Water & Wastewater Recruiter
San Antonio, TX
SAWS manages one of the largest recycled-water distribution networks in the country alongside the Vista Ridge pipeline, a 142-mile regional supply project built to diversify San Antonio away from sole reliance on the Edwards Aquifer.
Specialized staffing for San Antonio water infrastructure
We're a specialized water and wastewater engineering recruiter for San Antonio and South Texas, placing licensed Professional Engineers (PE), process engineers, and inspection specialists across treatment, distribution, and collection-system work.
From treatment plant upgrades to collection-system rehabilitation and stormwater compliance, we match vetted talent to the regulatory, operational, and performance demands of complex water infrastructure programs.
2026 San Antoniowater & wastewater hiring
Heading into 2026, San Antonio'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 San Antonio-specific figure we have not measured. See the national water & wastewater compensation ranges, or ask us what we are seeing in San Antonio right now.
Supporting San Antoniowater & wastewater programs
What water and wastewater engineering in San Antonio actually involves
San Antonio sits on a karst aquifer that is both its historic water supply and a regulated ecosystem, since the springs it feeds support protected species and carry legally significant flow requirements. Pumping is permitted and capped, recharge zone development is restricted, and the utility has had to build supply alternatives around those limits. Water resources engineering here is inseparable from aquifer science and permitting.
The response has been unusually ambitious: one of the largest aquifer storage and recovery operations in the country, a recycled water distribution system serving industrial and irrigation customers at scale, and imported supply brought in by long pipeline. Each of those is a distinct engineering specialism, and together they make this a deeper water market than metro size alone would predict.
Who owns the systems
The utilities and districts that own most San Antonio water and wastewater assets. Experience on their programs is the shorthand hiring managers here read first.
- San Antonio Water System
- Edwards Aquifer Authority
- Texas Commission on Environmental Quality
- San Antonio River Authority
- Texas Water Development Board
- Bexar County
Hardest San Antonio 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.
Aquifer storage & recovery engineers
A large storage and recovery operation is a specialism with very few practitioners nationally.
Water reuse & distribution engineers
A large recycled water system serving industrial customers is engineered and operated as its own network.
Water resources & permitting engineers
Capped aquifer pumping and springflow obligations make supply planning a regulatory discipline.
Transmission & pumping engineers
Imported supply arriving by long pipeline requires sustained conveyance and lift engineering.
Licensure & operator credentials in Texas
Texas licenses through the Board of Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors, with comity on an NCEES record the usual individual route and separate firm registration required. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality licenses water and wastewater operators by class and reviews plans for public water systems, and work over the recharge zone requires its own approved protection plan independent of the engineering license.
What else is being built in San Antonio
Our other practices are working the same metro. The programs below are what they are staffing in San Antonio right now, useful context if your project sits across more than one discipline, which most of them do.
- TxDOT San Antonio District highway programs
- VIA Metropolitan Transit rapid corridors
- San Antonio River and flood-control tunnels
- Military and federal-facility MEP
- Hospital and healthcare-system infrastructure
- Data-center design-build
- I-35 NEX Central resident engineering
- VIA rapid transit corridor inspection
- Joint Base San Antonio utility inspection
- Bond-funded street & drainage program
- SAWS utility main extension coordination
- Site plan & plat review for growth corridors
Water & wastewater recruiting in San Antonio, FAQ
Do you place water and wastewater engineers in San Antonio, TX?
Yes. Our water and wastewater search practice covers San Antonio and South Texas, placing PEs, process engineers, and inspection specialists on treatment, distribution, and collection-system work.
What water/wastewater roles do you recruit for in San Antonio?
Typical San Antonio 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 San Antonio?
With a national pipeline of pre-vetted water and wastewater professionals, we typically deliver a shortlist of qualified TX 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 San Antonio Water System (SAWS) and Texas's regulatory requirements.
Hiring water & wastewater engineers in San Antonio?
Tell us about the role. We'll deliver a vetted shortlist of licensed TX water and wastewater talent, screened against Texas licensure requirements.
Water & wastewater recruiting across the South Central US
Other engineering disciplines in San Antonio