Director of Water Innovation
Parsons · United States, Texas, Houston
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Job Description:
Parsons is looking for a talented Director of Water Innovation to join Parsons X and support our Water business sector. In this role, you will lead the development and growth of innovative digital solutions for water, wastewater, stormwater, flood resilience, and broader infrastructure clients. You will shape scalable digital twin and AI-enabled delivery strategies that connect engineering models, geospatial information, asset data, analytics, and operational systems across the full asset and systems lifecycle.
The ideal candidate will combine deep water-sector domain expertise with executive-level leadership in digital twins, hydraulic and hydrologic modeling, AI-enabled applications, data governance, dynamic master planning, and capital improvement planning. You will work across strategy, business development, rapid prototyping, client advisory, and solution delivery to convert emerging technologies into practical, repeatable capabilities for public utilities, municipal water agencies, airports, utilities, and transportation clients.
What You'll Be Doing:
• Provide strategic leadership for Parsons X water innovation initiatives, aligning sector priorities, client needs, digital delivery capabilities, and technology investment.
• Establish and scale a digital twin practice for water and infrastructure by defining solution architecture, data governance, modeling, analytics, integration, and adoption frameworks.
• Lead the conceptualization, prototyping, and deployment of domain-specific AI solutions, including WaterGPT-style knowledge assistants, standalone AI agents, agentic workflows, and Model Context Protocol integrations.
• Convert emerging technologies into practical web-based automation tools, dashboards, decision-support applications, and repeatable operational workflows.
• Lead development of demonstrations and proof-of-concepts focused on automation, systems integration, geospatial applications, dashboards, and AI-enabled decision support within Esri platforms and complementary enterprise systems.
• Oversee advanced water distribution, wastewater collection, water-quality, hydrologic, stormwater, and flood modeling initiatives that support regulatory pathways, development review, capital sequencing, resilience, and master planning.
• Advance dynamic master planning approaches that transition clients from static plans to continuously updated, scenario-driven systems for CIP prioritization, risk management, and executive decision-making.
• Advise clients on innovative applications of GIS, engineering design, hydraulic models, asset management systems, operational data, and analytics to create comprehensive digital twins supporting the asset lifecycle.
• Partner with Parsons X, global, regional, and water-sector leadership to identify, shape, and pursue high-value digital transformation opportunities across water, aviation, utility, and DOT markets.
• Serve as a strategic advisor to utility executives and infrastructure owners on smart-water transformation, data readiness, governance, organizational adoption, risk reduction, and long-term digital investment strategies.
• Guide multidisciplinary teams through innovation-to-implementation activities, including discovery, solution architecture, prototyping, validation, deployment planning, and transition into sustainable delivery models.
• Provide technical leadership and mentorship to engineers, modelers, GIS professionals, data scientists, software developers, and interdisciplinary project teams.
• Build Parsons capabilities, reusable intellectual property, delivery methods, and strategic partnerships that strengthen our position in water-sector digital innovation.
• Maintain a visible industry profile through leadership in organizations such as AWWA and SWAN, participation in conferences and client forums, and development of presentations, articles, white papers, and training content.
What Required Skills You'll Bring:
• 20+ years of progressive experience in water resources, water utility planning, wastewater or stormwater systems, hydraulic modeling, infrastructure planning, digital transformation, or a closely related field.
• Demonstrated leadership in digital twin strategy, architecture, governance, implementation planning, or enterprise-scale adoption for water utilities or complex infrastructure owners.
• Deep understanding of water distribution, wastewater collection, water-quality, hydrologic, stormwater, or flood modeling and their application to planning, operations, regulatory compliance, resilience, and capital programs.
• Experience translating AI, analytics, geospatial technology, engineering models, and emerging digital concepts into practical tools, repeatable workflows, and decision-support capabilities.
• Experience leading innovation initiatives from concept and prototype through operational implementation, adoption, and sustained delivery.
• Strong knowledge of data governance, data readiness, systems integration, knowledge management, digital maturity, and lifecycle information management.
• Demonstrated experience advising utility executives, public agencies, or infrastructure owners on digital strategy, organizational change, risk reduction, investment priorities, and implementation roadmaps.
• Proven ability to lead capture, client engagement, solution shaping, proposal development, demonstrations, and technical presentations for complex consulting or technology-enabled pursuits.
• Experience leading and developing multidisciplinary teams and collaborating across engineering, GIS, modeling, software, data, operations, and business leadership functions.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to communicate complex technical concepts to executive, technical, operational, and public-sector audiences.
• Demonstrated industry engagement through professional organizations, conference presentations, technical publications, training, working groups, or standards development.
What Desired Skills You'll Bring:
• Executive or owner-side experience within a large public water utility, municipal agency, or comparable infrastructure organization.
• Experience developing or implementing dynamic master planning, model-led CIP prioritization, scenario evaluation, risk assessment, or continuously updated planning systems.
• Hands-on familiarity with AI agents, large language model applications, prompt-based interfaces, Model Context Protocols, automation frameworks, or utility knowledge assistants.
• Experience with Esri geospatial technologies, web-based dashboards, enterprise GIS, asset management systems, engineering design platforms, operational systems, or cloud-based integration environments.
• Experience with Autodesk and Bentley 2D & 3D design tools.
• Experience developing digital twin maturity assessments, smart-water roadmaps, governance frameworks, or enterprise adoption strategies.
• Experience supporting regulatory compliance, consent decree programs, groundwater or water-supply planning, development review, or utility resilience initiatives.
• Active leadership or contribution within AWWA, SWAN, WEF, ASCE, or other relevant water and infrastructure organizations.
• National or international recognition as a speaker, trainer, author, working-group leader, or subject matter expert in water innovation, digital twins, hydraulic modeling,