Supervising Civil Engineer

About Seattle Public Utilities

Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) is a community-centered utility that delivers vital services to Seattle residents and businesses including drinking water, drainage and wastewater, and garbage/recycling/compost. SPU also provides drinking water for 1.5 million customers in the region. SPU's work includes system maintenance and improvements and keeping Seattle clean. Over 1,500 SPU employees work with our community to provide affordable and equitable stewardship of our water and waste resources for future generations.

SPU commits to Our City Values and Race and Social Justice as core principles that guide our work. We actively take steps to dismantle systemic racism and increase service equity. We value diverse life experiences and strive to create a workplace that is welcoming to all.

We are seeking a Supervising Civil Engineer to lead an engineering team within the Project Delivery and Engineering Branch (PDEB). This role involves managing multiple critical utility programs, including corrosion protection, landslides, spot drainage, condition assessment, damage assessment, claims investigation, and emergency response engineering.

The position supervises a dedicated team of 6 to 7 direct reports (5 engineers and 1 to 2 technical staff) and 1 indirect intern. You will oversee four separate operation and maintenance (O&M) programmatic budgets, balance workloads across both O&M and Capital Improvement Program (CIP) programs, and interface with multiple external agencies and jurisdictions to ensure our infrastructure remains safe, resilient, and reliable.

• Team Supervision & Leadership: Provide direct supervision to a team of engineers and technical staff. Direct matrixed staff providing specialized expertise (such as electrical engineers) or supporting large‑scale inspections.
• Program & Budget Management: Manage four separate O&M programmatic budgets and balance workloads across both O&M and CIP programs in alignment with SPU objectives. Manage program‑allocated vehicles, field testing equipment, specific software, and GIS layers.
• Cathodic & Corrosion Protection: Supervise the testing, operation, maintenance, and capital planning of SPU’s corrosion protection infrastructure, consisting of sacrificial systems, shock hazard mitigation systems, and approximately 100 impressed current systems across King County. Ensure annual inter‑agency testing and reporting are completed per franchise agreements with partners like Sound Transit, Seattle City Light, and the City of Renton.
• Asset Engineering & Condition Assessment: Coordinate infrastructure inspections for facilities requiring planned outages (e.g., steel water tanks, buried concrete reservoirs, and water transmission pipelines). Oversee the use of CCTV robotic inspection equipment, 3rd‑party drone scanning, and satellite technologies for leak detection and settlement monitoring.
• Landslide & Spot Drainage Programs: Serve as the lead for City‑wide landslide preparedness coordination. Ensure the success of annual City‑wide workshops, manage landslide season on‑call staffing, and oversee weekly risk reports. Supervise the execution of the related Spot Drainage CIP program to ensure equitable delivery of drainage and landslide prevention capital projects.
• Emergency Response & Claims: Supervise and provide emergency response engineering, pipeline failure assessments, and engineering assistance to SPU field crews. Supervise sewer backup claim investigations, and act as a lead damage assessor or supervisor following seismic events.

• Education: Bachelor’s degree in civil engineering or civil engineering technology (or a combination of education, training, and/or experience providing an equivalent background).
• Experience: Requires six (6) years of professional civil engineering experience, including at least two (2) years of supervisory experience.

• Registration as a Professional Engineer (PE) in the State of Washington.
• Current Washington State driver’s license or evidence of equivalent mobility.

• Demonstrated experience…