Purpose of the Position:
The WASH Field Engineer is part of the programme's technical delivery role the qualified engineer responsible for quarterly full-system inspections, preventive and reactive maintenance, water quality field monitoring, and first-line technical problem-solving across an assigned cluster of sites. The position sits between trained community pump operators performing daily checks and specialist contractors performing manufacturer-level servicing, and is accountable for keeping systems operational, compliant, and well-documented.
The Field Engineer plays a central role in the technical condition assessment of all sites in the assigned cluster.

Key Responsibilities

Technical condition assessment

• Conduct the site-by-site technical condition assessment across the assigned cluster within the first three months: pump, controller, panels, batteries, tank and tower, distribution network, valves and fittings, and civil structure.
• Participate in joint site visits with Water supply system contractor including asset register verification, documentation review, and monitoring dashboard familiarisation.
• Support country team activities: tiered water quality field testing, sanitary surveys at risk-flagged sites, GPS verification, and yield measurement at sites with missing yield records.
• Contribute technical findings which need to be confirmed by Month 3, and identify end-of-life components for replacement under the Year 1 Replacement Capex Reserve.
• Execute Tier C remediation works at named priority sites under the 48-hour remediation initiation protocol and support the portfolio-wide water quality baseline assessment within 90 days of operational kickoff.

Preventive and reactive maintenance

• Perform quarterly full-system inspections at all assigned sites: borehole yield testing, pump efficiency assessment, solar panel output measurement, battery and charge controller checks, chlorination system verification, structural inspection of concrete towers, and water committee performance review.
• Deliver reactive repairs in line with the tiered service-impact protocol: critical failures; reduced-service issues within five working days; minor issues at the next quarterly inspection.
• Diagnose faults using Water supply system contractor remote monitoring telemetry and support the shift from schedule-driven to condition-based, predictive maintenance at monitored sites.
• Escalate manufacturer-level pump servicing, borehole rehabilitation, and solar system overhauls to DWS-listed certified solar technical partners and supervise their work on site against service-level agreements.
• Prioritise Parent-site maintenance within the cluster maintenance model, recognising that Parent borehole failures cascade to hydraulically dependent Child sites
• Manage cluster-level spare parts inventories at Hub anchor locations, forecast consumables and coordinate replenishment with the Finance and Logistics Officer.

Water quality monitoring and compliance

• Conduct monthly water quality field testing at all assigned sites using portable field kits and maintain calibration of field instruments.
• Collect and dispatch quarterly bacteriological samples (E. coli, total coliforms) to SANAS-accredited laboratories and apply elevated (monthly) sampling frequency at sites until restored.
• Verify automated inline chlorination performance (0.20.5 mg/L free chlorine residual at the most distant standpipe) and adjust dosing as required.
• Maintain water quality records in the programme database, flag non-compliance against SANS 241:2015 immediately, and initiate corrective action plans in coordination with the WASH Programme Manager.

Community technical capacity building

• Train and mentor community pump operators in daily system checks, monthly pump performance logging, and water quality field testing, cross-referencing operator logs with remote monitoring telemetry.
• Deliver pump-attendant training cohorts and support the certification pathway from community operator toward established standard for community-hired technicians.
• Support Water Management Committees with technical inputs to O&M planning, tariff-setting consultations and Capital Sinking Fund calibration against component lifecycles (5/7/10/20 years).
• Contribute technical content to site-level O&M manuals any other documentation.

Documentation, reporting and coordination

• Complete site inspection reports, maintenance job cards, and asset register updates in the field management system after every visit.
• Contribute technical data to monthly cluster reports, the MEAL dash