Water Quality Planner

Brown and Caldwell (BC) is a recognized leader in the water, wastewater, and stormwater industry.  Utilities hire us to solve their most challenging problems. Our Northwest region has opportunities for an entry or junior-level Water Quality Planner to work on complex and rewarding planning projects for our municipal clients.

The Water Quality Planner will work as part of a team on planning projects for municipal water, wastewater, and stormwater utilities.  Planning projects will range from project-level alternatives analyses to comprehensive utility plans, including facility plans, strategic plans, and integrated plans. In the near term, the position will focus on comprehensive planning for wastewater utilities including long-range planning for managing capacity for wastewater conveyance and treatment, investments in renewal of aging infrastructure, compliance with environmental regulations, addressing water quality, expanding resource recovery and sustainability initiatives, and improving resiliency.

When you join BC, you will enjoy a unique and welcoming culture. You will find that we offer a non-hierarchical, collaborative and supportive environment, allowing you to do your best work. You will be trusted to do the right thing by our project managers and given the flexibility to manage your own schedule to achieve this while maintaining high quality work products. Long term, you will work to build collaborative relationships with our clients and take on progressive responsibilities such as task lead and project manager roles, all while being mentored and supported through your growth.  The work we do is interesting, challenging, and wide-ranging in nature, and so is our client base.

A hybrid work arrangement of at least 2 days in our Seattle office is allowed.

Job functions will include:

• Formulating problem statements, developing planning methodologies, and identifying data needs and sources.
• Together with subject matter experts, identifying and developing conceptual solutions. Solutions may range from traditional grey-infrastructure improvements to policy revisions and could include programmatic investments, green-infrastructure improvements, and natural solutions.
• Conducting conceptual level evaluations of alternatives in conjunction with subject matter experts. Evaluations include cost estimating, lifecycle cost estimating, cost-benefit analyses, energy use or recovery, greenhouse gas emissions, equity and social justice related outcomes, community benefits and impacts, and other qualitative considerations.
• Identifying risks and uncertainties and determining their potential impact on planning conclusions.
• Applying decision science techniques such as multi-criteria decision analysis, triple bottom line, and business case evaluations to identify the relative merits and tradeoffs associated with potential solutions and facilitate informed decision making by project leaders.
• Working as part of a team to present findings and develop written documentation.
• Together with Planning Lead and Project Manager, facilitating client workshops to gather input, develop recommendations, and make decisions.

In addition, supporting project management tasks, participating in business development pursuits, and attendance at regional and national industry conferences may be incorporated into job functions based on prior experience, aptitude, and career path.

Minimum Qualifications:

• B.A. or B.S. degree in Environmental Engineering, Civil Engineering, Urban Planning, Public Administration, Public Policy, Environmental Economics, Decision Science, or similar fields. 
• Demonstrated communication skills with the ability to communicate clearly, concisely, and professionally.  Demonstrated experience developing clear written documents and being comfortable presenting work to large groups.
• Demonstrated ability to:
  • Work effectively in a team setting, developing work products that support a broader effort.
  • Distill complex topics into a narrative to inform decision-making and implementation.
  • Formulate approaches to complex problems and identify potential methods and inputs.
  • Compile and manipulate data sets to draw conclusions.
• Proficiency with MS Office applications.

Preferred Qualifications:

• 2-5 years of experience in the environmental sector. 
• Masters degree in Environmental Engineering, Civil Engineering, Urban Planning, Public Administration, Public Policy, Environmental Economics, Decision Science, or similar fields. 
• Prior work experience specifically related to water, wastewater, and/or stormwater utilities.
• Demonstrated communication skills presenting technical material to both technical and non