Water Equipment Operator

Date Opened: Friday, September 19, 2025 12:00 AMClose Date: Thursday, October 09, 2025 12:00 AMDepartment: Charlotte Water DepartmentSalary: $23.00 - $28.39 Commensurate with Experience

Welcome to the City of Charlotte

Charlotte is America’s Queen City, opening her arms to a diverse and inclusive community of residents, businesses and visitors alike. Here you will find a safe, family-oriented city where people work together to help everyone thrive. The mission of the City of Charlotte is to deliver quality public services and promote the safety, health, and quality of life for all residents.

Our Guiding Principles Include:

• Attracting and retaining a skilled and diverse workforce
• Valuing teamwork, openness, accountability, productivity, and employee development
• Providing all customers with courteous, responsive, accessible, and seamless quality services
• Taking initiative to identify, analyze, and solve problems
• Collaborating with stakeholders to make informed decisions
• The salary for this position is: $25.55 - $28.38, Commensurate with Experience

Summary

Charlotte’s local government, with more than 9,000 employees and a total budget of $3.65 billion budget, works hard to ensure that the community will be a winning city for everyone – a truly remarkable place to live, work, learn and play.

Charlotte Water is an enterprise department of the City of Charlotte and one of the largest public water and sewer service providers in the southeast with over 330,000 customer accounts and over 1100 employees. Our service area includes the City of Charlotte, Mecklenburg County and the towns of Huntersville, Cornelius, Davidson, Mint Hill, Matthews and Pineville. Charlotte Water’s FY 26 budget is $651 million and a five-year capital program of $2.2.28 billion. We enjoy the highest credit ratings from Moody’s and S&P Global as a result of sound financial planning and management and strong support from our City Council. We value competent, skilled candidates with a customer service focus to work in a team environment.

Salary:

Job Summary

This position operates light, medium, and heavy equipment. Work involves requesting utility and other underground line locates to avoid damaging services; operates backhoe/loader, excavator, and other heavy equipment to dig trenches to grade at construction sites; using hand tools and small powered equipment such as shovels and saws; making sure tools and equipment are available and in working condition; and digging water & sewer mains and services, making repairs. This position also takes responsibility for crews when the Labor Crew Chief II is not present, provides related training, and serves as the competent person on the job site.

Essential Job Functions:

• Preform pre-trip/post inspections on equipment.
• Use of trenching and shoring equipment
• Assesses job site and requests utility and other underground line locates to avoid damaging services.
• Puts up and takes down safety zone equipment. Properly setup and breakdown traffic control safety zones.
• Operates backhoe/loader, excavator, and other heavy equipment to dig trenches to grade at construction sites.
• Digs and repairs water & sewer infrastructure.
• Uses hand tools and small powered equipment such as shovels and saws.
• Operates trucks and trailers; safely loads and unloads heavy equipment, materials, and supplies.
• Ensures tools/equipment are available and in good operating condition each day.
• Performs work to meet safety regulations and quality/production standards.
• Assumes responsibility for the crew when the Labor Crew Chief II is absent.
• Performs other related job duties as assigned.

Minimum Requirements To Perform Work:

• High school diploma or completion of GED from an accredited school.
• Two (2) years of related work experience operating heavy equipment.

Licenses, Certifications Or Registrations:

• Requires valid driver’s license.
• Must be able to obtain and maintain a city driver’s permit.
• Requires (or obtain within 90 days of hire date) a Class A commercial driver’s license (CDL) with Tankers endorsement.

Knowledge, Skills And Abilities:

• Knowledge of basic computer skills
• Ability to follow instructions
• Apply safe work practices
• Knowledge of how to dig trenches to grade at construction sites.
• Knowledge of trenching and shoring.
• Knowledge of operating equipment related to job functions.
• Skill to communicate, both verbal and written.
• Skill in operating light to heavy equipment, such as backhoe/loaders, excavators, trucks, trailers, etc.
• Skill in properly using/caring for basic hand tools and small powered equipment such as shovels and saws.
• Ability to request utility and other underground line locates.
• Ability to follow oral and written instructions.
• Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with supervisors, co-workers, and general public. 
• Ability to work in a team.
• Ability to train others.
• Ability to resolve conflicts.

Physical Demands:

The work is medium work and requires applying 30 pounds of force frequently and exerting up to 50 pounds of force occasionally to move objects. Additionally, the following physical abilities are required:  climbing, crawling, crouching, feeling, manual dexterity, grasping, handling, perceiving sounds at normal speaking levels, distinguishing among sounds, kneeling, lifting, pulling, pushing, reaching, repetitive motion, standing, stooping, talking, and walking.

Work Environment:

Work is performed in a dynamic environment that requires sensitivity to change and responsiveness to changing goals, priorities, and needs. Requires working in confined spaces, working under difficult weather and environmental conditions, and working a flexible schedule including overtime.

Additional Information:

This job description is not intended to be and should not be construed as an inclusive list of all the responsibilities, skills, or working conditions associated with the position. While it is intended to accurately reflect the position activities and requirements, management reserves the right to modify, add or remove duties and assign other duties at any time.  This job description does not constitute a written or implied contract of employment.

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform the essential job functions satisfactorily. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the primary job functions herein described. Since every duty associated with this position may not be described herein, employees may be required to perform duties not specifically spelled out in the job description, but which may be reasonably considered to be incidental in the performing of their duties just as though they were written out in this job description.

Conditions Of Employment

The City’s Background Check Policy requires background checks to be conducted on final internal or external candidate(s) applying for any position with the City of Charlotte. The type of information that will be collected as part of a background check includes, but is not limited to: reference checks, social security verification, education verification, criminal conviction record check, and, if applicable, a credit history check, sex offender registry and motor vehicle records check.

Background checks must be in compliance with all federal and state statutes, such as the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). The checks must be consistent with the guidelines set forth by these laws requiring organizations to obtain a candidate’s written authorization before obtaining a criminal background report, motor vehicle records check or credit report; and to properly store and dispose of information derived from such reports.

Final candidates must pass a pre-employment drug-screening test and physical examination. During the selection process, candidates may be asked to take a skills test, and/or participate in other assessments.

The City of Charlotte is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not unlawfully discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, sex, national origin, marital status, age, disability, sexual orientation, political affiliation or on the basis of actual or perceived gender as expressed through dress, appearance, or behavior.

Our culture is to serve the community honorably.

How To Apply

Apply Online.

Federal law requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities. Please tell us if you require a reasonable accommodation to apply for a job.

You are welcome to visit the City of Charlotte Human Resources Department lobby, where self-service application kiosks are available. They are located in our office at 700 East 4th Street, Suite 200, Charlotte, NC 28202. We are open Monday through Friday, from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. (EST), excluding official City holidays.

For questions about your application or the hiring process, please email Careers@ci.charlotte.nc.us.

The City of Charlotte is committed to making our services and programs accessible to all. Upon request, auxiliary aids, written materials in alternate formats, language access, and other reasonable accommodations or modifications will be provided. To make a request, please fill out the Innovation & Technology ADA request form or call 704.336.4120.

Beneefits

The City of Charlotte provides a comprehensive benefits package to eligible employees.

Click here to learn more about the City of Charlotte’s benefits.

The City of Charlotte is a drug and alcohol-free workplace.