Water & Wastewater Recruiter
Cleveland, OH
NEORSD's Project Clean Lake, a $3 billion federal consent decree program of deep tunnels and green infrastructure, is one of the largest Great Lakes water-quality investments underway to keep combined sewage out of Lake Erie.
Specialized staffing for Cleveland water infrastructure
We're a specialized water and wastewater engineering recruiter for Cleveland and Northeast Ohio, placing licensed Professional Engineers (PE), process engineers, and inspection specialists across treatment, distribution, and collection-system work.
Whether it's a treatment plant upgrade, collection-system rehab, or stormwater compliance work, we match vetted talent to what each program actually demands, regulatory, operational, and technical.
2026 Clevelandwater & wastewater hiring
Heading into 2026, Cleveland's market is shaped by aging-infrastructure replacement, PFAS and emerging-contaminant compliance, and federally funded resiliency work. Licensed process engineers and inspection specialists who can deliver permit-compliant, resilient systems remain in short supply.
Pay for these roles moves with local cost of labor and project mix, so we publish ranges nationally rather than implying a Cleveland-specific figure we have not measured. See the national water & wastewater compensation ranges, or ask us what we are seeing in Cleveland right now.
Supporting Clevelandwater & wastewater programs
What water and wastewater engineering in Cleveland actually involves
Cleveland draws drinking water from Lake Erie and supplies a large regional service area from it, and the lake has become a more difficult source than it used to be. Harmful algal blooms in the shallower parts of the basin, and the taste, odor and toxin risks that come with them, have pushed monitoring, intake management and treatment response into the front rank of operational concerns for every lake utility.
Wastewater is a large consent decree program built on deep storage tunnels, with a substantial committed green infrastructure component alongside it. That gives the region both tunneling and surface stormwater design work at scale, and the same freeze-thaw climate that damages roads also drives pipe breakage and infiltration in an old collection network running through legacy industrial ground.
Who owns the systems
The utilities and districts that own most Cleveland water and wastewater assets. Experience on their programs is the shorthand hiring managers here read first.
- Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District
- Cleveland Water
- Ohio EPA
- Cuyahoga County
- Great Lakes Commission
- Ohio Water Development Authority
Hardest Cleveland roles to fill
Where demand in this metro runs ahead of supply, and the local reason why, which is usually a feature of the work itself rather than of the job market.
Tunnel & deep conveyance engineers
A storage tunnel program at scale concentrates underground hydraulic expertise in the region.
Water treatment process engineers
Algal toxin and taste and odor risk on a lake source makes monitoring and treatment response continuous work.
Stormwater & green infrastructure engineers
Green infrastructure is a committed part of the compliance plan rather than an optional supplement.
Collection system rehabilitation engineers
An old network in a freeze-thaw climate makes breakage, infiltration and renewal a standing program.
Licensure & operator credentials in Ohio
Ohio licenses through the State Board of Registration for Professional Engineers and Surveyors, with comity on an NCEES record the standard route. Ohio EPA certifies water and wastewater operators by class and reviews construction plans for treatment and conveyance works. Because the source is a Great Lake, the interstate compact governing withdrawals and diversions forms part of the regulatory context here.
What else is being built in Cleveland
Our other practices are working the same metro. The programs below are what they are staffing in Cleveland right now, useful context if your project sits across more than one discipline, which most of them do.
- Ohio DOT freeway and bridge programs
- GCRTA rail and transit modernization
- Cuyahoga River and lakefront infrastructure
- Cleveland Clinic & academic medical center MEP
- Manufacturing-facility mechanical & electrical
- Higher-education campus systems
- Opportunity Corridor resident engineering
- Innerbelt Bridge rehabilitation inspection
- Cleveland Hopkins apron materials testing
- Complete and Green Streets implementation
- Cleveland Water main replacement program
- Site plan review for lakefront redevelopment
Water & wastewater recruiting in Cleveland, FAQ
Do you place water and wastewater engineers in Cleveland, OH?
Yes, we actively recruit water and wastewater engineers for Cleveland and Northeast Ohio, from licensed PEs to process engineers and construction inspection specialists.
What water/wastewater roles do you recruit for in Cleveland?
Typical Cleveland searches include Water/Wastewater Project Engineer (PE), Senior Process Engineer, Water Resources Engineer, Utility/Pipeline Design Engineer, and SCADA/Controls Engineer.
How quickly can you fill a water/wastewater position in Cleveland?
With a national pipeline of pre-vetted water and wastewater professionals, we typically deliver a shortlist of qualified OH candidates within days of the brief.
Do you recruit for NPDES permitting and utility compliance work?
Yes. Candidates are screened for NPDES permitting, SCADA/instrumentation, and utility rehabilitation experience, matched against Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District (NEORSD) and Ohio's regulatory requirements.
Hiring water & wastewater engineers in Cleveland?
Tell us about the role. We'll deliver a vetted shortlist of licensed OH water and wastewater talent, screened against Ohio licensure requirements.
Water & wastewater recruiting across the Great Lakes
Other engineering disciplines in Cleveland