Director of Regulatory Compliance, Strategy and Innovation

***IMPORTANT NOTE: Only those currently serving as a permanent or probable permanent, i.e. probationary, Administrative Engineer will be considered.***

The New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) protects public health for all New Yorkers by providing high-quality drinking water, managing wastewater and stormwater, and reducing air, noise, and hazardous materials pollution. DEP is the largest combined municipal water and wastewater utility in the country, with nearly 6,000 employees. DEP’s water supply system is comprised of 19 reservoirs and 3 controlled lakes spread throughout the system’s 2,000 square mile watershed that extends 125 miles north and west of the City.

The Bureau or Wastewater Treatment (BWT) Is responsible for the operation and maintenance of all facilities related to the pumping and treatment of sewage within the City’s five boroughs. This includes 14 wastewater treatment plants, 6 sludge dewatering facilities, collections facilities (pumping stations, combined sewer overflow retention facilities, regulators, tide gates, etc.), wastewater laboratories, and harbor vessels.

The BWT Director of Regulatory Compliance, Strategy and Innovation is responsible for a broad range of State and Federal regulatory programs and policy needs. The Director manages departmental programs associated with regulatory compliance and strategy, including State Pollutant Discharge Elimination Systems, Clean Water Act, Combined Sewer Overflow control(s), laboratory services, operational systems optimization, research and development, ambient water quality monitoring, air quality compliance, industrial waste, and all associated work. Responsible for approximately 170 diverse staff, the position requires a high level of effective communication in addition to negotiation with state and federal environmental regulatory agencies, environmental groups, elected officials and other regional stakeholders.

The Director reports to the Assistant Commissioner of Planning and Compliance and serves on BWT’s senior leadership team. The Director is expected to provide executive leadership and strategic direction to deliver BWT’s mission and core values as well as advance resource recovery, improve business processes, and develop a culture of innovation. The Director will exercise an extremely wide latitude of independent judgment and initiative to improve existing programs and implement new programs, policies, and activities for high-level bureau priorities. The successful candidate for this position must have demonstrated effective leadership, technical expertise, negotiation prowess, creativity, and the ability to develop and analyze cost-effective alternatives to meet a growing list of environmental goals and requirements. This position is engaged in coordination with multiple DEP groups, including BWT, the Bureau of Engineering Design and Construction (BEDC) and Bureau of Environmental Planning and Analysis (BEPA) on achieving goals.

This Director manages a wide range of divisions which requires a leader with a high level of technical expertise and communication skills to be able to coordinate internally and externally. This Director must have a working understanding of wastewater facilities operation and maintenance, permit limitations, laboratory requirements, staffing, and budgeting. The success of this Directorate depends greatly on the ability to communicate effectively with operations staff to develop consensus and understanding of operational needs and changes. The Directorate includes a diverse group of employees including chemists, engineers, scientists, lawyers, and enforcement personnel, all of which are responsible for a broad array of complex engineering, scientific, and regulatory programs. Divisions under this Director include:

Division of Laboratory Services – includes BWT’s five New York State Department of Health certified laboratory facilities: Newtown Creek Microbiology, Newtown Creek Process Control, Wards Island Process Control, Wards Island Priority Pollutants, Lefrak City Priority Pollutants. The laboratories provide analytical support for all facilities and needs in BWT including Wastewater Resource Recovery Facility (WRRF) effluent discharges, process control, biosolids, shoreline surveys, Industrial Pretreatment program, and stormwater and ambient water quality monitoring. The Division is critical for providing information for regulatory agencies on treatment, performance, and compliance, and conducts special studies and environmental assessments as needed.

Division of Operations Support – includes the Process Support and Compliance, Biosolids and Resource Recovery, and Air and Odor Emissions Sections. The Division is responsible for management of air quality, water quality and biosolids permit compliance, consent orders, research and development, and providing performance optimization for all Bureau treatment operations. This Division also serves as the training ground for process engineering staff, providing process related knowledge transfer opportunities Bureau-wide. This Division also manages compliance for landfills that DEP has been tasked to oversee. The Division administers research contracts, develops academic and other technical collaborations conducts bench, pilot and demonstration scale studies, and provides technical support to WRRFs. The Air and Odor Emissions Section is responsible for managing air permitting of BWT’s facilities, including multiple Title V facilities, and defining the scope of air and odor emission mitigation projects, including collecting data and executing modeling (directly or through contractors). Regulatory programs and consent orders managed under this Division include Combined Sewer Overflow (Long Term Control Plan), Total Residual Chlorine, Nitrogen management in the Long Island Sound and Jamaica Bay, and various SPDES Schedules of Compliance (ammonia toxicity, free cyanide, enterococcus, etc.).

Division of Pollution Prevention and Monitoring – includes multiple Sections reporting to the Division Chief and implements federal and state pollution prevention, monitoring programs, and associated regulatory reporting, including grease inspections, and the Industrial Pollution Prevention program. The Compliance Monitoring Section performs sampling at treatment plants, industrial facilities, and for other special projects. This Section also implements the Shoreline Survey and Sentinel monitoring programs, with support from the Marine Sciences Section, and manages the Emergency Response unit. The Marine Science Section executes the City’s Harbor Survey program and collects data in the City’s waterways to support a range of scientific and regulatory goals. The Industrial Resource Management and Permitting Section regulates industrial facilities under the Federal Pretreatment Program through inspections, discharge permits, and engineering plan approval.

The Director will operate as an important leader for the Bureau progressing all assigned programs and will provide expertise for planning and technology decisions for new infrastructure, operation, research, policy development, and communications. This will require working closely with the future Director of Planning to assist in developing strategies to manage emerging contaminants of concern, such as PFAS, and developing the technical information required to make sound decisions through the research and development program. A high level of technical expertise is required for all programs to develop key metrics, help reduce costs, perform engineering alternatives analyses, support changes in operations, and improve process performance.

ADMINISTRATIVE ENGINEER - 10015