Utilities Operations Manager

Department: Charlotte Water Department

Welcome to the City of Charlotte

Charlotte is America’s Queen City, opening her arms to a diverse and inclusive community of residents, businesses and visitors alike. Here you will find a safe, family-oriented city where people work together to help everyone thrive. The mission of the City of Charlotte is to deliver quality public services and promote the safety, health, and quality of life for all residents.

Our guiding principles include:

• Attracting and retaining a skilled and diverse workforce

• Valuing teamwork, openness, accountability, productivity, and employee development

• Providing all customers with courteous, responsive, accessible, and seamless quality services

• Taking initiative to identify, analyze, and solve problems

• Collaborating with stakeholders to make informed decisions

SUMMARY

Charlotte Water’s Maintenance Division is responsible for maintaining the mechanical and electrical equipment that supports water and wastewater treatment, water distribution, wastewater collection, and related utility facilities throughout Mecklenburg County. The division maintains equipment at water and wastewater treatment plants, booster pump stations, sewer lift stations, administrative facilities, and other critical utility locations.

The Operations Manager is a professional management position that assists the Maintenance Division Manager with the overall administration, planning, coordination, and performance of the division. The position has primary responsibility for managing and improving the reliability, availability, maintainability, and lifecycle performance of mechanical equipment located at water and wastewater treatment plants, booster pump stations, and sewer lift stations.

The Operations Manager works closely with plant operations, engineering, instrumentation and controls, construction, safety, and other utility teams to coordinate maintenance activities and support safe, reliable, and compliant facility operations. The position provides leadership for preventive, predictive, corrective, and emergency maintenance programs; evaluates equipment condition and performance; identifies operational risks and recurring failures; and recommends improvements to maintenance strategies, asset renewal plans, staffing, procedures, and resource allocation.

The position also assists with division-wide strategic planning, budget development, capital improvement planning, contract administration, workforce development, performance measurement, and continuous-improvement initiatives. The Operations Manager may serve as the division’s representative on major projects, emergency response activities, and cross-functional teams.

Salary:

The salary for this position is $100,746.00-$111,939.99, Commensurate with Experience

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday 8:00AM - 5:00PM

Major Duties and Responsibilities:       

 

• Assists the Maintenance Division Manager with the overall planning, administration, coordination, and performance of division operations and maintenance activities.

• Directs, coordinates, and evaluates mechanical maintenance activities at water and wastewater treatment plants, booster pump stations, sewer lift stations, and other assigned utility facilities.

• Develops, implements, and monitors preventive, predictive, corrective, and emergency maintenance programs for pumps, motors, blowers, compressors, gearboxes, valves, gates, mixers, clarifiers, conveyors, dewatering equipment, HVAC systems, and other mechanical assets.

• Evaluates equipment criticality, condition, reliability, maintainability, lifecycle cost, and operational risk; recommends equipment replacement, rehabilitation, modification, or maintenance strategies.

• Reviews work orders, equipment history, maintenance backlogs, downtime, repeat failures, preventive-maintenance compliance, and other performance indicators to identify trends and opportunities for improvement.

• Coordinates maintenance activities with plant operations, engineering, instrumentation and controls, construction, safety, contractors, and other internal and external stakeholders to minimize service interruptions and maintain operational readiness.

• Provides technical and managerial support during equipment failures, process disruptions, emergencies, bypass operations, outages, and other events requiring coordinated response.

• Supervises, directs, coaches, and evaluates assigned staff; establishes work priorities; coordinates staffing and training needs; and promotes safe work practices, accountability, employee development, and teamwork.

• Assists with the development and administration of operating budgets, capital improvement plans, equipment-replacement programs, maintenance contracts, and long-range asset-management strategies.

• Assists with contract administration, procurement, scope development, cost evaluation, contractor coordination, inspection, and evaluation of work performed on mechanical equipment and facilities.

• Participates in the planning, design review, installation, commissioning, and acceptance of new or modified equipment and facilities to ensure maintainability, reliability, safety, and compatibility with existing systems.

• Ensures maintenance activities are performed in accordance with applicable safety requirements, environmental regulations, operating procedures, manufacturer recommendations, department standards, and regulatory requirements.

• Develops and maintains standard operating procedures, maintenance standards, equipment strategies, inspection requirements, and technical documentation.

• Leads or supports root-cause analysis, failure investigations, benchmarking, process-improvement efforts, and reliability initiatives designed to improve equipment performance and reduce unplanned downtime.

• Serves as a liaison to internal departments, contractors, regulatory agencies, engineering consultants, and other organizations; represents the Maintenance Division at meetings and on project teams.

• Participates in long-range workforce planning, succession planning, knowledge transfer, and development of technical capabilities needed to support the division’s mechanical maintenance programs.

• Performs other related duties as assigned.

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Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree from an accredited school.
• Seven (7) years of related work experience maintaining equipment in water and/or wastewater facilities including one (1) year of supervisory experience.

Licenses, Certifications or Registrations:

• Must have a valid Driver's License.
• Must obtain and maintain a City Driver's Permit.
• Desires the highest levels of Maintenance Technologist Certification.
• Desires the following credentials: A Surface and A Distribution certification.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Knowledge of water and wastewater management.
• Skill in communicating, both verbally and in writing.
• Skill in analyzing and solving problems.
• Ability to lead and facilitate significant change. 
• Ability to stay focused
• Ability to make supported decisions.
• Ability to exercise considerable initiative and independent judgment.
• Ability to supervise others.
• Ability to manage several units.

 

Physical Demands:

The work is medium work and requires applying 30 pounds of force frequently and exerting up to 50 pounds of force occasionally to move objects. Additionally, the following physical abilities are required: balancing, feeling, manual dexterity, handling, mental acuity, reaching, repetitive motion, speaking, expressing ideas by spoken word, shouting above noises, visual acuity in data/equipment, and walking.

 

Work Environment:          

Work is performed part of the time working in an environment where errors on this job can lead to significant physical or mental consequences for self or others.

 

Additional Information:

This job description is not intended to be and should not be construed as an inclusive list of all the responsibilities, skills, or working conditions associated with the position. While it is intended to accurately reflect the position activities and requirements, management reserves the right to modify, add or remove duties and assign other duties at any time.  This job description does not constitute a written or implied contract of employment.

 

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform the essential job functions satisfactorily. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the primary job functions herein described. Since every duty associated with this position may not be described herein, employees may be required to perform duties not specifically spelled out in the job description, but which may be reasonably considered to be incidental in the performing of their duties just as though they were written out in this job description.

CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT

The City’s Background Check Policy requires background checks to be conducted on final internal or external candidate(s) applying for any position with the City of Charlotte. The type of information that will be collected as part of a background check includes, but is not limited to: reference checks, social security verification, education verification, criminal conviction record check, and, if applicable, a credit history check, sex offender registry and motor vehicle records check.

Background checks must be in compliance with all federal and state statutes, such as the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). The checks must be consistent with the guidelines set forth by these laws requiring organizations to obtain a candidate’s written authorization before obtaining a criminal background report, motor vehicle records check or credit report; and to properly store and dispose of information derived from such reports.

Final candidates must pass a pre-employment drug-screening test and physical examination. During the selection process, candidates may be asked to take a skills test, and/or participate in other assessments.

The City of Charlotte is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not unlawfully discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, sex, national origin, marital status, age, disability, sexual orientation, political affiliation or on the basis of actual or perceived gender as expressed through dress, appearance, or behavior.

Our culture is to serve the community honorably.

HOW TO APPLY

Apply online.

Federal law requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities. Please tell us if you require a reasonable accommodation to apply for a job.

You are welcome to visit the City of Charlotte Human Resources Department lobby, where self-service application kiosks are available. They are located in our office at 700 East 4th Street, Suite 200, Charlotte, NC 28202. We are open Monday through Friday, from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. (EST), excluding official City holidays.

For questions about your application or the hiring process, please email [email protected]

The City of Charlotte is committed to making our services and programs accessible to all. Upon request, auxiliary aids, written materials in alternate formats, language access, and other reasonable accommodations or modifications will be provided. To make a request, please fill out the Innovation & Technology ADA request form or call 704.336.4120.

BENEEFITS

The City of Charlotte provides a comprehensive benefits package to eligible employees.

Click here to learn more about the City of Charlotte’s benefits.

The City of Charlotte is a drug and alcohol-free workplace.