Associate Engineer - Environmental Services Department, Regulatory Affairs & Purified Water Division

Job Description:

Associate Engineer - Environmental Services Department, Regulatory Affairs & Purified Water Division

Description

Our diverse and inclusive workforce of more than 7,000 employees play a key role in the success of San José, the heart of the Silicon Valley. All City of San José employees work together as one team to make San José a vibrant, innovative, and desirable place to live and work. Visit here to learn more about our One Team Leadership Values and Expectations, including quality and excellent customer service and here to learn more about San José.

The City of San José is an equal opportunity employer. Applicants for all job openings will be considered without regard to age, race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, disability, veteran status or any other consideration made unlawful under any federal, state or local laws. The City of San José is committed to offering reasonable accommodations to job applicants with disabilities. If you need assistance or an accommodation due to a disability, please contact us at 408-535-1285, 711 (TTY) , or via email at CityCareers@sanjoseca.gov .

About the Department

The Environmental Services Department (ESD) is a national leader in pollution prevention, watershed protection, utility service provision, and climate action. Together, ESD employees positively impact every resident and business in San Jose.

Our department is an exceptional place to start or grow your career. We have a supportive leadership team, numerous professional growth opportunities, and an inclusive workplace culture that is welcoming of your talents! We offer an array of meaningful career paths and value flexibility. Additionally, the City offers excellent health and pension benefits, as well as 15 paid holidays!

To learn more about ESD, follow @sjenvironment on X (formally Twitter), Facebook, Instagram, and San Jose Environmental Services on LinkedIn.
About the Regulatory Affairs and Purified Water Division

ESD’s Regulatory Affairs and Purified Water Division, has four programmatic focus areas: Purified Water, Wastewater Compliance, Air Compliance, and Municipal Environmental Compliance. Division staff are environmental scientists, environmental professionals, and engineers. The Division’s responsibilities cover a broad range of initiatives, which include leading environmental monitoring, reporting, permitting, and compliance programs for various federal and state permits issued under the Clean Water, Clean Air, and Clean Soil regulations, leading and conducting environmental assessments, engaging in regional, state, and federal scientific collaborations, and implementing pollution prevention educational outreach initiatives to residents to reduce the levels of pollutants in wastewater. The Division also provides strategic and advanced technical leadership for a Direct Potable Reuse project that is envisioned to use advanced water purification technology to boost local drinking water supply.

Position Duties

The Environmental Services Department is currently seeking to fill one (1) full-time Associate Engineer position in the Regulatory Affairs and Purified Water Division's Municipal Environmental Compliance section.

The current salary range for this classification is: $135,975.84 - $172,099.20. This amount includes an approximate five percent (5%) ongoing non-pensionable pay. The actual salary shall be determined by the final candidates’ qualifications and experience.
Associate Engineer Position in Municipal Environmental Compliance
The Municipal Environmental Compliance section is responsible for keeping City owned environmentally impaired properties in compliance with local, State and Federal regulations. The work includes fuel leak investigations, closed landfill compliance, Phase I Environmental Site Assessments, Phase II soil, soil gas and/or groundwater contamination investigations and remediation projects. The group serves as a technical resource throughout the City to answer questions related to hazardous materials and provides a variety of support. The position requires strong communication and management skills and interacts with a variety of City staff, regulators, environmental consultants and the public on a wide range of subjects.

The responsibilities of the currently vacant position specifically include 1) managing environmental compliance for several City owned properties with legacy contamination, five closed landfills with landfill gas issues or groundwater contamination, and several leaking underground fuel tanks sites, 2) managing environmental due diligence (e.g. Phase I Environmental Site Assessments) for City property acquisitions, and 3) ensuring private new developments perform adequate environmental due diligence and are conditioned to further investigate and/or mitigate any hazardous materials issues that pose environmental or public health impacts.

Typical duties for the position include but are not limited to:

• Supervises staff including: prioritizing and assigning work; conducting performance evaluations; ensuring staff is trained; making hiring, termination, and disciplinary recommendations.
• Directs the collection and analysis of field data and prepares recommendations.
• Acts as a lead project manager on a variety of complex projects large and small. Main point of contact internally and externally with consultants and regulators.
• Prepares and coordinates master consultant agreements and service orders for individual projects. Oversees environmental consultant work to ensure it meets standards.
• Performs legislative review and advocacy activities on various environmental and compliance issues as assigned; researches issues, analyzes impacts, supports development of position statements with technical input.
• Represents the City with contractors, consulting firms, and public agencies, and at public meetings concerning City policy on engineering projects.

Minimum Qualifications

Education: A Bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university in Civil, Chemical, or Environmental Engineering or possession of an Engineer-in-Training (EIT) certificate.

Experience: Three (3) years of increasingly responsible professional engineering experience.

Acceptable Substitution: A Master’s degree from an accredited college or university in the required professional engineering discipline may be substituted for one (1) year of professional engineering experience.

Required Licensing: Possession of a valid State of California driver's license may be required.

Form 700 Requirement : This position requires a disclosure of outside investments, real property interest, income, and business positions. You must complete and file an “Assuming Office Form 700” with the City Clerk’s Office within the first 30 days of employment with the office.

Other Qualifications

The ideal candidate will possess the following competencies, as demonstrated in past and current employment history. Desirable competencies for this position include:

• Job Expertise - Demonstrates knowledge of and experience with applicable professional/technical principles and practices, Citywide and departmental procedures/policies and federal and state rules and regulations.
  • Knowledge of chemicals of concern occasionally found in soil, soil gas and groundwater in San Jose including: petroleum hydrocarbons, solvents, pesticides, metals, polychlorinated biphenyls, naturally occurring asbestos and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances.
  • Proven experience in project management for the environmental assessment, due diligence investigations, remediation, and clean up of properties for soil and ground water contamination.
  • Knowledge of principles and practices of Phase I Environmental Site Assessments and Phase II Environmental Investigation following ASTM standards.
  • Experience working with multiple stakeholders during the investigation, compliance and/or remediation of a contaminated property, including City staff, consultants and regulators.
  • Excellent leadership abilities, including experience in staff supervision, performance evaluation, and team development.
  • Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written, with ability to explain complex environmental conditions to City staff and decision makers.
• Communication Skills - Effectively conveys information and expresses thoughts and facts clearly, orally and in writing; demonstrates effective use of listening skills and displays openness to other people's ideas and thoughts.
• Initiative - Exhibits resourceful behaviors toward meeting job objectives; anticipates problems, is proactive, and avoids difficulties by planning ahead; displays willingness to assume extra responsibility and challenges; pursues continuing education opportunities that promotes job performance.
• Problem Solving - Approaches a situation or problem by defining the problem or issue; determines the significance of problem; collects information; uses logic and intuition to arrive at decisions or solutions to problems that achieve the desired outcome.
• Project Management - Ensures support for projects and implements agency goals and strategic objectives.
• Supervision - Sets effective long and short-term goals based on a good understanding of management practices; establishes realistic priorities within available resources; provides motivational support; empowers others; assigns decision-making and work functions to others in an appropriate manner to maximize organizational and individual effectiveness.
• Teamwork & Interpersonal Skills - Develops effective relationships with co-workers and supervisors by helping others accomplish tasks and using collaboration and conflict resolution skills.

Selection Process
The selection process will consist of an evaluation of the applicant's training and experience based on the application and responses to all the job specific questions. You must answer all questions to be considered or your application may be deemed incomplete and withheld from further consideration. Applicants are expected to write their own essays/responses. Please be advised that use of AI content in your responses may result in your removal from the hiring process. Only those candidates whose backgrounds best match the position will be invited to proceed in the selection process. Additional phases of the selection process will consist of one or more interviews.

If you have questions about the duties of these positions, the selection or hiring processes, please contact Angela Tea at Angela.Tea@sanjoseca.gov.

Additional Information:

Employment Eligibility: Federal law requires all employees to provide verification of their eligibility to work in this country. Please be informed that the City of San Jose will NOT sponsor, represent or sign any documents related to visa applications/transfers for H1-B or any other type of visa which requires an employer application.

You must answer all job-specific questions to be considered for this vacancy or your application will be deemed incomplete and withheld from further consideration. Applicants are expected to write their own essays/responses.

Please note that applications are currently not accepted through CalOpps or any other third party job board application system.

This recruitment may be used to fill multiple positions in this, or other divisions or departments. If you are interested in employment in this classification, you should apply to ensure you are considered for additional opportunities that may utilize the applicants from this recruitment.

Please allow adequate time to complete the application and submit before the deadline or the system may not save your application. If your online application was successfully submitted, you will receive an automatic confirmation email to the email address you provided. IF YOU DO NOT RECEIVE THE CONFIRMATION, please email CityCareers@sanjoseca.gov and we will research the status of your application.

AI and the Hiring Process

We recognize that Artificial Intelligence (AI) is becoming part of daily life and can be a valuable tool for learning, research, and professional growth. We encourage candidates to use AI responsibly as a support in preparing application materials, live assessments, and interviews. However, we value authenticity, accuracy and truthfulness. Application responses and interview answers must reflect your own knowledge, skills, and experiences. While AI can supplement preparation, it cannot replace the originality and judgment we look for in our employees. This ensures fairness, transparency, and equity for all applicants in the hiring process.

The City of San Jose offers a wide range of core health benefits including Medical, Dental, Vision, Employee Assistance Program, Life Insurance, Disability, and Savings Plans. Please visit the City's benefits pagefor detailed information on coverage, cost, and dependent coverage.

For information on the City’s Retirement Plan(pension for full-time employees), please visit the Office of Retirement Services website. You will be able to view information based on different Sworn/Federated job classification.

In additional to the benefits above, there is an additional perks siteto explore further benefits of working for the City of San Jose like paid leave, educational reimbursements, and holiday pay are specific to the job classification and union membership.

Closing Date/Time: 1/5/2026 11:59 PM Pacific

Salary:

$135,975.84 - $172,099.20 Annually