Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Perform complex analyses on water and wastewater samples to ensure compliance with federal and state requirements regarding public safety and water cleanliness and for operational control at the plants.
• Perform quality assurance analyses related to bacteriological and chemical testing and use advanced analytical instruments.
• Maintain laboratory certification on required analyses, train subordinate lab staff, troubleshoot analytical instruments, and keep detailed records of test data.
• Generate reports for managers, contractors, citizen groups, and state agencies.
• Consult with other chemists and/or Public Utilities personnel and make recommendations based on analytical results.
• Monitor compliance with federal and state regulations in order to maintain certification.
• Maintain laboratory quality system, including maintaining detailed logs and records, participating in Proficiency Testing, creating, reviewing, and adhering to Standard Operating Procedures, and taking part in internal and external audits and data review.
• Troubleshoot malfunctioning testing equipment.
• Determine when testing equipment needs servicing.
• Serve as an Essential employee, which means that the incumbent is required to work when the City is closed due to public emergencies, critical or hazardous conditions, or inclement weather.
• Serve on-call 24 hours/7 days a week to provide leadership for the support and resolution of problems for critical systems and applications within the assigned City of Richmond portfolio.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in chemistry, environmental science, biology, or a related field
• An equivalent combination of training and experience (as approved by the department) may be used to meet the minimum qualifications of the classification
• Environmental or Municipal laboratory experience preferred

Special Certifications and Licenses:

• None required

Preferred Training and Experience:

• Environmental or Municipal laboratory experience preferred

Physical Requirements and Working Environment:

• Due to the nature of work assignments, incumbents must be able to perform detailed work on multiple, concurrent tasks, with frequent interruptions and under time constraint.
• The essential duties of this classification may require the ability to regularly talk; frequently finger, hear, see, and perform repetitive motions; and occasionally climb, balance, stoop, kneel, crouch, crawl, reach, stand, walk, push, pull, lift, feel, and grasp.
• The working conditions may include environmental hazards.
• In terms of the physical strength to perform the essential duties, this classification is considered to be light work, exerting up to 20 pounds of force occasionally, up to 10 pounds of force frequently, and a negligible amount of force constantly to move objects.

Environmental Hazards:

• Working conditions may include exposure to travel to other locations within the City of Richmond as well as outside of the City of Richmond; exposure to hazardous physical conditions such as mechanical parts, electrical currents, vibrations, etc.; atmospheric conditions such as fumes, odors, dusts, gases, and poor ventilation; inadequate lighting; intense noise; and environmental hazards such as disruptive people, imminent danger, and a threatening environment.

Americans with Disabilities Act Requirements:

• Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of the job. Prospective and current employees are invited to discuss accommodations.