CWA/CO
• Establishing analytical approaches and ensuring defensibility of results
• Planning, coordinating and managing complex work assignments
• Leading and performing evaluations of treatment process or facility changes and developing defensible recommendations for maintaining compliance
• Writing clear, defensible technical reports and communicating complex engineering and regulatory concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences
• Using Microsoft Office Suite, particularly Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, to prepare and conduct analyses and prepare reports
• Applying advanced engineering judgment to evaluate facility modifications, treatment designs, and capital project impacts under WQCC Regulation 22, CDPS permits, and related state guidance
• Conducting and interpreting technical analyses supporting CWA permit renewals, biosolids management, stormwater controls, and discharge compliance
• Reviewing and preparing SPCC Plans and other CWA-related documents
• Managing consultant engineering work and ensuring technical deliverables meet CWA and related regulatory requirements
• Mentoring engineers and providing advanced technical guidance on CWA compliance engineering
• Active and empathic listening skills
• Training and mentoring staff
• Managing disagreements, de-escalating conflict, and negotiating win-win solutions
• Project management including work planning, resource allocation and progress reviews through project completion
• Ability to:
• Serve as Metro’s subject matter expert on CWA/CO compliance engineering and apply that expertise to regulatory, design, and operational decision support
• Develop and maintain a solid understanding of Metro’s facilities, treatment processes and operations
• Integrate technical analyses into Metro’s policy development and rulemaking participation activities and provide expert-level input to support defensible positions
• Collaborate effectively across departments and with regulators, as assigned, to resolve technical and compliance challenges
• Certify and stamp SPCC Plans and other required engineering documents
• Evaluate engineering designs, operational changes, and proposed projects for CWQCC Regulation 22, CDPS permits, and related state guidance