Hydrologist Job Description Templates
Free hydrologist job description templates: standard, junior, senior, consulting-firm, and technician, with FLSA, licensing, and salary guidance.
Hydrologist Job Description Templates
5 templates with FLSA, licensing, and salary guidance. Download as DOCX.
Most hydrologist templates online give you one generic, water-cycle duties list and skip the parts that actually matter for a consulting firm: whether you are hiring a degreed hydrologist or a field technician, how to classify the role under the FLSA, and which professional credentials the work requires. A hydrologist is a degreed, often credentialed professional, and the environmental and civil-engineering consulting world where small firms make this hire has compliance details the copy-paste templates leave out entirely.
At FirstHR, we build templates by level and setting with that compliance structure built in. The five below cover standard, junior, senior, a consulting-firm version, and a separate hydrologic-technician template, with FLSA and licensing guidance most templates skip. Pick the one that fits, fill in the brackets, and post, and the guide to writing a job description covers the fundamentals.
What Does a Hydrologist Do?
A hydrologist studies water and how it moves across and through the Earth's crust, and in a hiring context the work centers on sampling, analysis, modeling, and reporting: collecting samples, analyzing surface water and groundwater, building hydrologic and hydraulic models, forecasting floods and droughts, evaluating water-resources projects, and advising engineers and agencies. In federal data the role is its own occupation, hydrologists (SOC 19-2043), separate from the broader geoscientists category.
For the employer writing the posting, two factors define the role: the level (junior, project, or senior) and whether you are hiring a degreed hydrologist or a field technician. The five templates split by those so the document matches the real role.
Hydrologist Duties and Responsibilities
Hydrologist duties cluster into field work and sampling, modeling and analysis, reporting and permitting, and project and compliance. The emphasis shifts by specialty and level, but these areas hold across the role.
A strong posting grounds these in your specifics: your specialty, your project types, your reporting line, and your credential requirements. For a structured way to scope any role before posting, the guide to defining job responsibilities walks through the process.
Hydrologist vs Hydrogeologist vs Technician
These three titles get used loosely, and naming the role precisely keeps your posting accurate and the classification correct.
| Role | Focus | Typical classification |
|---|---|---|
| Hydrologist | Water broadly: surface and groundwater, modeling | Exempt (degreed) |
| Hydrogeologist | Groundwater and aquifers; often a geologist by training | Exempt (degreed) |
| Hydrologic technician | Field data collection, equipment, monitoring | Often non-exempt |
A hydrologist studies water broadly, a hydrogeologist specializes in groundwater (and a P.G. license is often relevant there), and a hydrologic technician supports them with field work and is a distinct, usually non-exempt role. Decide which one you are hiring before you write the posting, since the duties, pay, and classification differ.
Which Template Should You Use?
Pick the template by the level and setting, and by whether you are hiring a hydrologist or a technician. Use this guide to choose.
5 Free Hydrologist Job Description Templates
Download all five as a single Word document or copy individual templates. Each follows the same structure: employer and firm summary, key responsibilities, qualifications, reporting line, FLSA status, and pay, with an EEO statement. Fill in the brackets and post.
Template 1: Standard Hydrologist
The core template for any employer: sampling, surface-water and groundwater analysis, modeling, forecasting, and reporting. Adjust the level as needed.
Template 2: Junior / Staff Hydrologist
For a recent graduate: supports field work, sampling, modeling, and reporting while learning, with a path toward a P.H., P.G., or P.E. track.
Template 3: Senior / Principal Hydrologist
For an experienced hire: leads water-resources projects, owns complex modeling, mentors staff, and manages client work. Credential-level.
Template 4: Environmental / Civil Consulting Firm Hydrologist
For a small consulting firm hiring a hands-on hydrologist for permitting, stormwater, and remediation, with credential and FLSA fields built in.
Template 5: Hydrologic Technician (Non-Exempt)
For a field technician supporting hydrologists: data collection, equipment, and monitoring. A distinct, usually non-exempt role most templates ignore.
Skills and Credentials
A hydrologist role weighs the degree, modeling and field skill, and the credentials matched to the specialty and the work.
| Type | What to look for |
|---|---|
| Education | Bachelor's in hydrology, geology, or physical science; master's often preferred |
| Experience | 0-2 years (junior) to 7+ years (senior or principal) |
| Technical | GIS, HEC-RAS, HEC-HMS, SWMM, MODFLOW, field sampling |
| Credentials | P.H., P.G., P.E., or CFM, matched to the work |
| Skills | Modeling, analysis, technical writing, field judgment |
Set a physical-science degree as the baseline, and the credential requirement to match the work: a P.G. for groundwater roles, a P.E. for engineering roles, a CFM for floodplain work, or the Professional Hydrologist (P.H.) as a broad professional credential. Keep requirements job-related, since the EEOC prohibits job advertisements that show a preference based on protected characteristics.
Is a Hydrologist Exempt?
A degreed hydrologist is usually exempt, but a hydrologic technician may not be, and the distinction is one most templates miss.
Classify the degreed hydrologist as exempt and the technician as non-exempt. The exempt vs non-exempt guide and the Fair Labor Standards Act guide explain the tests. This is general information, not legal advice.
Hydrologist Pay
Pay varies by sector and by whether the role is a hydrologist or a technician, and both matter when you set a band.
Pay varies by sector: consulting and the federal government pay above the median, while engineering services and state government pay closer to the mid-$80,000s and below. For a small environmental or civil consulting firm, the consulting and engineering-services range is the relevant anchor. Pay rises with credentials, experience, specialty, and region.
Hiring a Hydrologist for a Small Firm
Most hydrologists work in government, so the small-business hook is narrow but specific: environmental and civil consulting firms. Here are the three realities that matter most for that posting.
After You Hire: Onboarding a Hydrologist
A hydrologist hire at a small firm carries credential, classification, and field-safety details that are easy to lose track of, so onboarding is both a setup task and a control point. Send a clear offer with the salary and the correct FLSA classification, collect the signed offer, and complete Form I-9 and tax forms as part of the new hire paperwork.
Then handle the role-specific steps: verify any P.H., P.G., P.E., or CFM credential, complete HAZWOPER and field-safety training, set up field equipment and modeling-software access, and assign the first projects. Keep the signed onboarding documents and credential copies in one place, and the offer letter template covers the terms, with the onboarding checklist giving you a repeatable process. If this is among your first hires, the guide to hiring your first employee covers the steps around the posting itself.
FirstHR fits this hire directly: e-signature for the offer letter and credential and field-safety attestations, training modules and acknowledgments for HAZWOPER, equipment, and field protocols, document management to store licenses, certifications, and continuing-education records with renewal reminders, and an HRIS that records each employee's FLSA classification so an exempt hydrologist and a non-exempt technician are kept straight. Because pricing is flat rather than per seat, a small firm that hires in project cycles pays one rate regardless of headcount. FirstHR does not run payroll, administer benefits, or provide legal advice, so pair it with your payroll and compliance resources. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does a hydrologist do?
A hydrologist studies water and how it moves across and through the Earth's crust, and in a hiring context the work centers on sampling, analysis, modeling, and reporting. The core duties are consistent: collecting and measuring water and soil samples, analyzing the distribution and quality of surface water and groundwater, building hydrologic and hydraulic models to forecast floods, droughts, and contamination, evaluating the feasibility and impact of water-resources projects like dams, irrigation, and remediation, preparing technical reports, and advising engineers, agencies, and clients. The specialty shifts the emphasis: a groundwater focus leans toward aquifers and modeling, a surface-water focus toward floods and watersheds, and a floodplain focus toward mapping and management. In federal data, hydrologists are their own occupation (SOC 19-2043), separate from the broader geoscientists category. The templates on this page cover the main versions: standard, junior, senior, a consulting-firm version, and a separate hydrologic-technician template for the non-exempt field role.
What is the difference between a hydrologist and a hydrogeologist?
They overlap heavily, and the difference is one of emphasis rather than a hard line. A hydrologist studies water broadly, including both surface water (rivers, lakes, watersheds, floods, and precipitation) and groundwater, and the work spans modeling, water quality, and water-resources planning. A hydrogeologist focuses specifically on groundwater, the geology of aquifers, well design, and how water moves through subsurface rock and soil, and is often a geologist by training who specializes in water. In practice, many professionals do both, job titles are used loosely across firms, and a single role may be posted as either depending on the employer. For hiring, the practical move is to write the posting around the actual work: if the role is mostly groundwater and aquifers, hydrogeologist may be the better title and a P.G. license may be relevant; if it spans surface and groundwater and water-resources modeling, hydrologist fits. This page uses the hydrologist framing while noting where the groundwater specialty applies.
What is the difference between a hydrologist and a hydrologic technician?
They are two distinct occupations, and the difference matters for both the job description and the pay and classification. A hydrologist is a degreed professional whose primary duty is advanced analysis: modeling, interpreting data, evaluating projects, and preparing technical reports, typically requiring a bachelor's or master's degree in a physical science. A hydrologic technician supports the hydrologist with field-focused work: collecting samples and measurements, installing and maintaining monitoring equipment, recording data, and assisting with basic analysis, and the role generally does not require an advanced degree. The pay reflects the gap: the median for hydrologic technicians is around $58,570 versus about $92,060 for hydrologists. The classification differs too: a degreed hydrologist is usually FLSA-exempt under the learned professional exemption, while a hydrologic technician is often non-exempt and owed overtime. Decide which role you are actually hiring before you write the posting, since the duties, pay, and classification all differ. This page includes a separate template for each.
Is a hydrologist exempt or non-exempt under the FLSA?
A degreed hydrologist is usually exempt, but a hydrologic technician may not be. A hydrologist whose primary duty is advanced water-resources analysis typically qualifies for the FLSA learned professional exemption, because the role requires advanced knowledge in a field of science (hydrology is a physical science) customarily acquired through a prolonged course of specialized intellectual instruction, namely a physical-science degree, and the federal salary threshold is at least $684 per week paid on a salary basis, which most professional hydrologist roles exceed. The caution is the technician: a hydrologic technician or field-data role whose work is more routine and does not require an advanced academic degree as a standard prerequisite generally does not meet the learned professional test, and is therefore non-exempt and owed overtime beyond 40 hours in a week, even if salaried. Most templates ignore this distinction. Classify the degreed hydrologist as exempt and the technician as non-exempt, based on the actual primary duty and education path, not the title. This is general information, not legal advice; confirm borderline cases.
What licenses and certifications should a hydrologist have?
It depends on the work, and unlike some professions there is no single universal license for hydrologists. The main credentials are the Professional Hydrologist (P.H.), offered by the American Institute of Hydrology, the only nationwide organization that certifies professionals across the hydrological sciences; the Professional Geologist (P.G.) license, which is state-specific and relevant for hydrogeology and groundwater work; the Professional Engineer (P.E.) license, earned through the FE and PE exams and relevant for water-resources engineering roles; and the Certified Floodplain Manager (CFM), relevant for floodplain and stormwater work. A bachelor's degree in hydrology, geology, or a physical science is the educational baseline, with a master's often preferred for project leadership. For the posting, set the credential requirement to match the actual work: a P.G. for groundwater-heavy roles, a P.E. for engineering roles, a CFM for floodplain work, and the P.H. as a broad professional credential, or note that no license is required if the role does not need one. Because these credentials renew with continuing education, track expiration dates so they do not lapse.
How much does a hydrologist make?
Hydrologists had a median annual wage of $92,060 in May 2024 in federal data, with the lowest 10 percent under $60,010 and the highest 10 percent over $139,420, and about $44 per hour at the median. Pay varies by sector: scientific and technical consulting and the federal government pay above the median (consulting around $103,990 and federal around $101,730), while engineering services and state government pay closer to the mid-$80,000s and below. For a small environmental or civil-engineering consulting firm, the consulting and engineering-services figures are the relevant anchor. A separate and lower benchmark applies to hydrologic technicians, whose median is around $58,570, reflecting the field-focused, non-degreed nature of that role. Pay also rises with credentials (P.H., P.G., P.E., CFM), experience, specialty, and region. Set your range using current market data for your area, sector, and the credentials and experience you require, and post it, since pay is one of the first things candidates screen on.
Does a small business actually hire hydrologists?
Yes, but narrowly. Hydrologist is a small, government-heavy occupation: most of the roughly 6,300 hydrologists in the country work in federal, state, and local government, which is outside the small-business world, and the occupation is projected to show little or no change in employment over the coming decade. The realistic small-business employer is a small environmental or civil-engineering consulting firm that hires a staff hydrologist for permitting, stormwater and MS4 work, remediation, or water-resources projects, often as the firm's first such hire when it wins water-related contracts. The environmental consulting industry is large and fragmented, with tens of thousands of mostly small firms, so while the absolute number of small-firm hydrologist hires per year is modest, the scenario is real. If you are a small consulting firm making this hire, the consulting-firm template on this page is written for your setting; if you are a government agency, your posting will follow GS-series or state standards rather than a commercial template.
What happens after I hire a hydrologist?
Run a structured onboarding, because a hydrologist hire at a small firm carries credential, classification, and field-safety details that are easy to lose track of. Send the offer with the salary and the correct FLSA classification (exempt for a degreed hydrologist, non-exempt for a hydrologic technician), collect the signed offer, complete Form I-9 within the first days, and gather tax forms. Then handle the role-specific steps: verify any P.H., P.G., P.E., or CFM credential, complete HAZWOPER and field-safety training and acknowledgments for field sites, set up field equipment and modeling-software access, and assign the first projects. Because credentials and HAZWOPER renew on cycles, set up expiration tracking with reminders so nothing lapses. FirstHR handles the offer with built-in e-signature, the onboarding workflow and AI onboarding wizard, training modules and acknowledgments for field safety and equipment, document management to store licenses, certifications, and continuing-education records with renewal reminders, and an HRIS that records the FLSA classification so exempt hydrologists and non-exempt technicians are kept straight. FirstHR does not run payroll or administer benefits, so connect your payroll and benefits providers for those. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.