Texas Water Fund: How to Hire Water and Wastewater Engineering Leaders

Texas has decided to put serious money behind water. In November 2025, voters approved Proposition 4, which dedicates up to $1 billion a year in existing sales tax revenue to the Texas Water Fund for the next two decades. For water and wastewater engineering firms, utilities, and the contractors who serve them, that is a long runway of work. It also raises a harder question: where will firms find the Texas water engineering leaders to deliver it?

This guide looks at what the new funding means for engineering leadership hiring in Texas, which roles are likely to become hardest to fill, and how to hire leaders who will still be with you when the projects get built.

What Texas Has Committed to Water

According to the Texas Water Development Board’s Proposition 4 FAQ, the amendment directs the Comptroller to deposit the first $1 billion of state sales and use tax revenue above $46.5 billion into the Texas Water Fund each fiscal year. The provision takes effect September 1, 2027 and runs to August 31, 2047. The Texas Tribune described it as the largest investment in the state’s water supply in its history, potentially $20 billion over 20 years.

The timing matters for hiring. Under the TWDB’s anticipated timeline, the Legislature takes up appropriations in May 2027, funds could transfer in summer 2028, and money could become available through TWDB financial assistance programs in fall 2029. Projects that will draw on that money need planning, design, and permitting well before then, which means the leadership teams to deliver them need to be in place in the next one to three years.

The scale of the underlying need is even larger than the fund. The TWDB’s 2027 State Water Plan puts the capital cost of its recommended water supply projects at $174 billion, more than double the 2022 plan. And that figure does not include replacing or rehabilitating water infrastructure that already exists.

Why Texas water engineering leaders Are Under Pressure

Existing systems are struggling. In its 2025 Texas Infrastructure Report Card, the Texas Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) graded drinking water a D+ (down from C- in 2021) and wastewater a D- (down from D). ASCE notes that most Texas stormwater and wastewater infrastructure was built in the 1970s and has reached or passed its intended design life.

So Texas firms face two streams of work at once: new supply projects such as reuse, desalination, and reservoirs, plus the repair and replacement of aging treatment plants and pipe networks. Both need experienced people who can run programs, manage clients, and keep multidisciplinary teams on schedule.

The national talent picture adds to the squeeze. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects civil engineering employment to grow 6 percent from 2025 to 2035, faster than the average for all occupations, with about 22,700 openings a year. BLS notes that many of those openings come from replacing people who retire or leave the field. Senior engineers with deep water and wastewater experience are a small slice of that workforce, and every utility, consultant, and contractor chasing Texas Water Fund projects will be competing for them.

The Roles That Will Be Hardest to Fill

When a funding wave arrives, the bottleneck is rarely junior engineers. It is the people who can win work, own the client relationship, and deliver at scale. In Texas water, we expect the most pressure on these roles:

Water and Wastewater Practice Leaders

These leaders build a firm’s water business: they set strategy, develop relationships with utilities and river authorities, and grow teams. A strong practice leader can be the difference between watching the funding go to competitors and winning a steady pipeline of work.

Program and Project Directors

Large reuse, treatment, and conveyance programs run for years and touch many stakeholders. Program directors who have led complex municipal programs, managed budgets, and handled public funding requirements are in short supply.

Principal Engineers and Technical Directors

Treatment process design, desalination, and potable reuse demand specialized expertise. Firms need senior technical leaders who can stand behind the design and mentor the next generation.

Regional and Office Leaders

With most of Texas’s growth concentrated around Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Austin, and San Antonio, firms expanding into new metros need office leaders who can build a local reputation quickly.

How to Hire Texas water engineering leaders Who Stay

In a tight market, speed matters, but a fast hire who leaves in year one costs far more than a careful one. Here is what works.

1. Start Before the Work Arrives

Senior hires take time. A well-run retained search usually takes four to eight weeks, with a shortlist in two to four weeks. If you wait until a large award is announced, you will be hiring under pressure. Map your leadership needs against the TWDB timeline now.

2. Define the Role by Outcomes, Not a Job Title

“Water Practice Leader” means very different things at a 40-person consultancy and a 400-person firm. Be specific about what the person must achieve in their first 12 to 24 months: revenue targets, client relationships, team size, or delivery of a named program. That clarity attracts the right candidates and filters out the wrong ones.

3. Look Beyond Active Candidates

The best Texas water engineering leaders are almost always employed, well paid, and busy. They are not reading job boards. Reaching them takes direct, confidential outreach and a compelling reason to talk, which is where a specialist search partner earns its fee.

4. Assess With Evidence, Not Just a Resume

A resume shows where someone has been, not how they will perform in your firm. At Alexander Executive Search (AES), we use RoleDNA™ Mapping to build a full picture of each finalist, including behavioral assessment, structured responses to the key competencies the role demands, video introductions, and verified references. That evidence is a big reason AES placements show 96% retention at 12 months.

5. Be Realistic About Pay

Competition for proven water leaders will push packages up as funding flows. Benchmark early, and remember that equity, a clear path to ownership, flexibility, and the chance to lead meaningful public projects all matter to senior candidates alongside base salary.

6. Protect the Hire

Ask any search partner what happens if the hire does not work out. AES offers a 12-month guarantee (two years for senior roles) in the form of a free replacement, so the risk does not sit only with you.

What This Means for Texas SMEs

Mid-sized engineering firms are often best placed to win this work. They are close to their utility clients, quick to respond, and can be more flexible than national firms. But they also feel the loss of a single senior leader more sharply. One wrong hire at practice-leader level can stall growth for a year or more.

That is why we focus on engineering and civil engineering firms under $120 million in turnover hiring for leadership roles of $150,000 and above. Across our searches, 98% end with a candidate placed, and our clients save more than $100,000 per hire.

Plan Your Texas Water Leadership Hires Now

The Texas Water Fund gives firms a once-in-a-generation opportunity, but the funding is only as useful as the leaders who turn it into delivered projects. If you are planning to grow your water or wastewater practice in Texas, now is the time to line up the Texas water engineering leaders you will need.

Learn more about our water and wastewater engineering executive search and our work in civil engineering executive search across Texas, or contact AES to talk through your next senior hire.