Air Quality Engineer - Assistant​/Associate

Air Quality Engineer - Assistant/Associate Salary $47.58 - $67.17 Hourly Location Sacramento, CA, CA Job Type Regular Full-Time Remote Employment Flexible/Hybrid Job Number 1922-O Department Engineering & Compliance Division Engineering & Compliance Opening Date 09/17/2026 Closing Date 10/14/2026 4:00 PM Pacific

The Engineering and Compliance Division
is seeking a highly motivated, organized and detail-oriented Air Quality Engineer. This position requires the ability to evaluate sources of emissions from a wide range of mechanical and industrial processes, collect information from thousands of businesses and estimate air pollution emissions from the data, write enforceable air quality permits, and perform inspections. This includes reviewing air quality regulations and other technical documents, performing mathematical computations, running air dispersion modeling programs, utilizing sound engineering principals to quantify emissions, witnessing and evaluating source tests, and preparing technical written documents that demonstrate compliance with applicable air quality regulations.

An Air Quality Engineer performs a variety of professional engineering work in connection with evaluation, control, monitoring, and assessment of air quality standards, conditions, plans and strategies to ensure public and private compliance with applicable laws, rules and regulations; and performs other related duties as required.

Assistant Air Quality Engineer – The entry level class in the professional air quality engineering series. Incumbents are responsible for office and/or field projects of average difficulty and complexity and are required to direct them to completion. Assistant Air Quality Engineers have no supervisory responsibility but do provide technical direction to others. Incumbents are expected to demonstrate increased proficiency and knowledge and work under less supervision during the training period.

Incumbents are gradually given more difficult and responsible assignments and may assist experienced staff on more difficult projects.

Associate Air Quality Engineer – The fully experienced, journey level professional engineering class in the series who performs difficult and complex engineering work under general supervision. Incumbents provide technical guidance or training to other staff or may act as a project leader.

Positions in this class are flexibly staffed and are normally filled by advancement from the lower grade of Engineer Specialist, or when filled from the outside, require prior engineering experience.

Assistant Air Quality Engineer

Pay Range: $47.58 - $57.83/hour with typical starting pay between $47.58 - $52.45/hour*

Associate Air Quality Engineer

Pay Range: $55.26 - $67.17/hour with typical starting pay between $55.26 and $60.92/hour*

* Placement higher in the range may be considered based on education, prior experience, and internal equity.

The duties listed below are examples of the work typically performed by employees in this class. An employee may not be assigned all duties and may be assigned duties which are not listed below. Marginal duties (shown in italics) are those which are least likely to be essential functions for any single position in this class.

• 1. Reviews and evaluates engineering plans and permit applications for equipment which emits or controls air pollution to determine if equipment meets all applicable rules and regulations; researches and determines best control technology; performs economic analysis on technology determination; drafts permit conditions; determines fees, issues permits.
• 2. Calculates and analyzes pollution emissions; determines appropriate emission standards for proposed rules; performs air dispersion…