Recycled Water Project Manager

King County•Seattle, WA

2d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Recycled Water Project Manager supports King County’s Recycled Water Program, which produces and distributes highly treated wastewater for non-potable uses such as environmental restoration, sports fields, and agricultural irrigation. The position coordinates recycled water production at the South Treatment Plant and collaborates with other program team members. It manages projects, develops recommendations, and supports compliance with regulatory and contractual requirements to advance sustainability, conserve drinking water, reduce discharges to Puget Sound, and support regional climate resilience. The role combines project management, technical and planning leadership, stakeholder engagement, environmental compliance, and program communications. It works with treatment plant operations and maintenance staff, customers, partner agencies, regulators, and regional stakeholders to help ensure recycled water is produced, monitored, and delivered safely and reliably. The position contributes to long-range planning, studies, reports, customer agreements and training, and public education. The position is part of the Recycled Water Program within the Renewable Products & Services work group of the Resource Recovery Unit, in the Wastewater Treatment Division. The work group includes the Recycled Water and Biosolids Programs and focuses on recovering resources through innovative, sustainable practices. This is a full-time, 40-hour-per-week position represented by the Technical Employees’ Association. It follows a hybrid model with a minimum of three days in the office; the remote-to-onsite ratio may vary according to business needs. Primary onsite locations are South Treatment Plant in Renton and King Street Center in Seattle. Employees must reside in Washington State within a reasonable distance of their King County worksite and maintain a home workspace with reliable internet. The position is exempt from overtime and is not overtime eligible.

Requirements

Knowledge of water quality, drinking water systems, treatment processes, recycled water, wastewater system operations, or similar utility-based work.
Familiarity with water, reclaimed water, or wastewater regulations; resource management such as water rights, municipal planning, instream protection, or sustainability; regulatory frameworks; permit requirements; and principles supporting safe, compliant, beneficial use of recycled water.
Strong project management experience and written and verbal communication skills.
Experience preparing technical documents, regulatory reports, policy recommendations, and outreach materials.
Experience using environmental or operational data to inform program decisions, including maintaining detailed records, developing systems, producing summaries or visualizations, and applying data to improve production, distribution, or compliance strategies for recycled water or a similar utility resource.
Ability to build and sustain relationships with customers or users, partner agencies, researchers, and internal teams while navigating competing priorities and long-term planning needs.
Valid Washington State Driver’s License or an alternative ability to travel to meetings and field sites not served by transit at varying times of day.

Nice To Haves

Experience contributing to strategic planning in a utility, environmental, or public-sector setting and translating long-term vision into actionable plans that advance system reliability and regional sustainability.
Demonstrated cross-disciplinary collaboration and organizational alignment, coordinating technical, operational, policy, and communications teams to advance initiatives consistent with broader priorities.
Experience with recycled water and/or wastewater, including water demand planning for municipal, commercial, agricultural, and instream demands, and/or water resource management, including water rights and instream protection.
Knowledge of current trends in water reuse and familiarity with federal and state recycled water regulations.

Responsibilities

Manage planning, scheduling, and delivery of recycled water projects primarily at South Treatment Plant, coordinating plant operations and maintenance needs, customer needs, capital work, and resource recovery objectives.
Ensure project scopes and budgets support reliable Class A recycled water output.
Collaborate and cross-train with recycled water project managers to align project delivery, share operational insights, and improve consistency in planning, permitting, and customer support.
Build and maintain relationships with partner agencies and internal work groups.
Provide information to potential customers, help prepare customer agreements, and provide customer training and onboarding.
Coordinate with operations and maintenance staff on water quality, water availability, and operational reliability.
Contribute to long-range planning for recycled water production and distribution, aligning South Plant project priorities with division-wide resource recovery goals and the work group’s strategic direction.
Provide project-level alignment with recycled water regulations, user agreements, and permit conditions.
Prepare reports and contribute to studies required by permits.
Collaborate on planning studies and operational assessments, and coordinate with capital project managers on South Plant recycled water projects.
Develop project scopes and schedules, guide project teams through ambiguous issues, and ensure project deliverables.
Contribute to project-specific and program-wide communications, including web content, fact sheets, customer materials, and internal briefings.
Help provide clear, accurate messaging to potential and existing customers, partner agencies, regulators, elected officials, and media.
Participate in public education events about recycled water.