Planning Engineer

Overview:

The Planning Engineer will plan for system improvements and capital needs of water and wastewater systems to ensure reliable delivery of service to our customers within the state. The engineer forecasts, analyzes, and plans water and wastewater systems and growth in accordance with local, state and federal regulations and ensures work is carried out in accordance with the corporate goals and philosophies.

Work Location and Schedule
Primarily based at our Sugar Land, TX office in a hybrid role. May require up to 25% travel within the state of Texas.

What You'll Do:

This position will be willing and able to perform the following duties and others as assigned:

• Gathers, analyzes, and compiles highly technical data for the preparation of special reports to management and governmental agencies that may require specialized investigation and analysis within any of the major engineering principles.
• Obtains and presents engineering information and data to internal stakeholders.
• Resolves engineering related problems and explains new procedures and techniques, etc.
• Prepares memos, letters, reports, and other communications.
• Establishes and updates Risk and Resilience of systems and regularly updates risk matrices to determine relative importance of projects, providing input for short- and long-term planning needs.
• Visits system sites for condition assessments and coordinates with operations staff on system performance and issues.
• Provides recommendations and guidance within Engineering and to Area Supervisors based on system modeling for capacity needs for pipelines wells, storage, and treatment facilities.
• Prepares hydraulic analysis and water flow calculations and provides analysis for new and future developments.
• Ranks relative importance of projects through matrices and other methods to aid with the annual and long-range capital budget, both forecasting future equipment needs and planning cost-effective strategies formeeting those needs.
• Promotes safe working conditions and assures that safety standards are followed.
• May oversee work of contracted consultants depending on business needs.
• May have other job-related duties assigned by management.

Reasonable Accommodations Statement:
To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. Reasonable Accommodations may be made to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

What You'll Bring:

Education:

B.S. Degree in Civil, Mechanical, Sanitary, Environmental Engineering, or related is required.
Experience

Work Experience:

This is an entry level position as a graduate engineer. Prior engineering experience as an intern during college years is encouraged but not required.

Nice to Have:

• 2 years of progressive experience in the water industry, including routine engineering responsibilities, preferably including project management capabilities of public works and/or water and wastewater utility projects.
• Experience with engineering modeling software for water and sewer systems, industry asset management practices, and general project management is preferred.
• Experience with water and wastewater system modeling software such as WaterCAD (or equivalent software) is desired.
• Experience using GIS map viewer software, and field data collection devices such as GPS, valve operating data, etc. is desirable.

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities:

• Has ability to perform water and wastewater industry routine engineering practices and supervise personnel as assigned.
• Must be detail and goal oriented and able to independently plan and execute projects with minimal supervision.
• Often under deadline pressure, must be able to work effectively with several projects simultaneously.
• Experience with construction engineering/management, reviewing shop drawings and managing construction change orders is desired.
• Must be able to work with land developers, City Engineers and Public Works Directors concerning capital improvement planning/projects.
• Must be able to prepare written reports, letters and master plans.
• Knowledge of Microsoft Office Software, Microsoft Project, CAD software and/or other industry current and related software, data base program and hydraulic analysis software is required.

Work Environment:

This position is primarily an office based-role and may be subjected to prolonged periods of sitting. Ability to traverse rough terrain around construction sites is required along with climbing and stooping to review construction work in progress. Ability to lift light loads of up to 25 lbs.