Scientist I​/II Water Resources

Job Title

Scientist I/II Water Resources

Durango, CO 81301
Glenwood Springs, CO 81601 (Primary)
Grand Junction, CO 81501

Full-Time

SGM is seeking a full‑time Water Resources Scientist I or II to work from our Glenwood Springs, Durango, or Grand Junction, CO office. This Water Resources Scientist will support a wide variety of water resource projects and maintain strong working relationships with other SGM disciplines to foster timely execution of environmental, civil, drinking water, and wastewater projects as needed. Work may include collecting various types of water resources and water rights data in the field, processing that data, interpreting results, ArcGIS mapping, AutoCAD design, preparing data and figures for technical reports, designing data collection programs, providing regulatory permitting support, conducting water rights analysis, supporting asset management projects, and developing grant applications and project financial planning documents.

• Support the technical needs and execution of projects associated with SGM’s water resource services including water supply planning and development, groundwater, surface water and water quality needs.
• Complete project mapping using ArcGIS Pro and/or ArcGIS Desktop software.
• Prepare stage capacity tables for ponds based on survey data using AutoCAD.
• Work with water attorneys and State water officials, and have knowledge of Colorado water rights and water resource management to obtain permits and decrees for clients.
• Independently plan and implement tasks to support complex hydrology investigations.
• Conduct water rights analyses such as historical consumptive use analyses, demand and supply analyses, physically and legally available yield analyses, groundwater transport analyses.
• Communicate effectively with SGM teams and clients.
• Develop and maintain client relationships and trust.
• Possess strong technical acumen and excellent writing skills to communicate complex technical concepts to a wide audience, including preparing figures, tables, project memos, reports, and client correspondence.
• Serve as a technical lead for field investigations, data collection, and data analysis.
• Field work may include well testing, water quality sampling, stream flow measurement, GPS data collection, infrastructure inspections.

Scientist I (0-2 years): $67,000-$77,300
Scientist II (3-5 years): $74,200-$91,200

• Bachelor’s degree required (Master’s preferred) in hydrology, hydrogeology, geology, water resources, environmental science or related science discipline.
• 0-5 years of experience in water resource consulting and management including groundwater, surface water hydrology, water rights, and water quality services.
• Demonstrated knowledge and experience of Colorado water rights and/or water resource management, including local, state, and federal regulations.
• Proficiency with creating maps with ArcGIS Pro.
• Technical understanding of the principles of hydrology or hydrogeology and ability to independently plan and conduct complex hydrology investigations.
• Well‑versed in Excel for tracking, sorting, filtering, manipulating complex datasets, and creating user‑friendly tables and charts.
• Willing and able to stay in constant communication with team, supervisor, and Project Managers.
• Able to communicate with staff, including project leadership and clients.
• Possess initiative to meet task deliverables and learn new skills and software relevant to projects.
• Comfortable meeting and interacting with a wide variety of people.
• Excellent technical writing skills.

• Experience with permitting and Clean Water Act compliance.
• Experience managing projects.
• Familiarity with AutoCAD.
• Experience performing well tests and hydrogeological investigations.
• Experience with data analysis and visualization using R and Python.
• Experience building required database infrastructure for ETL of data from GIS databases, csv files, and REST APIs.
• Experience in data management, designing and maintaining relational databases using SQL and developing documentation.
• Pass fundamentals of hydrology or geology exam; ability to obtain…