Engineering Program Manager

Date Opened: Monday, July 20, 2026 12:00 AM

Close Date: Monday, August 03, 2026 12:00 AM

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’s local government, with more than 9,000 employees and a total budget of $4.49 billion budget, works hard to ensure that the community will be a winning city for everyone – a truly remarkable place to live, work, learn and play.

Charlotte Water is an enterprise department of the City of Charlotte and one of the largest public water and sewer service providers in the southeast with over 330,000 customer accounts and over 1300 employees. Our service area includes the City of Charlotte, Mecklenburg County and the towns of Huntersville, Cornelius, Davidson, Mint Hill, Matthews, and Pineville. Charlotte Water’s FY 27 operating budget is $685.6 million and a five-year capital program of $2.5 billion.

SALARY:

The salary for this position is: $108,363.60 - $120,403.99, Commensurate with Experience.

JOB SUMMARY

This position provides management duties for the Environmental Management Division (EMD) engineering of Charlotte Water, and the Environmental Management System (EMS)/continuous improvement.  Work involves monitoring and implementation of EMD’s CIP, rehab and upgrade improvements projects and studies for the City’s Water Resource Recovery Facilities, Resource Recovery Programs, and Biosolids/Residuals handling, also ensuring the EMD engineering staff supports the division’s compliance programs as necessary for various permits such as Dam Safety, Stormwater/Spill Response, and Reclaimed Water.  This position ensures the maintenance of the division’s ISO 14001 certification for the EMS.  EMD’s Engineering Program Manager works to make sure EMD engineering staff are working with necessary teams within the division to identify projects that need to be completed and meet permit and EMS requirements.  This position will participate and provide input on needed capital improvements, contract and task order administration, and continuous improvement efforts related to wastewater treatment and biosolids treatment and handling.  The EMD Engineering Program Manager will promote and develop internal staff knowledge and skills to become active participants on project teams to assist plant operations, provide a high level of customer service, and to represent EMD within the department and City and in public facing situations.

ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS

• Participate and provide input on needed capital improvement projects involving the City’s Water Resource Recovery Facilities and wastewater treatment.
• Assist and participate as a consultant member on project design and construction teams.
• Attend EMD-related CIP/rehab project design meetings and construction status meetings at least once per month. Complete review of plans and specifications and provide input.
• Monitor and implement EMD CIP, rehab and upgrade projects and studies.
• Coordinates, and reviews construction engineering plans, designs, and specifications.
• Provides technical information, advice, and assistance in field of assignments related to wastewater treatment, stormwater management, and reclaimed water.
• Work with the EMD division manager to reprioritize current projects and funding to account for and satisfy urgent needs and challenges.
• Provides oversight to EMD Senior Engineers for division-managed projects for project during design and construction; assists with field decisions; manages root control program.
• Responds to internal and external customer questions, complaints, and requests.
• Facilitates project meetings; resolves issues; and reports status updates related to EMD rehab/upgrade managed projects.
• Manages administrative aspects of projects and programs; negotiates and monitors budgets and expenses; establishes schedules; processes purchase and task orders; coordinates maintaining permits; schedules inspections or status meetings; submits payment requests and evaluates quality controls.
• Provides hands-on operational assistance at treatment plants depending on assigned area as needed.
• Ensure the EMD Quality Control Analysist for the EMS has all components of the program requirements compliant with the ISO 14001 standard to maintain certification.
• Supports the division’s environmental management program by performing work with a focus on environmental protection, customer service, and continual improvement, and leading corrective action investigations, efforts to meet division objectives, and continuous improvement projects.
• Works with the EMD Division Manager, Operations Manager, and Utilities Services Manager to develop and implement division-wide policies.
• Performs other related job duties as assigned.  Complete special projects as needed such as participate and help evaluate new treatment technology as part of the EMD research and development program.

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS TO PERFORM WORK:

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, construction management, or a related field from an accredited school.
• Five (5) years of related work experience in engineering or construction management preferably in civil engineering or municipal capital improvement projects.
• Two (2) years of supervisory experience

Licenses, Certifications or Registrations:

• Requires a valid driver’s license.
• Must obtain and maintain a City Driver’s Permit.
• Requires certification as an Engineering-in-Training (EIT) (ability to obtain certification within one year of hire).
• Prefers licensure as a Professional Engineer (or equivalent credentials in field of specialty); may be required depending on assignment.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Strong understanding of advanced wastewater treatment practices and equipment, including anaerobically digested solids, solids dewatering, and biosolids handling.
• Knowledge of fundamental engineering and construction principles to initiate, plan, implement, and closeout projects.
• Knowledge of project management tasks.
• Skill in communication, both orally and in writing.
• Ability to apply and direct change control principles to project planning and implementation.
• Ability to quickly learn new software for project management.
• Ability to develop technical reports.
• Ability to work cooperatively with other city employees and the public.
• Ability to apply conflict resolution techniques.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS:

The work is light work and requires applying 10 pounds of force frequently exerting up to 20 pounds of force occasionally to move objects. Additionally, the following physical abilities are required: climbing, feeling, manual dexterity, grasping, handling, perceiving sounds at normal speaking levels, discriminating among sounds, mental acuity, pulling, pushing, repetitive motion, speaking, standing, stooping, visual acuity in data/color/observations/equipment/inspections, and walking.

WORK ENVIRONMENT:     

Work is performed in a dynamic environment that requires sensitivity to change and responsiveness to changing goals, priorities, and needs. Requires occasional on-call emergency work. This position provides the best support by working in person.  This position has limited remote work opportunities. 

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.