Senior Utility Operations Consultant

At HDR, our employee-owners are fully engaged in creating a welcoming environment where each of us is valued and respected, a place where everyone is empowered to bring their authentic selves and novel ideas to work every day. As we foster a culture of inclusion throughout our company and within our communities, we constantly ask ourselves: What is our impact on the world?

Watch Our Story:' https://www.hdrinc.com/our-story' 

Each and every role throughout our organization makes a difference in our ability to change the world for the better. Read further to learn how you could help make great things possible not only in your community, but around the world. 

Position Summary 

We believe that the way we work can add meaning and value to the world – that ideas inspire positive change, that small details yield important realizations, and that collaboration is the best way forward. HDR has an excellent opportunity for an experienced professional to join our Water Business Group as a Senior Utility Operations Consultant within our Utility Management Services (UMS) Business Class. 

In this role, you will provide high-level operational consulting at all organizational levels within drinking water, wastewater, and potable reuse utilities. You will help clients solve their most challenging operational problems – improving process performance, reliability, compliance, asset stewardship, and operational workforces – while bringing an operations-informed perspective to facility planning and design. You will be a key technical resource and trusted advisor, partnering with client development leaders, project managers, and design teams to deliver integrated solutions and grow HDR’s operations consulting practice. 

Primary Responsibilities 

In the role of Senior Utility Operations Consultant, we’ll count on you to: 

• Provide high-level operational consulting at all organizational levels within drinking water, wastewater, and potable reuse utilities – advising operators, supervisors, plant managers, and executive leadership. 

• Lead operational troubleshooting to diagnose and resolve process upsets, equipment and performance issues, and reliability problems across treatment, transmission, and distribution systems. 

• Drive operating process improvement – optimizing unit processes, standard operating procedures (SOPs), staffing and workflow, energy and chemical use, and overall operational efficiency. 

• Develop and implement asset management strategies and programs in partnership with HDR’s asset management teams, including asset inventories, criticality and condition assessment, remaining useful life, risk modeling, service-level objectives, and repair/renewal and reinvestment planning. 

• Support regulatory compliance efforts across drinking water, wastewater, and reuse programs, helping clients maintain permit compliance and prepare for evolving requirements. 

• Provide reuse operations expertise – advising on direct and indirect potable reuse operations, treatment reliability, monitoring, and regulatory frameworks for reuse to ensure our utility clients have the technical and managerial expertise to manage these systems and protect public health.  

• Partnered with our drinking water and reuse process designers, perform design review from an operational perspective – evaluating water treatment and reuse facility planning and design for operability, maintainability, constructability, safety, and life-cycle cost, and translating operational insight into design recommendations. 

• Serve as a key operations-focused resource as part of HDR’s growing Organizational Development practice to help our clients transfer knowledge from retiring water professionals and advance skills of existing operational professionals to overcome today’s workforce challenges. 

• Support project delivery across master and facility planning, business case evaluations, operations optimization studies, and asset management programs – including scope, schedule, and budget development. 

• Contribute to client development and pursuits – preparing proposals and estimates, participating in interviews, and building trusted-advisor relationships with municipal utility clients. 

• Implement effective quality assurance and quality control reviews and commit to HDR values of quality and continuous improvement. 

• Mentor and develop technical staff and actively engage in professional and industry organizations through committee participation and conference presentations/publications.
•  Perform composite performance evaluations and facilitate self-assessments of water treatment facilities to identify operational strengths, performance limiting factors and opportunities for improvement.
• Serve as a trusted technical and strategic resource to clients by developing and delivering innovative operational protocols, tools and methodologies that optimize process performance, improve system reliability, and advance operational excellence.
• Assist clients in developing operational, and leadership training programs that strengthen technical competency, supervisory effectiveness and workforce development.

Preferred Qualifications 

• High level drinking water or wastewater operations license(s). 

• 15+ years of progressive experience in drinking water, wastewater, and/or reuse utility operations, including operations troubleshooting and process improvement. 

• Demonstrated experience developing and implementing operational and asset management strategies and programs. 

• Working knowledge of water/wastewater/reuse regulatory compliance requirements (e.g., Safe Drinking Water Act, Clean Water Act, and Reuse regulations). 

• Ability to review facility plans and designs from an operational perspective and communicate operability and maintainability recommendations to design teams. 

• Strong client relations skills with an interest in client and business development. 

• Excellent communication, teamwork, and interpersonal skills, with the ability to function effectively across integrated project teams and at all organizational levels. 

• Ability to travel to client sites and HDR offices as needed. 

• Commitment to quality, continuous improvement, and to being an active participant in our employee-owned culture.

• Drinking Water and/or Wastewater Operator licensure (Grade 3 or above) and/or a Professional Engineer (PE) license. 

• Master’s degree in civil, environmental, or a related technical discipline within the water sector. 

• Previous management or operations leadership experience within a municipal drinking water, wastewater, or reuse utility. 

• Hands-on experience with water reuse operations and advanced treatment processes. 

• Strong technical background in planning and design, with experience integrating operational perspectives into treatment design and facility planning. 

• Experience with asset management technology, condition assessment data management, and operational decision-support tools. 

• Active engagement in industry organizations locally and nationally (e.g., AWWA, WEF, WateReuse, state associations).