Career Opportunity

Senior Stationary Engineer, Water Treatment Plant (7343) (U00021)

Recruitment: REF34733N

Published: March 27, 2026

Apply using SmartRecruiters, the City and County of San Francisco's application portal.

About:

• Application Opening: March 27, 2026
• Application Filing Deadline: April 24, 2026
• Eligible List Duration: Twelve (12) months.
• Compensation Range: $156,806
• Recruitment ID: (U00021) (REF34733N)

THIS IS A CITYWIDE EXAM

San Francisco is a vibrant and dynamic city, on the forefront of economic growth & innovation, urban development, arts & entertainment, as well as social issues & change. This rich tapestry of culture and ideas is sustained by our City's commitment to heighten the quality of life for the diverse population of San Franciscans and residents of the greater Bay Area. Our employees play an important role not only in making our City what it is today, but also in shaping the future of San Francisco.

ABOUT THE WATER ENTERPRISE

The Water Enterprise Manages our complex regional water supply system featuring reservoirs, tunnels, pipelines, and treatment plants. We serve 2.7 million Bay Area residential, commercial, and industrial customers with high-quality, great tasting water every day. Our protected watersheds in Tuolumne, Alameda, and San Mateo counties ensure that we deliver safe, reliable water throughout our service area. We are proud to operate one of the most environmentally sustainable systems in the country.

Role description

The Senior Water Treatment Plant Stationary Engineer supervises or participates in the operation, maintenance, and repair activities of a wide variety of complex machinery and equipment in a water filtration plant, pump station or related facility; participates in the operation, maintenance, and repair activities on machinery and equipment; acts as Chief Plant Operator when necessary; and helps develop training plans and procedures.

The essential job functions include, but are not limited to, the following: 

• Supervises or participates in the day-to-day operation of a water treatment plant in order to meet all state and federal water quality standards.
• Sets daily operational parameters for treated water reservoir levels, chemical dosages, treatment methods and laboratory analysis.
• Assists in planning and coordinating in-house maintenance and repair of all filter plant, field facility, and ozone facility equipment.
• Assists in planning and coordinating work to be performed by employees of other trades, crafts, divisions, and contractors.
• Initiates work orders, inspects and review completed work.
• Conducts safety and hazardous material management training sessions and prepares accident reports.
• Orders and maintains safety and hazardous materials supplies, purchases routine material, supplies, water treatment chemicals, maintains inventories, and maintains safe storage of chemicals.
• May train, evaluate and discipline subordinate staff, set daily work schedules and job priorities, and supervise the operation of a computerized water distribution system.
• Makes remote chemical adjustments to meet state and federal water quality standards.
• Performs related duties as required for Class 7343 – Senior Stationary Engineer, Water Treatment Plant.

How to qualify

Applicants must meet the minimum qualification requirements by the Job Ad final closing date unless otherwise noted. If you are interested in this job, we are looking for people that have the following minimum qualifications:  

Experience:

• Five (5) years verifiable journey-level Stationary Engineer and/or Operator experience in the operation, maintenance, repair of a variety of mechanical electrical, pumping, and related machinery of a water or wastewater treatment plant, three (3) years of which must be in a surface water treatment plant; OR
• Completion of a recognized four-year Stationary Engineer apprentice program, plus one (1) year journey level experience in a Water Treatment Plant; AND

License and Certification:

• Possession of a current valid Grade IV California Water Treatment Plant Operator Certificate. Applicants who currently possess a Grade III California Water Treatment Plant Operator Certificate may participate in the examination but will remain under waiver of appointment on the eligible list until proof of Grade IV is submitted.
• Possession of a current valid Class C driver's license.

Note: 

Positions with the City Distribution Division require possession of a current valid Grade III California Water Distribution Operator Certificate.

Work reporting locations for positions with the Water Supply and Treatment Division will be in San Bruno or Sunol. Work reporting location for positions with the City Distribution Division will be in San Francisco.

Some physical effort and use of all senses is required in the operation, repair and maintenance of machinery and equipment including kneeling, crouching, stooping, squatting crawling, climbing, working in various lift equipment and use of fixed and portable ladders up to 75 feet, walking long distances and lifting up to 50 pounds in the performance of important and essential duties. This also includes exposure to working conditions where the performance of duties requires working in confined spaces, damp environments, outdoors in inclement weather, and with chemicals.

DRUG TESTING REQUIREMENT: Applicants for positions in this classification who are not currently employed by the City and County of San Francisco in a safety-sensitive position represented by Local 39 are required to pass pre-employment drug and alcohol testing. All employees in this classification may also be subject to drug and alcohol testing upon reasonable suspicion or after a work-related accident. Applicants with a positive result from a pre-employment drug test will be restricted from hire in safety-sensitive positions for six-months after the date of the positive test.

Upon appointment to Class 7343, employees may be required to take a state mandated respirator and self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) medical examination, (renewed annually) and be clean shaven prior to starting each shift for respirator and SCBA use. Employees may be required to pass CPR training annually and first aid training tri-annually.

SELECTION PROCEDURE

After application submission, candidates deemed qualified must complete all subsequent steps to advance in this selection process, which includes the following: 

Supplemental Questionnaire Examination (Weight 100%)
The Supplemental Questionnaire is an exam and contents will be evaluated and scored.  The Supplemental Questionnaire Exam is to evaluate the experience, knowledge, skills and abilities that candidates possess in job-related areas which have been identified as critical for this position and include, but are not limited to: water treatment and water distribution systems operations, heating ventilating and air-conditioning systems, pumps and compressors, equipment control devices, shop practices and safety requirements, and communications skills.

Candidates will be placed on the eligible list in rank order according to their final score. Candidate scores on this examination may also be applied to other announcements involving other job titles, when directed by the Human Resources Director. The department may administer additional position-specific selection procedures to make final hiring decisions. Candidates scores on this examination may also be applied to other announcements involving other job titles, when directed by the Human Resources Director.

 HOW TO APPLY

Applications for City and County of San Francisco jobs are only accepted through an online process. Visit https://careers.smartrecruiters.com/CityAndCountyOfSanFrancisco1/ and begin the application process. 

•    Select the “I’m Interested” button and follow instructions on the screen 

Applicants may be contacted by email about this recruitment and, therefore, it is their responsibility to ensure that their registered email address is accurate and kept up-to-date. Also, applicants must ensure that email from CCSF is not blocked on their computer by a spam filter. To prevent blocking, applicants should set up their email to accept CCSF mail from the following addresses (@sfgov.org, @sfdpw.org, @sfport.com, @flysfo.com, @sfwater.org, @sfdph.org, @asianart.org, @sfmta.com, @sfpl.org, @dcyf.org, @first5sf.org, @famsf.org, @ccsf.edu, @smartalerts.info, and @smartrecruiters.com). 

Applicants will receive a confirmation email from mailto:notification@careers.sf.gov that their online application has been received in response to every announcement for which they file. Applicants should retain this confirmation email for their records. Failure to receive this email means that the online application was not submitted or received. 

If you are having trouble with the application, please visit Smart Recruiter's FAQs or email supportfeedback@smartr.me. It is suggested you use Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge web browser to submit the application.  

What else should I know?

All work experience, education, training and other information substantiating how you meet the minimum qualifications must be included on your application by the filing deadline. Information submitted after the filing deadline will not be considered in determining whether you meet the minimum qualifications. 

Applicants may be required to submit verification of qualifying education and experience at any point during the recruitment and selection process. If education verification is required, information on how to verify education requirements, including verifying foreign education credits or degree equivalency, can be found at https://sfdhr.org/how-verify-education-requirements.

Note: Falsifying one’s education, training, or work experience or attempted deception on the application may result in disqualification for this and future job opportunities with the City and County of San Francisco.

Applications completed improperly may be cause for ineligibility, disqualification or may lead to lower scores.

Eligible List/Score Report: A confidential eligible list of applicant names that have passed the civil service examination process will be created and used for certification purposes only. An examination score report will be established so applicants can view the ranks, final scores, and number of eligible candidates. Applicant information, including names of applicants on the eligible list, shall not be made public unless required by law. However, an eligible list shall be made available for public inspection, upon request, once the eligible list is exhausted or expired and referrals resolved. The eligible list/score report resulting from this civil service examination process is subject to change after adoption (e.g., as a result of appeals), as directed by the Human Resources Director or the Civil Service Commission. This pool of candidates on the eligible list may be used to fill additional vacancies in this class.

The duration of the eligible list resulting from this examination process will be twelve months and may be extended with the approval of the Human Resources Director. 

Terms of Announcement and Appeal Rights:
Applicants must be guided solely by the provisions of this announcement, including requirements, time periods and other particulars, except when superseded by federal, state or local laws, rules or regulations. [Note: The correction of clerical errors in an announcement may be posted on the Department of Human Resources website at https://careers.smartrecruiters.com/CityAndCountyOfSanFrancisco1/ . The terms of this announcement may be appealed under Civil Service Rule 110.4. Such appeals must be submitted in writing to the Department of Human Resources, 1 S Van Ness Avenue, 4th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94103-5413 by close of business on the 5th business day following the issuance date of this examination announcement. Information concerning other Civil Service Commission Rules involving announcements, applications and examination policies, including applicant appeal rights, can be found on the Civil Service Commission website at http://sfgov.org/civilservice/rules.

Additional Information Regarding Employment with the City and County of San Francisco:

• Information About The Hiring Process
• Conviction History
• Employee Benefits Overview  
• Equal Employment Opportunity 
• Disaster Service Worker
• ADA Accommodation
• Veterans Preference
• Seniority Credit
• Right to Work
• Copies of Application Documents
• Diversity Statement

Exam Analyst Information: If you have any questions regarding this recruitment or application process, please contact the exam analyst, David Jung at DJung@sfwater.org.

Please note: all your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.

The City and County of San Francisco encourages women, minorities and persons with disabilities to apply. Applicants will be considered regardless of their sex, race, age, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition (associated with cancer, a history of cancer, or genetic characteristics), HIV/AIDS status, genetic information, marital status, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, military and veteran status, or other protected category under the law.