Salary : $80,901.00 - $103,331.00 Annually
Location : City Hall Building, Gresham, OR
Job Type: Full Time
Job Number: 26174-1
Department: Environmental Services
Division: Water Operations
Opening Date: 07/13/2026
Closing Date: 8/9/2026 11:59 PM Pacific

Overview
The City of Gresham is seeking a Senior Water Quality Program Specialist to serve as the City's central lead for its drinking water quality and protection programs, reporting directly to the Water Operations Manager. This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced water professional to take ownership of a large-scale, high-profile program with direct public health, regulatory, and community impact.

This position provides advanced technical oversight and citywide coordination of regulatory sampling and reporting, distribution system flushing strategy, cross-connection control, customer water quality investigations, and data analysis across SCADA, GIS, laboratory, and field datasets. This person must be fully versed in drinking water testing procedures under Oregon Health Authority (OHA) rules and regulations and will often serve as the division's subject matter expert. The position provides lead direction, training, and functional guidance to water quality staff.

Position Description
What you will get to do:

• Plan, organize, and manage a high-profile drinking water quality program with regulatory and public health components.
• Assist with strategic planning, develop program goals, policies, and procedures.
• Monitor subprograms, evaluate and report on performance and outcomes, and analyze technical information and evolving federal and state regulatory requirements to recommend improvements and ensure ongoing compliance.
• Conduct program-related research and data analysis.
• Gather and compile drinking water quality and regulatory monitoring data from a variety of sources.
• Apply descriptive statistics to answer questions and support programmatic changes.
• Prepare, submit, and distribute the annual Consumer Confidence Report (CCR) along with a variety of technical reports, notices, and public communication materials.
• Develop and implement outreach in support of program goals.
• Build and maintain relationships with partner and regulatory agencies.
• Provide water quality technical assistance and education to staff, the public, and outside agencies.
• Represent the City in meetings, presentations, committees, and interagency work groups, and respond to sensitive inquiries, investigate complaints, and recommend corrective actions.
• Maintain and advance critical program documentation, including SOPs, technical manuals, monitoring plans, and staff training materials essential to regulatory compliance and sanitary survey readiness.
• Support budget development, equipment procurement, and inventory management.
• Deliver training and functional oversight to operations staff.
• Serve as delegated backup Direct Responsible Charge (DRC).
• Coordinate, prioritize, and assign work to assigned staff.
• Perform other duties as assigned, including participation in citywide emergency response.

Qualifications
Knowledge of:

• Federal and state drinking water regulations, including the Safe Drinking Water Act and OAR 333; cross-connection control and backflow assemblies.
• Sampling techniques, QA/QC protocols, and laboratory coordination.
• Data analysis, trend evaluation, dashboards, and regulatory record keeping.
• Development of monitoring schedules, SOPs, and multi-program workflows.

Ability to:

• Prioritize multiple high-risk regulatory tasks with minimal oversight and exercise sound operational judgment, including as backup DRC.
• Train others and lead program initiatives.
• Perform instrument calibration and field troubleshooting.
• Communicate effectively verbally and in writing; present information, proposals, and recommendations clearly and persuasively.
• Establish and maintain effective working relationships with all internal and external contacts.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Associate's degree, and
• Three (3) to six (6) years of progressively responsible water quality, water distribution, or related experience.

Any combination of qualifying education, training, and/or experience equivalent to five (5) to eight (8) years may be considered.

Required Licenses and Certifications:

• Valid driver's license
• Oregon Health Authority (OHA) Water Distribution System Operator Level 4 Certification.
• OHA Cross Connection Tester License.
• OHA Cross Connection Specialist License.
• Ability to obtain Oregon OSHA-approved confined space training within six (6) months of hire.

Driving Matrix:

You will be disqualified from this process if you possess any of the following driving infractions:

• A major traffic offense or accident that results in death or major injury.
• Driving under the influence (DUI) offense within the last 5 years.
• Have more than 3 moving violations within a 3-year period or more than 2 within a one- year period.
• Have more than 2 accidents within a 3-year period.

Selection Process
To apply for this position, click 'Apply' at the top of this job posting.

Required application materials:

• Complete online application(Do not type 'see resume' in any fields or leave work experience fields blank in the application template.)
• Answers to supplemental questions

The City of Gresham offers a comprehensive and equitable base salary within the listed range based on your experience, skills, and education verified in your application. We encourage you to clearly describe how you meet the minimum and preferred qualifications and essential attributes in your application materials.

A review of application materials including your response to supplemental questions submitted will determine which candidates will be invited to an interview.

Communication with candidates will be done primarily through e-mail. Sometimes these messages may land in a spam or junk mail folder. We encourage you to monitor your inbox as well as the inbox within the governmentjobs.com portal for important updates related to this process.

Please direct questions about this position to 503-618-2729 or [email protected].

If you need assistance with the online application, please contact NEOGOV directly at 1-855-524-5627.

The City provides full family, comprehensive medical and dental insurance. Vision and prescription coverages are included in the medical plans. Most limited term and regular status employees who work at least 30 hours per week pay nothing for their medical and dental coverage.
Medical Insurance Options:

• City of Gresham Core Plan- UnitedHealthcare Options PPO Network
• Kaiser Permanente Traditional HMO

Dental Insurance Options:

• Delta Dental PPO Plan
• Willamette Dental Insurance
• Kaiser Permanente

Additional benefits include: Employer paid life insurance and long term disability, an employer sponsored deferred compensation plan, flexible spending accounts (medical, child care), Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) retirement (City picks up the 6% employee's contribution), an employer contribution to a HRA/VEBA medical savings account, paid time off (PTO) accrual at a minimum of 12.66 hours per month, and 4 hours of sick leave, in additional to nine paid holidays and 3.5 paid floating holidays per year.

For more detailed information, please visit our Employee Benefits page at:
01

What best describes your highest level of education?

• High School/ GED
• Some College
• Associates Degree
• Bachelor's Degree
• Master's Degree
• Doctorate Degree
• None of the above

02

How many years of progressively responsible water quality, water distribution, or related experience do you have?

• No experience.
• One (1) or more years of experience, but less than three (3) years of experience.
• Three (3) or more years of experience but less than five (5) years of experience.
• Five (5) or more years of experience.

03

Do you have a valid U.S. driver's license?

• Yes
• No

04

Do you have an Oregon Health Authority (OHA) Water Distribution System Operator Level 4 Certification?

• Yes
• No

05

Do you have an OHA Cross Connection Tester License?

• Yes
• No

06

Do you have an OHA Cross Connection Specialist License?

• Yes
• No

07

Do you an Oregon OSHA-approved confined space training certification, or can you acquire one within six (6) months of being hired?

• Yes
• No

08

Have you been convicted of a driving under the influence (DUI) offense within the last 5 years?

• Yes
• No

09

Have you been involved in a major traffic offense or accident that resulted in death or major injury?

• Yes
• No

10

In the last 5 years, have you had more than 2 motor vehicle accidents within a 3-year period?

• Yes
• No

11

In the last 5 years, have you had more than 3 moving violations within a 3-year period or more than 2 within a one-year period?)

• Yes
• No

Required Question