San Francisco Public Utilities Commission Summer 2025 Student Intern Program, Junior Students (5381) (Exempt)
Job Description
College students in Associate, Undergraduate, and Graduate Degree Programs studying the following are encouraged to apply:
Interns will gain on-the-job experience under the guidance of experienced professional engineers, architects, and surveyors while participating in various activities in the assigned discipline. The duration of this internship can be 3-6 months, with an opportunity to extend based on exemplary performance and necessity.
** Intern positions are available in the following divisions and sections:**
Infrastructure Division
The Infrastructure Division is responsible for overseeing the administration, planning, design, and construction of our water, wastewater, and power capital programs and projects, including the Water System Improvement Program (WSIP), the Sewer System Improvement Program (SSIP), the Hetch Hetchy Improvement Program (HCIP), and the annual Water and Wastewater Renewal and Replacement (R&R) Programs.
Under Infrastructure Division we have these sections:
Power Enterprise/Operations/Distribution Engineering
The Student Design Trainee I mainly assist in the preparation of electrical engineering designs and plans by use of AutoCAD, Agi32, and SKM. This position will be called upon to perform site visits when needed.
Desirable Qualifications: **** Majoring in Electrical Engineering
Work Location: 525 Golden Gate Avenue, 7th Floor, San Francisco
Water Enterprise – Water Quality Division
The intern will work with our Water Quality Engineering team as a part of the Water Quality Division to aid in conducting water quality studies and research, analyzing water system performance data, troubleshooting, or optimizing water treatment system performance, and monitoring regulatory compliance. The Engineering Section provides treatment process engineering and laboratory support for our water treatment facilities and distribution systems throughout the Bay Area.
Desirable Qualifications: Civil, Chemical, Environmental Engineering; interest in Hydraulics, Water Treatment Process Engineering and Analytics, Water Resources Engineering
Work Locations:
Work Schedule: desirable is 40 hours a week for summer, 10-20 hours a week for the rest of the year.
Wastewater Enterprise Engineering Process/Environmental
The selected candidate will provide support to in-house Environmental Process Engineering working on development projects and providing daily support to Operations. Trainee tasks include odor surveys, nocardia counting, polymer testing and assist in equipment start-up activities as needed. Trainee must be able to work in the field, collect samples, and complete lab analysis.
Desirable Qualifications: completed or pursuing a degree in Chemical Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or Civil Engineering, highly desirable if candidate has a Master’s degree in those mentioned above.
Work Locations:
Work Schedule: desirable is 40 hours a week for summer, 10-20 hours a week for the rest of the year.
Wastewater Enterprise - Mechanical
Interns will gain experience in mechanical - fluid mechanics, hydraulics, HVAC [heating ventilation, air conditioning] disciplines. Interns will work in the field and in a wastewater/water environment.
Desirable Qualifications: Mechanical/Civil Engineering
Work Locations:
Work Schedule: desirable is 40 hours a week for summer, 10-20 hours a week for the rest of the year.
Wastewater Enterprise - Electrical
Interns will gain experience in electrical - process controls/electrical power disciplines. Interns will work in the field and in a wastewater/water environment.
Desirable Qualifications: Electrical/Controls Engineering
Work Locations:
Work Schedule: desirable is 40 hours a week for summer, 10-20 hours a week for the rest of the year.
Regulatory & Compliance
Interns will provide assistance and gain experience with the regulatory & compliance team.
Desirable Qualifications: Regulatory & Compliance background
Work location: 525 Golden Gate Avenue, 11th Floor, San Francisco
Wastewater Enterprise Collection System Division (CSD)
Owns and operates the City's gravity wastewater system, including but not limited to small diameter sewers, large diameter sewers, transport storage boxes, catch basins, drainage structures etc. CSD is looking for self-motivated and enthusiastic civil engineering interns with special interest in wastewater to gain on-the-job experience under the guidance of professional civil engineers.
We work in a hybrid and traditional environment, and you may be expected to work onsite in the office up to 5 days per week. In-office workdays are determined by the nature of the work and scheduled by your supervisor.
Desirable Qualifications: Civil engineering student with a concentration in Wastewater systems.
Work Location: 3801 Third Street, Suite 600, San Francisco
Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 7:30am-4:00pm
Urban Watershed Planning
Urban Watershed Planning Division Interns: Support green infrastructure outreach and incentive programs; data tracking and management for stormwater programs; experience observing design and construction of green infrastructure projects.
Desirable Qualifications: completed or pursuing master’s degree in landscape architecture, City Planning, or Environmental Planning.
Work Location: 525 Golden Gate Avenue, 11th Floor, San Francisco
Work Schedule: Flexible, Monday - Friday, 9:00am to 5:00pm
City Distribution Division
Position will involve data collection and analysis for water loss reduction program.
Desirable Qualifications: Experience with GIS & Excel
Work Location: 1990 Newcomb Ave., San Francisco
Work Schedule: Full time or Part time
Natural Resources and Lands Management Division (NRLM)
At the Alameda Creek Watershed in Sunol, there are several positions available including:
Work Locations:
At the Oceanside Marine Biology Laboratory , student interns would work alongside the Biologists and participate in the preparation of marine samples for benthic invertebrate taxonomic analysis, train in the practice of benthic invertebrate taxonomy, as well as aquatic bioassay (whole effluent toxicity testing) and perform a variety of field sampling, laboratory work, data management and miscellaneous tasks as needed. Desirable Qualification: prior field work experience is a plus. Organized and prior experience using Microsoft Excel. Fish/frog/wildlife/plant identifications skills are a plus.
Work Location: 3500 Great Highway, San Francisco, CA 94132
While the general internship is advertised as a short-term opportunity, most of the NRLM positions available may work up to three (3) years in ongoing, part-time employment; commitment of a least one (1) year is desirable. Schedules may vary depending on the position (work schedule such as: Monday to Friday, 8:00am-4:30pm, possibly weekend and holiday work).
Water - GIS
Opportunity to learn GIS industry standards, learn how to interpret engineering documents and translating that into a GIS database, and specific SFPUC standards and workflows for working in GIS for utilities. Other opportunities may include developing GIS applications, producing maps of water facilities, and scripting and/or model development for automating tasks.
Desirable Qualifications: Junior or Senior, Geography, GIS, Civil or Environmental Engineering.
Work Location: 1990 Newcomb Ave., San Francisco
Work Schedule: 8:00am – 4:30pm
Water - Engineering
Opportunity to learn water industry standards, specific SFPUC standards as well as opportunity to gain field experience with water main installation or facility relocation. Other opportunities may include reviewing project plans for conflicts, producing GIS maps of water facilities for project utility drawings, hydraulic analysis using hydraulic model, and cost estimates for new water service installation.
Desirable Qualifications: Junior or Senior, Civil or Environmental engineering, GIS.
Work Location: 1990 Newcomb Ave, San Francisco
Work Schedule: 7:00am - 3:30pm
** Projected interview schedule:**
Qualifications
** Minimum Qualifications:**
At the time of filing, the applicant must be in an accredited Engineering · Architecture · Planning · Computer Science/Information Services Program · Mathematics · Biology · Natural Resources at a university or a related field at a community college. An applicant must be returning to their undergraduate program or entering/continuing a graduate program in the Fall 2025. For students that have graduated, an applicant can be appointed to begin work within 6 months after graduation.
For the 5381 class , the applicant must be currently enrolled in an undergraduate program as at least a Junior (Completed 61-90 semester units/91-135 quarter units).
** Applicants must meet the minimum qualification requirement by the final filing date unless otherwise noted.**
Verification of Education:
Applicants are required to submit verification of qualifying education at time of application submission. Education verification information on verifying foreign education credits or degree equivalency, can be found at How to Verify Education Requirements | Department of Human Resources (sfdhr.org).
Note: Falsifying one’s education, training, or work experience or attempted deception on the application may result in disqualification for this and future job opportunities with the City and County of San Francisco.
All education, training, and other information substantiating how you meet the minimum qualifications must be included on your application by the filing deadline. Information submitted after the filing deadline will not be considered in determining whether you meet the minimum qualifications. Resumes will not be accepted in lieu of a completed City and County of San Francisco application. Applications completed improperly may be cause for ineligibility, disqualification or may lead to lower scores.
Additional Information
Additional Information Regarding Employment with the City and County of San Francisco:
HOW TO APPLY
Applications for City and County of San Francisco jobs are only accepted through an online process. Visit https://careers.smartrecruiters.com/CityAndCountyOfSanFrancisco1/ and begin the application process.
Applicants may be contacted by email about this recruitment and, therefore, it is their responsibility to ensure that their registered email address is accurate and updated. Also, applicants must ensure that email from CCSF is not blocked on their computer by a spam filter. To prevent blocking, applicants should set up their email to accept CCSF mail from the following addresses (@sfgov.org, @sfdpw.org, @sfport.com, @flysfo.com, @sfwater.org, @sfdph.org, @asianart.org, @sfmta.com, @sfpl.org, @dcyf.org, @first5sf.org, @famsf.org, @ccsf.edu, @smartalerts.info, and @smartrecruiters.com).
Applicants will receive a confirmation email from notification@smartrecruiters.com that their online application has been received in response to every announcement for which they file. Applicants should retain this confirmation email for their records. Failure to receive this email means that the online application was not submitted or received.
Job Analyst Information: If you have any questions regarding this recruitment or application process, please contact the job analyst, Sari Mix at SMix@sfwater.org.
The City and County of San Francisco encourages women, minorities and persons with disabilities to apply. Applicants will be considered regardless of their sex, race, age, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition (associated with cancer, a history of cancer, or genetic characteristics), HIV/AIDS status, genetic information, marital status, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, military and veteran status, or other protected category under the law.