Apprentice

Date Opened: Monday, November 03, 2025 12:00 AMClose Date: Sunday, November 09, 2025 12:00 AMDepartment: Charlotte Water DepartmentSalary: $0.00 - $0.00 Commensurate with Experience

Welcome to the City of Charlotte

Charlotte is America’s Queen City, opening her arms to a diverse and inclusive community of residents, businesses and visitors alike. Here you will find a safe, family-oriented city where people work together to help everyone thrive. The mission of the City of Charlotte is to deliver quality public services and promote the safety, health, and quality of life for all residents.

Our guiding principles include:

• Attracting and retaining a skilled and diverse workforce

• Valuing teamwork, openness, accountability, productivity, and employee development

• Providing all customers with courteous, responsive, accessible, and seamless quality services

• Taking initiative to identify, analyze, and solve problems

• Collaborating with stakeholders to make informed decisions

SUMMARY

Charlotte’s local government, with more than 9,000 employees and a total budget of $3.65 billion budget, works hard to ensure that the community will be a winning city for everyone – a truly remarkable place to live, work, learn and play.

Charlotte Water is an enterprise department of the City of Charlotte and one of the largest public water and sewer service providers in the southeast with over 330,000 customer accounts and over 1100 employees. Our service area includes the City of Charlotte, Mecklenburg County and the towns of Huntersville, Cornelius, Davidson, Mint Hill, Matthews and Pineville. Charlotte Water’s FY 26 budget is $651 million and a five-year capital program of $2.2.28 billion. We enjoy the highest credit ratings from Moody’s and S&P Global as a result of sound financial planning and management and strong support from our City Council. We value competent, skilled candidates with a customer service focus to work in a team environment.

SALARY:

The salary for this position is: $24.00/Hr.

JOB SUMMARY:

This is a one-year apprenticeship position with the goal of preparing the apprentice to be a Utility Technician and will include on-the-job training and classroom work. Upon completion of the one-year apprenticeship, the apprentice will perform various manual and semi-skilled tasks of average difficulty in construction, maintenance and repair in the Charlotte Water Distribution and Wastewater Collection Systems. 

ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS:        

• Performs manual and semi-skilled tasks related to construction, repair and maintenance, cuts out streets and driveways, manually excavates, backfills and compacts excavated areas to facilitate repair.
• Locates utilities on the job, digs out utilities manually or by machine.
• Performs simple measurements; interprets meter readings, performs routine safety inspections.
• Receives parts and materials from warehouse personnel; interacts with utilities customers.
• Transports materials, tools, and equipment to and from job sites, sets up and removes warning signs and traffic control devices.
• Operates the following: electronic utility locators, hand and power tools, equipment such as jackhammers, tampers, fire hydrants, gas monitors, air compressors, pneumatic tools and generators.
• Based on a checklist, maintains utility vehicles in clean, operating condition.
• Maintains truck inventory, maintains clean and safe work area.
• Performs related work as required.

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS TO PERFORM WORK:

• Requires possession of a valid NC or SC Driver’s License.
• Must obtain a Class A commercial driver’s license (CDL) permit within 6 months of hire, and a license with tanker endorsement within 1 year.
• Must obtain and maintain a City Drivers Permit.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Ability to operate power tools and operate small equipment;
• Ability to operate electronic locators, jackhammers, tampers, fire hydrants, front-end loaders, chainsaws, air compressors, generators, and other equipment;
• Knowledge on how to maintain truck inventory and safe work areas;
• Knowledge on how to set up jet/vac units and clean and unblock wastewater lines
• Ability to effectively interact with Charlotte Water customers

PHYSICAL DEMANDS:

Must be able to walk over rough terrain, jump ditches, and work in adverse conditions (hot and cold). Requires occasional lifting, up to 100 pounds and walking from 1 to 10 miles over various types of terrain.   Requires working on noisy construction sites, residential areas and in high traffic areas.

WORK ENVIRONMENT:     

Work is performed in an environment with heavy equipment and machinery that could result in bodily harm to co-workers or others.  Requires working in confined spaces.

EMPLOYMENT TYPE: Full-time 40 hours with mandatory overtime

PROGRAM BENEFITS:

Assigned mentor/trainer; workplace-ready certification, customized workshops, career pathing, OSHA – 10 certification, wellness programs, on-site gym

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

This job description is not intended to be and should not be construed as an inclusive list of all the responsibilities, skills, or working conditions associated with the position. While it is intended to accurately reflect the position activities and requirements, management reserves the right to modify, add or remove duties and assign other duties at any time.  This job description does not constitute a written or implied contract of employment.

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform the essential job functions satisfactorily. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the primary job functions herein described. Since every duty associated with this position may not be described herein, employees may be required to perform duties not specifically spelled out in the job description, but which may be reasonably considered to be incidental in the performing of their duties just as though they were written out in this job description.

CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT

The City’s Background Check Policy requires background checks to be conducted on final internal or external candidate(s) applying for any position with the City of Charlotte. The type of information that will be collected as part of a background check includes, but is not limited to: reference checks, social security verification, education verification, criminal conviction record check, and, if applicable, a credit history check, sex offender registry and motor vehicle records check.

Background checks must be in compliance with all federal and state statutes, such as the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). The checks must be consistent with the guidelines set forth by these laws requiring organizations to obtain a candidate’s written authorization before obtaining a criminal background report, motor vehicle records check or credit report; and to properly store and dispose of information derived from such reports.

Final candidates must pass a pre-employment drug-screening test and physical examination. During the selection process, candidates may be asked to take a skills test, and/or participate in other assessments.

The City of Charlotte is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not unlawfully discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, sex, national origin, marital status, age, disability, sexual orientation, political affiliation or on the basis of actual or perceived gender as expressed through dress, appearance, or behavior.

Our culture is to serve the community honorably.

HOW TO APPLY

Apply online.

Federal law requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities. Please tell us if you require a reasonable accommodation to apply for a job.

You are welcome to visit the City of Charlotte Human Resources Department lobby, where self-service application kiosks are available. They are located in our office at 700 East 4th Street, Suite 200, Charlotte, NC 28202. We are open Monday through Friday, from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. (EST), excluding official City holidays.

For questions about your application or the hiring process, please email [email protected].

The City of Charlotte is committed to making our services and programs accessible to all. Upon request, auxiliary aids, written materials in alternate formats, language access, and other reasonable accommodations or modifications will be provided. To make a request, please fill out the Innovation & Technology ADA request form or call 704.336.4120.

BENEEFITS

The City of Charlotte provides a comprehensive benefits package to eligible employees.

Clickhereto learn more about the City of Charlotte’s benefits.

The City of Charlotte is a drug and alcohol-free workplace.