College/Graduate Internships

Business Analyst Interns (3 positions)

• The Portfolio Planning and Analysis Unit is responsible for the prioritization and governance of a large, complex public infrastructure capital improvement program. Your work as an intern in this unit will help the organization make good decisions as stewards of public infrastructure. You will learn about how a large public utility prioritizes and manages its capital infrastructure investments. This position will support the project request inventory and prioritization process for the 2025-2026 capital budget. Work with analysts, project managers, operations and maintenance staff, and utility planners to develop the capital investment priorities for the utility’s future. During this opportunity, you will gain skills in critical thinking, data analysis and presentation, and knowledge of public infrastructure investment decision-making.

• The Lessons Learned Program Analyst will help collect information that will be used to optimize a large capital infrastructure program and replacement program. Create intranet content management, create/edit SharePoint workflows, perform data analysis and reporting related to performance measures and metrics. Your goal will be to assist in taking a fragmented system into a centralized database and streamlined process.

• The Project Information & Budgeting team within the Project Control Unit, is responsible for managing the Project Information System Management Database (PRISM). It is an interface tool combining information from multiple sources for accurate management of contracts, projects and programs. In this position, you will assist the team in developing trends and models for the analysis of business performance. The intern will learn about the various analytical tools and techniques used and how the team supports ad hoc data requests for the rest of the division. A successful intern will gain experience with various business intelligence tools and see first-hand how a large organization uses data to predict future performance. 

Communications Interns (2 positions)

• Workforce Program Communications: Tasks include the creation of social media content for the purposes of improved college intern/entry-level employee recruitment, updating intern/new employee technical onboarding materials, assisting with the creation of technical training program content and development of web-based communications content. Deliverables could include social media content, blogs, technical training materials, presentations, and web content. The intern will work directly with Workforce Development Program, Project Planning & Delivery Section, Environmental & Community Services Section and WTD Director’s Office Communications staff.
  
  The successful candidate will be able to create a social media plan, educate existing staff on how best to recruit online and will be comfortable building relationships with existing WTD employees.

• Digital Communications: The ideal candidate will be dedicated, self-starting, and eager to learn the ins and outs of government social media. Through this process, they will have the opportunity to develop their skills in social media and digital communications in a public service environment. They will enhance their skills in order to be able to strategize and optimize digital assets for public messaging, and user experience to help connect with those in our service area.
  
  The successful candidate will be able to use social media for social marketing campaigns, encourage community engagement and provide customer service. They will be responsible for communicating King County’s voice and messaging through design and branding and will work closely with other creative and communications resources.

Designer Intern

The designer team helps support the Engineering Unit on a wide range of multi-disciplinary capital projects for our facilities all across King County.

Some of the projects the intern will work on will include various types of CAD support items, including updating standard details, project drawing creation, facility as-built/record drawings, document management, 3D modeling, and lidar scanning/point cloud creation.

Some possible projects to take part in are: Lakeland Hills Pump Station Upgrade, 53rd Ave Pump Station Pump Replacement, Load Bank Connection Panel Installations, West Point TP C1/C2 Reservoir Modifications.

I/C Engineer Intern

Tasks include the creation of a document for Control System Standards for offsite facilities. The intern will work with instrumentation and controls engineers in developing a guideline for engineers to follow for internal and external WTD projects. The document will provide guidelines in programming programmable logic controllers and creating human machine interface.

Mechanical and Civil Engineering Intern (2 positions)

Job Duties

• Assist the journey or senior level engineer in all aspects of on-going projects from planning.
• Assist the journey or senior level engineers with sampling and hydraulic modeling.
• Assist the journey or senior level engineer with detailed design and cost estimating.
• Work directly with the plant staff and make presentations of findings and designs for review and comment.

Mitigation, Monitoring Program - Intern

The Mitigation and Monitoring intern will be connected with field work involving identification of common tree, shrub, and herbaceous species native to western Washington. Learn vegetation monitoring techniques (e.g. transect surveys, plots) in wetland, stream, and shoreline buffer areas. Learn how to interpret planting plans and construction specifications. Learn how to analyze field data to compare restoration site performance to standards set by permits and regulatory agencies. Learn how to install and operate water temperature sensors in stream habitats, including data download, analysis, and interpretation. Participate in regular field visits with Program staff and maintenance crews to assess weed control and other site maintenance activities for effectiveness. The position will include a combination of online and on-site/in-person trainings, online meetings, and independent work from a home office.

Resource Recovery Marketing / Communication Intern

Enthusiastic, self-starters can apply their education and school/life experiences owning and contributing to projects that make a difference. Working with Resource Recovery is an excellent opportunity to learn strong business skills, be creative, and develop marketing-communication savvy, and to complete projects that can build a portfolio. Resource Recovery is best suited for those who are, or want to become, responsible environmental stewards and ones who have a passion for bringing ideas forward and the willingness to see them through.

Some of the Major Projects the intern may work on:

• Develop Carbon Neutrality story told through a short story and an animation or video.
• Develop social media strategy and content for Resource Recovery products and education initiatives.
• Propose, write/edit and post two program stories for SharePoint.
• Assess, organize, and post product/program digital assets using Teams/SharePoint.
• Update customer education tools for Recycled Water Program.
• Participate in staff meetings, including developing and presenting one ESJ topics
• Assess internal SharePoint and website content and provide recommendations for changes/improvements and modernization.

Comprehensive Planning

Gain infrastructure planning knowledge and experience while working with WTD’s Comprehensive Planning team. They are responsible for the development of long-term plans, studies and activities that ensure that the WTD has the facilities and capacity to collect and treat wastewater from 34 component agencies in the greater Seattle metropolitan area. This intern will work with a mentor to assess how to meet the wastewater treatment needs of growing communities in King County, learn and grow skills in applying planning principals, policy development and regulatory strategy.

Designer/Drafting

Gain drafting knowledge and experience while working in the CAD Designer Team of WTD’s Engineering and Technical Resources (ETR) Unit. Use software (AutoCAD, Revit, Civil 3D, etc.) to generate design drawings, standard details, and 3D models of WTD’s wastewater facilities. Learn how to use a 3D scanner to generate point clouds of WTD facilities and utilize these point clouds within CAD Software. Learn CAD standards, record drawing management, the stages of a capital project workflow and the interaction between project team members.

Director’s Office Communications

Intern will gain knowledge of and experience with how public agencies communicate with other government entities, the public and media. Tasks will include creative content planning, storyboard development, and development of web-based communications content. Deliverables could include social media, blogs, presentations and web content. The intern will work directly with WTD Director’s Office communications staff.

Engineering

Learn how WTD engineers work and perform problem definition, research, concept and alternatives development, cost estimating, construction observation, preparation of construction documents, review and response to submittals and requests for information. Assist a seasoned engineer in the tasks required to respond to the needs of a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) and work with offsite staff at various facilities. 

Environmental Mitigation & Monitoring Program

Learn how to conduct field vegetation transects in wetland areas and perform follow-up evaluations to verify performance standards have been met at WTD restoration sites. Students may also have opportunities to learn how to operate and install water quality sampling equipment in stream/wetland areas and to evaluate the data using Excel. Depending on timing and future COVID meeting protocols, students will be able to attend online or in-person meetings focused on site restoration/mitigation to learn more about project considerations in restoration design. Students will also learn how sampling data is summarized and included in annual monitoring report submittals as required by local, state, and federal agencies.

Resource Recovery/Sustainability Program

Gain knowledge and experience related to topics of resource recovery, including sustainability, renewable energy, biosolids, and recycled water. The position will gain an understanding of how a large utility incorporates sustainability and climate considerations into planning, infrastructure, and operations. Improve and gain hands on knowledge and experience in various aspects and platforms of communication, project management-to-completion, strategy, diverse audiences, writing, and tools development for Resource Recovery Section programs (sustainability, energy, biosolids, and recycled water).

WaterWorks Grant Program

Learn about WTD’s WaterWorks Grant Program, which funds community investments in clean water, by supporting communications and data management tasks. This position expects interns to gather and create web content as well as perform data updates, analysis of metrics and reports. Help develop and share the stories of WTD’s 200+ grant funded projects around the County and learn and apply data management skills. Assist with public webinars or similar events as needed.

Web Migration/Publishing

Develop web publishing skills using a web content management system (WCMS) and gain experience working in a professional office environment with a project team. This position will specifically assist in the migration and rewriting of agency web content to new templates that are more customer-centric, easier to read, and translated into other languages. WTD staff will provide rewrites of existing content for intern to publish. Some existing content will have minimal changes and the intern would be directed to manage both the rewriting and publishing.

Coal Creek Sewer Upgrade Program Communications

Intern will gain knowledge of and experience with community outreach practices; learn and develop skills in event planning and communications, likely to include creative content planning, storyboard development, direction of video editing, and development of communications content. Intern will spend about half the internship hours working with the team on developing and implementing strategies to improve project accessibility for all populations including those living with disabilities. Deliverables could include virtual tours, presentations for remote meetings, event planning documents and summary of outreach on accessibility elements of the project design. The intern will work with Community Services staff to learn about outreach, participating in remote and in-person events, meetings, and programs, and other related duties as they express interest.

Designer/Drafting

Gain drafting knowledge and experience, working in the Engineering Unit on the CAD Designer Team, within WTD. Utilizing Autodesk software (AutoCAD, Revit, Civil 3D, etc.) to generate design drawings, standard details, and 3D models of Wastewater Facilities. Learn how to use a 3D Scanner to generate point clouds of our facilities and utilize these point clouds within CAD Software. Learn CAD standards and record drawing management. Learn the stages of a capital project workflow and the interaction between project team members.

Engineering

How engineers work and perform their tasks, problem defining and solving, researching, concept and alternatives development, cost estimating, construction observation, preparation of construction documents, review and response to submittals and requests for information. Assist a seasoned engineer in the tasks needed to respond to the needs of the WWTP and offsite staff at various facilities

Puget Sound Nutrient Modeling 

Learn how to apply computer models to real-world applications. Learn to model physical and biological/chemical processes in the environment. Simulate nutrients in Puget Sound to evaluate impact of WTD’s Wastewater Treatment Plant discharges.

Environmental Mitigation & Monitoring Program

Learn how to conduct field transects in wetland areas with follow-up evaluations to determine if performance standards have been met at WTD restoration sites. May also have the opportunity to learn how to operate and install water quality sampling equipment in stream/wetland areas and how to evaluate the data using Excel.  If time permits, will learn about contents and requirements of monitoring reports and sit in on MCIP project meetings focused on site restoration/mitigation so intern can learn more about project considerations in restoration design.