Pipeline Design Engineer – Civil/Water Utility (Assistant, Associate, or Engineer, DOQ)

If you love the actual craft of design — you want your hands on AutoCAD Civil 3D every day, not just managing the people who are — and you want to become the go-to person for all in-house pipeline design at your agency, keep reading or read the Full PDF recruitment brochure here

The Role

Rainbow Municipal Water District is hiring a Pipeline Design Engineer to lead design on our pipeline replacement program and, over the next three years, help stand up our first-ever in-house CIP construction crew. You'll work in AutoCAD Civil 3D, run hydraulic models, and build a pipeline of shovel-ready capital projects. Once our construction crew is active, you'll be their direct engineering partner — watching your own designs get built, not handing a set off to someone else and moving on.

Full lifecycle, not one lane

At a large water utility or engineering consulting firm, you're usually one specialist in a long chain: design, or plan check, or construction support, or CIP planning — rarely more than one. At Rainbow, you'll work across all of it:

• Water and wastewater pipeline design (AutoCAD Civil 3D, hydraulic modeling, alignments)
• Capital Improvement Program (CIP) planning and prioritization
• Plan check and private development review for standards compliance
• Construction support, coordinating directly with field crews and operations
• Project close-out

That breadth is the point. It's a faster path to becoming the kind of engineer who can run a project end-to-end — something that takes a lot longer to build at a large agency where the org chart keeps you in one box.

Who this is for

You're a strong fit if you:

• Genuinely enjoy the technical work of design and want more of it, not less
• Are eager to learn and happy to be told "figure it out" instead of "here's the SOP"
• Want to build technical breadth across planning, design, and construction rather than staying in one specialty
• See a small agency as a chance for real ownership and visibility, not a step down

Who this isn't for

This role has a strong on-site and field presence — you'll be in the office collaborating with operations, and out in the field regularly. We do offer remote work days for focused design work, but if you're looking for a primarily remote role, this isn't it. And if you'd rather manage a design process than be hands-on in it yourself, a larger agency or firm will likely suit you better.

Designed for growth

We intentionally designed this position to meet you where you are — whether at the Assistant, Associate, or Engineer stage — with a faster, hands-on path to the next level than most public agencies offer.

Apply directly here (one application covers all three levels — resumes alone are not accepted in place of the online application)

Assistant Engineer ($115,289–$161,405)

• BS in Civil or Mechanical Engineering (required); EIT certification strongly preferred
• Best for someone who learns by doing, has completed internships to gain hands-on project design experience, and doesn't need to be micromanaged

Associate Engineer ($126,818–$177,545)

• BS in Civil or Mechanical Engineering and EIT certification (required); PE license preferred
• 2–5 years of water utility design experience
• Best for someone who has designed in a utility or consulting environment and wants out of the silo. You'll get to handle the full CIP lifecycle, more autonomy, and room to diversify your skills and grow your career

Engineer ($139,500–$195,300)

• BS in Civil or Mechanical Engineering and an active California PE license (required)
• 5 years of water utility design experience
• Best for a seasoned designer ready to own meaningful work and help build our in-house CIP program, with a pathway to Senior Engineer for those ready for more technical leadership

Why Rainbow Water

As a small, agile agency, we move fast on infrastructure decisions and welcome innovation across every department — our team operates under an agency-wide value of initiative over bureaucracy. We're a San Diego Union-Tribune Top Workplace five years running, located in Northern San Diego County, just south of Temecula. Benefits include a hybrid remote schedule, a 9/80 schedule with alternating Fridays off, CalPERS pension, 457b/401a matching, 6 weeks of PTO to start, medical/dental/vision insurance, tuition and student loan repayment assistance.

Full PDF recruitment brochure here

Apply directly here (one application covers all three levels — resumes alone are not accepted in place of the online application)

Applications open until the position is filled. Apply early, screening will begin in early August.