At a water utility, water-resources organization, or environmental-engineering firm, you lead a water-resources team — overseeing technical staff, managing project portfolios, supporting major water-resources initiatives, and the operational leadership behind a water-resources operation.
Most weeks involve team leadership, project portfolio oversight, and senior stakeholder engagement — sitting with technical staff on project progress, managing the portfolio of active water-resources work, engaging with senior leadership and major stakeholders on strategic matters, supporting team development. Portfolio outcomes, team performance, and stakeholder satisfaction shape the visible measures.
What gets demanding is the multi-project and multi-stakeholder dimension — water-resources team leaders carry portfolios spanning hydrology, water supply, planning, and regulatory work, and balancing across them takes constant calibration. Variance across employers is wide: large water-resources consultancies and major utilities run with structured team-leadership roles; smaller organizations concentrate the leadership work on a smaller team.
This role tends to fit folks who carry deep water-resources experience, supervisory craft, and the diplomatic touch that managing across technical specialties and stakeholders requires. PE, AICP, senior water-resources credentials, and growing leadership experience anchor advancement. The trade-off is the political-and-technical leadership dimension of senior water-resources work and the multi-year project arcs the work spans.
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Roles like this one sit within a broader occupational category. The numbers below reflect that full landscape — helpful for context, but your specific experience will depend on level, specialty, and where you work.
At a water utility, water-resources organization, or environmental-engineering firm, you lead a water-resources team — overseeing technical staff, managing project portfolios, supporting major water-resources initiatives, and the operational leadership behind a water-resources operation.
Median pay for a Water Team Leader is about $161K nationally, with the field ranging roughly from $80K to $208K depending on experience, employer, and metro (BLS).
Core skills for this role include Science, Monitoring, Reading Comprehension, Active Listening, and Critical Thinking.
Most people in this role hold a bachelor's degree.
Employment in this field is projected to grow about 3.7% through 2034, with roughly 100,870 people working in it today (BLS).
Closely related roles include Water and Hydroelectric Services Director, Environmental Program Manager, and Research Manager.
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