Overview

We are partnering with an established and growing water treatment technology company to hire an experienced Application Engineer supporting the development of engineered water treatment solutions.

This position sits at the intersection of engineering, process development, estimating, proposals, and customer consultation. When customers bring forward challenging water-treatment requirements, the Application Engineer helps determine how those requirements can actually be achieved—technically, operationally, and economically.

You'll evaluate customer specifications, develop the proposed treatment process, create preliminary system designs, estimate capital and operating costs, and help customers understand the tradeoffs between different technical approaches.

This is an excellent opportunity for an engineer with meaningful water or wastewater treatment experience who enjoys solving technical problems but also wants greater customer exposure and commercial influence than a traditional engineering position.

The Opportunity

The Application Engineer acts as a technical consultant to both customers and internal teams during the pre-award phase of water treatment projects.

Rather than receiving an already-defined project and executing the detailed design, you'll help determine what should be built in the first place.

You'll review customer specifications, understand treatment requirements, evaluate potential solutions, develop preliminary process designs, and determine what each approach means from a capital and operating-cost perspective.

You'll also support bids and proposals, establish realistic expectations around performance and delivery, and communicate directly with customers about the proposed solution.

The position is opening due to an upcoming retirement of an experienced team member and joins an established Application Engineering group within a larger engineering organization.

What You'll Be Doing

Water Treatment Applications & Process Development

  • Review customer specifications and determine appropriate water treatment solutions
  • Evaluate technical requirements, operating conditions, and system-performance expectations
  • Develop preliminary treatment processes and system configurations
  • Perform engineering calculations required to support proposed solutions
  • Evaluate alternative approaches based on technical performance, capital investment, and long-term operating cost
  • Design and conduct operational tests or research to confirm expected system performance
  • Apply practical engineering judgment to complex water-treatment challenges

System Design & Engineering

  • Develop preliminary Process Flow Diagrams (PFDs), P&IDs, and system layouts
  • Read and interpret blueprints, technical drawings, schematics, and engineering documentation
  • Develop accurate Bills of Materials (BOMs)
  • Support the design of piping and related process systems
  • Utilize AutoCAD to support preliminary system design
  • Coordinate with other engineering resources as projects move toward execution

Proposals & Commercial Support

  • Develop accurate capital and operating-cost estimates for proposed systems
  • Support preparation of technical bids and proposals
  • Help establish realistic project scope, costs, and anticipated delivery timelines
  • Work closely with internal sales resources to develop technically sound customer solutions
  • Balance customer requirements with real-world engineering, manufacturing, and economic considerations

Customer & Technical Consultation

  • Serve as an engineering resource to customers during the pre-award process
  • Explain proposed treatment approaches, system capabilities, and technical tradeoffs
  • Respond to technical questions from customers and internal stakeholders
  • Coordinate with vendors and outside technical resources when additional expertise is required
  • Participate in customer meetings and technical discussions
  • Provide clear recommendations based on engineering analysis and practical experience

What We're Looking For

We're looking for an engineer who already understands the water treatment industry and can apply that experience to new customer applications.

This isn't a role where someone can simply learn water treatment after joining. The successful candidate needs enough industry experience to look at customer requirements, understand the underlying treatment challenge, and begin evaluating realistic technical solutions.

At the same time, this position requires more than pure engineering ability.

The strongest candidate will enjoy the customer-facing and commercial side of engineering—discussing requirements, evaluating costs, helping develop proposals, and explaining why one solution may make more sense than another.

Qualifications

Required

  • 3+ years of water treatment industry experience
  • Bachelor's degree in Environmental, Chemical, Mechanical Engineering, or a related engineering discipline
  • Experience designing or developing engineered water-treatment or process systems
  • Ability to evaluate customer specifications and translate requirements into technical solutions
  • Experience with piping-system design
  • Ability to perform engineering calculations supporting system development
  • Experience reading and interpreting P&IDs, technical drawings, schematics, and engineering documentation
  • AutoCAD experience
  • Strong analytical and problem-solving skills
  • Ability to communicate technical concepts effectively to customers and internal stakeholders
  • Strong written communication and proposal/documentation capabilities
  • Ability to operate independently and manage multiple priorities

Preferred

  • Experience developing preliminary PFDs, P&IDs, and equipment layouts
  • Experience developing BOMs and capital-cost estimates
  • Exposure to operating-cost analysis and lifecycle economics
  • Experience supporting technical proposals or pre-sales engineering
  • Direct customer-facing engineering experience
  • Experience conducting operational testing or validating system performance
  • Background with engineered-to-order water treatment equipment or systems
  • Experience working across engineering, sales, manufacturing, and project-management teams

Compensation & Benefits

Base Salary: $100,000–$130,000, depending on experience

The organization offers a competitive compensation and benefits package along with a particularly flexible work arrangement for an engineering role requiring this level of specialized industry expertise.

For Twin Cities candidates, the position can operate on a hybrid schedule with approximately two days per week onsite and three days remote.

For experienced water-treatment engineers outside the Twin Cities, the company is open to a primarily remote arrangement, allowing the search to extend nationally.

Why This Opportunity

  • More than traditional engineering: Combine water-treatment engineering with customer consultation, process development, estimating, and commercial strategy
  • Influence projects early: Help determine the technical solution before detailed engineering and project execution begin
  • Customer visibility: Work directly with customers to understand challenges and explain proposed engineering solutions
  • Technical variety: Solve different water-treatment challenges rather than repeatedly executing the same system design
  • Commercial exposure: Develop valuable experience understanding both the technical and financial sides of engineered systems
  • Remote flexibility: Experienced water-industry candidates can be considered nationally
  • Limited travel: Approximately 5%, primarily for occasional customer visits, trade shows, and company meetings
  • Established engineering team: Join a larger engineering organization with specialized Application and Project Engineering functions
  • Long-term opportunity: The opening is driven by retirement rather than turnover, creating an opportunity to step into an established function
  • Growing organization: Join a company continuing to expand its team and engineering capabilities

Location & Work Environment

Candidates located within commuting distance of Chaska, Minnesota can work a hybrid schedule with approximately two required onsite days per week and three remote days.

Because relevant water-treatment experience is critical to this search, the company is also open to hiring an experienced engineer remotely elsewhere in the United States.

Remote employees should expect to spend approximately 1–2 weeks onsite in Minnesota during initial onboarding and return periodically for team meetings and other business needs. Total travel is expected to be approximately 4–8 trips annually, including customer visits, trade shows, and corporate-office visits.

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