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Principal Wastewater Engineer The Principal Wastewater Engineer provides enterprise-wide technical leadership, strategic planning, and operational support for wastewater treatment systems across Land O'Lakes business units. This role is responsible for ensuring regulatory compliance, optimizing treatment system performance, mitigating long-term wastewater risks, supporting capital projects, and advancing corporate wastewater management strategies that promote safe, reliable, and compliant operations. Position Purpose: Are you passionate about solving complex environmental and wastewater challenges while influencing operations across an entire manufacturing network? If so, a career as a Principal Wastewater Engineer may be the right fit for you. As a key member of the Corporate Environmental Health & Safety team, this role serves as the company's technical wastewater expert, partnering with plant operations, engineering, environmental professionals, regulators, consultants, and business leaders to ensure wastewater treatment systems operate efficiently, sustainably, and in full compliance with regulatory requirements. This position is based in Arden Hills, MN and requires approximately 50% travel to Land O'Lakes facilities. Key Responsibilities: Provide technical leadership and support for wastewater treatment operations across multiple manufacturing facilities. Ensure compliance with wastewater permits, discharge agreements, sludge management requirements, and environmental regulations. Establish and manage wastewater performance metrics, scorecards, reporting systems, and leading indicators. Develop and maintain wastewater operational standards, SOPs, playbooks, best practices, and emergency response procedures. Analyze operational and laboratory data to identify trends, optimize process performance, and proactively address treatment challenges. Provide onsite technical support during wastewater treatment upsets and lead root cause investigations. Support wastewater-related capital projects including design review, construction, startup, commissioning, and training. Develop and implement Wastewater Management of Change (WWMOC) processes. Identify long-term wastewater treatment capacity constraints, compliance risks, and improvement opportunities. Develop and deliver wastewater training programs and facilitate network-wide operator meetings. Required Experience & Education: Bachelor's degree in Environmental, Chemical, Civil Engineering, Environmental Science, or related field. 7+ years of industrial wastewater treatment experience. Food, dairy, agricultural, or industrial manufacturing experience. Experience supporting multi-site or corporate environmental programs. Experience with WWTP operations, optimization, and capital projects. Required Competencies & Other Skills: Strong technical expertise in industrial wastewater treatment and environmental regulations. Strong data analysis and problem-solving skills. Excellent project management and communication skills. Ability to influence and collaborate across multiple stakeholders. Strategic thinking and risk management capabilities. Preferred Experience: Master's degree in related discipline. Knowledge of POTW discharge programs and high-strength waste management. PE license or wastewater operator certifications. Salary Range: $107,680 - $161,520. In most cases, candidates offered employment expect to be hired at a pay rate near the middle of our salary ranges. About Land O'Lakes, Inc. Join us and be part of a Fortune 250, farmer- and member-owned cooperative that is reimagining the business of food. We have been named a Top Workplace by Indeed and LinkedIn, and to the TIME 100 Most Influential Companies list. We provide a broad portfolio of benefits to keep you and your family at your best. Land O'Lakes is Where Your Future Takes Root. Land O’Lakes and our global entities support diversity in employment practices. Neither Land O’Lakes, nor its affiliates or search firms, will ever contact you and ask for confidential information over the phone or in email. If you receive a call or email like this, please do not provide the information being requested. If you need to submit a reasonable accommodation request to complete the employment application process, please call the HR Solution Center at 844-LOL-HR4U (844-565-4748) M-F 8:00am-4:30pm CT.
Here's how to pick the right one and stand out in your application.
144.883Jobs
31.687IN
81%EN
That number is real. WorkMundi's database shows 144,883 open engineer roles across the world. India has the most with 31,687 jobs, followed by the United States with 30,084. If you just finished reading one job ad and felt paralyzed by choice, you're not alone—but this scale is actually an advantage. It means you can afford to be selective.
Start by geography and language. The majority of engineer ads—117,837 of them—have the job posting text written in English. Use that as one filter, but remember: the ad text language tells you nothing about whether the role actually requires you to speak English day-to-day. Read the job description carefully. Then check which countries have the volume you're targeting. Singapore, Poland, and Australia round out the top five after India and the US.
Next, learn who's hiring. Accenture has posted 2,801 engineer roles. andurilindustries, speechify, and jobgether are also actively recruiting. If you're applying to one of these names, research their hiring patterns and interview style before you apply. That homework pays off.
When you interview, expect the question every engineer hears: 'Tell me about a time you had to debug a problem that wasn't in your job description.' Have a specific story ready—not a general one. Name the tools, the deadline pressure, and what you learned. Hiring managers listen for whether you see problem-solving as part of the role itself, not a favour.