Job Opportunity: Water Resources Specialist

Full-Time (40 hours/week) Contractor Position supporting the Office of Watersheds in the Division of Planning and Environmental Services of the Philadelphia Water Department.

Client Background

The Philadelphia Water Department (PWD) is a 2,000‐employee public utility committed to providing clean water to residents and businesses in the greater Philadelphia region. The utility’s core services are drinking water, stormwater management and wastewater treatment for Philadelphia County. Carrying out its mission to protect Philadelphia’s public health and the environment, PWD is a national leader in water treatment and sustainable practices.

Watershed protection and Water Quality Compliance Modeling Support

The PWD Watershed Protection Program and Water Quality Compliance Modeling Programs are dedicated to using sound science to understand the drinking water supply, inform planning for infrastructure of the future, and regional water resources. The Sage Services team is responsible for providing PWD with support for drought policy and reservoir optimization modeling; salinity intrusion, bacteria, dissolved oxygen and nutrient water quality modeling; Safe Drinking Water Act and Clean Water Act policy analysis and planning; sourcewater protection and climate change adaptation planning.

The Sage Services team works side by side with PWD staff and management within the Division of Planning and Environmental Services to execute long term studies, reactive analytical support and problem solving, in addition to working with employees and contractors of other divisions within PWD and beyond.

Primary Tasks

Sage Services is seeking a Senior Scientist to support the PWD Watershed Protection and Water Quality Compliance Modeling Programs.

· The Water Resources Specialist will perform analyses of observed estuarine physical oceanography, watershed, and receiving water quality data, prepare supporting memorandums, graphs, slides and written material as needed.

· The Water Resources Specialist will prepare environmental data for numerical model development and perform special analyses of data to support model setup decision making.

· The Water Resources Specialist will utilize three-dimensional hydrodynamic, salinity and water quality models of the Delaware Estuary.

· The Water Resources Specialist will perform extensive analysis of model results using Matlab, R and other software as needed.

· The Water Resources Specialist will assist in reviewing third-party models, validation reports, and presentations, and preparing formal written reviews to be shared with PWD management and regulatory partners.

· The Water Resources Specialist will identify the need for statistical or other data analysis, monitoring data collection, technical and modeling tasks in an advisory role, supporting project direction.

· The Water Resources Specialist will be expected to heavily contribute to the documentation of scientific findings in technical reports, create presentations, perform statistics and clearly communicate technical findings orally and in writing.

· The Water Resources Specialist will be expected to work side by side with the client and other partners as needed for each project.

· The Water Resources Specialist will be expected to balance working on multiple projects at once, such as providing support to a salinity modeling and bacteria modeling project simultaneously.

Qualifications

The ideal candidate will possess the following skills and background:

· Graduate degree in environmental science or engineering, oceanography, mathematics or other related degree

· Undergraduate degree in science, engineering, mathematics, biology or other related degree

· Exceptional command of written English (strong spelling and grammar), including technical writing

· Exceptional command of statistical analysis of water quality, hydrological or other environmental data

· Experience operating hydrologic, hydrodynamic or water quality models such as EFDC, HEC suite, SWMM, WASP, or other tools

· Experience with tidal data signal processing

· Experience with programming and analysis software such as Excel, R, Matlab, Python or other

· Experience with biogeochemical analysis, including bacteria, nutrients, phytoplankton, dissolved oxygen

· Experience with GIS or other spatial data software

· Enthusiasm to learn new technical skills, new policies and the regulations that drive the need for technical analyses

· Performance in a high production, fast-paced environment

· An independent worker who is also a team player

· The ideal candidate will also be passionate about environmental and sustainability related topics

· A minimum of 2-5 years of professional, relevant work experience is required. Advanced graduate degrees may count towards professional experience.

Writing Samples

If interested in the position, please submit two writing samples that include work performed either in past employment or recent school assignments.

About Sage

Sage Services is a Philadelphia based water resources science, engineering and policy firm, specializing in drinking water, stormwater and wastewater issues in the Delaware River Basin. Sage Services has been a contractor to the Philadelphia Water Department for over 15 years. This full-time position requires 40 hours of work per week, includes healthcare and retirement benefits, paid vacation, and $75,000-$95,000 salary based on experience.

Work is performed three days a week at the Sage Services office in the beautiful Chestnut Hill neighborhood of Philadelphia, surrounded by restaurants, shops, tree lined streets and the Wissahickon Creek Park. Staff are required to work from the Sage office three days a week and may work from home two days a week. If relocation to the Philadelphia are is required, a six month waiver on working onsite at the Philadelphia office will be granted.

Apply: If interested in this opportunity, please submit a cover letter, two writing samples and resume through Indeed or to Molly Hesson by 5 p.m. on Friday, May 31, 2024 at Molly.Hesson@sageservicesh2o.com. Thank you!

Job Type: Full-time

Pay: $75,000.00 - $95,000.00 per year

Benefits:

• Flexible schedule
• Health insurance
• Paid time off
• Parental leave
• Professional development assistance
• Retirement plan

Experience level:

• 2 years

Schedule:

• 8 hour shift

Ability to Relocate:

• Philadelphia, PA 19118: Relocate before starting work (Preferred)

Work Location: Hybrid remote in Philadelphia, PA 19118