Lead Reliability Engineer, Water Chemistry
About The Position
Unlike traditional operations roles focused on routine chemical sampling, the Lead Reliability Engineer for Water Chemistry serves as the supreme technical authority for closed and open-loop water treatment, metallurgy, and corrosion prevention across Aligned's fleet. Acting as the strategic bridge between Site Operations and Platform Delivery, this role utilizes advanced chemical and metallurgical forensics to prevent catastrophic infrastructure degradation. The Lead Reliability Engineer translates empirical water quality data into binding engineering mandates, dictating chemical dosing architectures and vendor protocols to eliminate enterprise SLA risk.
Requirements
- 8+ years of experience in industrial water treatment, cooling tower chemistry, or related data center/mechanical systems environments.
- Bachelor's degree in Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or equivalent training/experience.
- Strong understanding of cooling systems, hydronic systems, and water treatment processes in mission-critical environments.
- Expert-level knowledge of scale, corrosion, microbiological control, and the complex thermodynamic interactions of high-density liquid cooling loops.
- Proven ability to manage third-party vendors and service providers, combined with the executive acumen to communicate complex chemical risks and metallurgical vulnerabilities to senior leadership and cross-departmental stakeholders.
Responsibilities
- Lead deep-dive chemical and metallurgical forensics during critical fleet incidents, participating in root cause analysis efforts and providing subject matter expertise.
- Investigate complex chemical mechanisms, translating findings into immediate corrective mandates.
- Provide rigorous oversight and governance of third-party water treatment vendors.
- Establish, enforce, and standardize Aligned's water chemistry program requirements across all sites.
- Dictate sampling frequencies, inhibitor concentrations, and emergency dosing protocols, holding vendors strictly accountable to fleet reliability standards.
- Analyze water quality data and trends to identify systemic risks to reliability, efficiency, and equipment lifecycle.
- Review capital project designs and issue Engineering Change Orders to ensure new multi-metal hydronic loops are properly buffered, filtered, and protected against galvanic and chemical corrosion prior to deployment.
- Conduct programmatic, fleet-wide technical audits to ensure sites are operating within strictly defined water chemistry parameters.
- Monitor the efficacy of existing side-stream filtration, degassing hardware, and biological control programs, escalating deviations before they result in physical flow restrictions or heat-exchange losses.
- Evaluate and recommend new solutions to improve water conservation, treatment effectiveness, and operational efficiency.
- Partner with the Advanced Cooling Lab to empirically test new chemical formulations, biocide treatments, and physical filtration methodologies prior to fleet-wide rollout.
Benefits
- Medical, dental, and vision insurance
- Health Savings and Flexible Spending Accounts (HSA with employer contribution for eligible participants, FSA's for health and dependent care)
- 401(k) plan with company match
- Paid Time Off and Holiday Pay
- Short-Term Disability, Life Insurance, and Long-Term Disability (with medical election)
- Voluntary life, critical illness, legal, and additional disability coverage
- Employee assistance program (EAP)
- Wellhub gym membership
- Bonus opportunities
- Professional development opportunities
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
