Premier national engineering staffing for treatment plant design, water distribution and collection systems, stormwater management, and utility rehabilitation programs across all 50 states. We help firms hire licensed PEs, process engineers, and inspection specialists.
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Metro Associates focuses exclusively on engineering, architecture, and construction careers. We specialize in connecting qualified professionals with opportunities nationwide.
Metro Associates provides specialized staffing on a national scale, supporting firms working with municipal utilities, state DEP/DEQ agencies, and private development on treatment plant design, distribution and collection systems, and stormwater programs coast to coast.
Recruiting expertise
Treatment hiring is organized around who owns the asset and which permit governs it. A water treatment recruiter who does not know that difference sends process engineers to collection system work, so these routes follow the shape of the program instead.
Process engineers, water resources engineers, collection and distribution designers, and plant technical staff. Candidates are screened on the treatment process the plant actually runs, which is not the same thing as the word water appearing on a resume.
Water practice leaders, treatment discipline heads and utility engineering directors. A national pool this thin is worked by approaching people already doing the equivalent job at a comparable plant, one at a time.
Startup, commissioning and compliance stretches that have an end date. Where a utility or a design firm needs engineers only through a plant startup or a PFAS compliance push, contract recruiting fits the work better than a permanent seat.
Treatment is where this market is won or lost. The permit, not the construction schedule, sets what the engineering has to prove, and the process a plant actually runs decides whether a candidate's experience transfers at all. Two process engineers with the same job title are not interchangeable across these three.
Conventional filtration, membranes, ozone and granular activated carbon are different design problems and different plants to operate. A designer whose work has all been conventional treatment does not step into a membrane retrofit without a run-up, which is why a brief that says only “water treatment” is the one most likely to produce the wrong shortlist.
Activated sludge, membrane bioreactors, nutrient removal and digestion each carry their own process knowledge, and the discharge permit decides which of them a project is really about. Tightening nutrient limits in particular turn a plant upgrade into a process problem rather than a hydraulic one, and the engineers who have solved that are a smaller group than the job title suggests.
Permitting, compliance reporting, remediation and stormwater quality sit alongside treatment and are recruited separately, because the work is regulatory as much as technical. The same program that needs a process engineer usually needs someone who can carry the permit through the state agency, and firms rarely find both in one person.
Beyond licensure, every candidate is evaluated against the specific tools and methods your team actually works in.
Explore our specialized recruiting in these metros, with more markets added regularly.
2026 national compensation trends
Access to a vast database of 50,000+ pre-vetted engineering professionals.
We understand NCEES comity and the complexities of multi-state PE licensure.
Our recruiters reach high-performers who are not actively on job boards.
From a single PE to an entire treatment-plant design team for a multi-year program.
Fluency in Clean Water Act / NPDES permitting, state DEP/DEQ requirements, and SRF-funded project compliance.
Looking to scale your team or explore new opportunities across the U.S.? Tell us what you need.
We recruit for firms whose projects are entered, and recognized, in the programs below. Metro doesn’t enter them; a recruiting firm isn’t eligible. We place the engineers who deliver the work that does, which is why we track what these juries reward.
ACECEngineering Excellence AwardsThe engineering profession's flagship project competition, judged on innovation, complexity and social value. Categories include Building/Technology Systems, Energy, Water and Transportation.State → nationalACECACEC state & metro member organizationsNational entries must come up through one of 51 state and metropolitan organizations, so every state runs its own Engineering Excellence competition first.All 50 states + DC
ENRBest Projects & Best of the BestRegional project awards across every state, DC and Puerto Rico, judged in 18 categories from airport/transit to sports/entertainment, plus special awards for safety and sustainability. Regional winners advance to the national round.Regional → national
Water Environment FederationWEF awards & utility recognitionMore than 30 categories across collection systems, treatment innovation, plant operations and Utility of the Future Today.Member association → national
USGBCLocal Leadership AwardsLEED and high-performance building work, recognized at project and individual level.State & regionalEvery US state and Washington, DC runs its own Engineering Excellence competition. See the state-by-state list.
Each logo is the trademark of the organization that runs the program, shown to identify it. Metro Associates is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or a winner of any of them; our clients are the entrants.
Capital programs across every phase and owner
Transportation, infrastructure & municipal projects
Mechanical, electrical & plumbing systems
Materials testing, bridge & roadway inspection
Public works & capital improvement programs
Bridge design, high-rise & seismic retrofit
DOT programs, highway design & transit planning
AEC program directors, PMs & owner's reps
Engineers against operators, which utility owns the work, PFAS, and collection against treatment.
