Water Treatment Engineer III

Job Title: Water Treatment Engineer III / Senior Industrial Water Specialist

Location: Houston / Spring, TX Area (On-site / Hybrid as required)

Position Type: Long-term Contract - 12 to 24 months (Extension Likely)

Compensation: $85.00 $ 100.00 /hr. (depending on experience)

Overview

A premier global energy and petrochemical operator is seeking a Senior / Lead Water Treatment Engineer to provide technical leadership and operational support across active facilities and major capital projects.

This role balances 70% operational troubleshooting / performance optimization and 30% capital project support
, serving as a core technical authority on industrial raw water, utility water systems, wastewater treatment, and produced water management.

• Operational Troubleshooting & Support (70%): Lead plant support, technical investigations, root cause analyses (RCA), and water chemistry evaluations to optimize performance and uptime across industrial water, wastewater, and produced water units.
• Project & Technology Execution (30%): Provide technical oversight across the engineering lifecycle—from design basis and QA/QC through commissioning and startup for both greenfield and brownfield initiatives.
• Technology Deployment & Sustainability: Assess, select, and implement emerging and proprietary treatment technologies focused on water reuse, source reduction, and footprint minimization.
• Process Safety &
  
  Risk Management:
  
  Lead and participate in technical risk assessments including HAZOP, HAZID/ENVID, SIL, and ALARP reviews.
• Mentorship &
  
  Collaboration:
  
  Partner with multidisciplinary operations, maintenance, and facility engineering teams; coach early-career technical professionals.

• Experience: 10+ years of hands-on technical experience in industrial water, wastewater, and produced water treatment operations (energy, refining, petrochemical, chemical, or mining sectors; purely municipal background will not be considered).
• Technical Depth: Demonstrated expertise with biological wastewater treatment, industrial water chemistry, membrane technologies (RO, UF, NF), ion exchange systems, and produced water processing.
• Education: Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Civil Engineering, or a related technical discipline (or equivalent practical industry experience).
• Software & Tools: Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel. Experience with water chemistry modeling software (e.g., OLI Systems) is highly preferred.
• Regulatory & Safety: Practical knowledge of industrial environmental compliance, permitting support, and process safety reviews.