Assistant Facilities Manager

ABM US•St. Louis, MO

16d

About The Position

The Assistant Facilities Manager supports the operation, maintenance, and reliability of critical facility infrastructure, including HVAC, electrical, mechanical, and related support systems. The role helps ensure safe, efficient, uninterrupted building operations, regulatory compliance, and sustainability objectives while working with facility management, contractors, and internal stakeholders. The position supports day-to-day site services, maintenance planning, system monitoring, inspections, documentation, budgets, vendor coordination, and sustainability initiatives. It also has people-leadership responsibilities, including staffing and scheduling, onboarding and training, coaching, performance management, coverage planning, and knowledge transfer. The role owns work-order and service-request governance, monitors service levels and operational performance, maintains audit-ready records, reinforces safety and compliance practices, coordinates incident response, manages vendor performance and assigned commercial controls, and serves as the primary ABM facilities relationship lead for authorized onsite client stakeholders. It coordinates projects, workplace changes, and cross-functional work while ensuring specialized or licensed work is assigned to qualified owners. The position operates in a fast-paced professional account environment and may support multiple locations or functional teams. Occasional travel and schedule flexibility are expected; travel is 10–15%. On-call availability and emergency response may be needed. Physical tasks such as lifting, bending, and climbing may be required for inspections and maintenance.

Requirements

Strong understanding of facility management principles and practices, particularly in critical infrastructure industries.
Experience developing and implementing maintenance strategies and procedures.
Knowledge of relevant regulations, codes, permits, and standards, particularly those related to electrical, mechanical, and HVAC systems.
Strong problem-solving skills and ability to identify potential issues and develop effective solutions.
Excellent organizational, planning, and documentation skills.
Strong communication and interpersonal skills to work effectively with vendors, contractors, internal teams, employees, and senior stakeholders.
Proficiency with facility management software and other relevant tools.
Ability to manage multiple tasks and projects simultaneously, including multiple sites or priorities.
Working knowledge of CMMS/work-order systems, service-level reporting, vendor and budget controls, and standard office productivity tools.
Ability to respond calmly to urgent issues.
High school diploma or equivalent; equivalent technical, military, facilities, or operational leadership experience is considered.
Ability to perform physical tasks such as lifting, bending, and climbing as required for facility inspections and maintenance.
Availability for on-call duties and emergency response as needed.
Occasional travel and schedule flexibility as business demands require; travel is 10–15%.

Nice To Haves

Strategic thinking and ability to pivot and adapt to new approaches.
Leadership and team-building skills, with a focus on mentoring and developing team members.
Critical thinking and data analytics skills to support decision-making and improve operational efficiency.
Commitment to continuous improvement and staying current with industry trends and best practices.
Bachelor’s degree in facility management, engineering, or a related field; desirable but not required.
Five years of experience in facility management, preferably in a critical infrastructure industry.
Experience with critical systems such as HVAC, electrical, and mechanical systems.
Facility management certification, such as Certified Facility Manager (CFM); desirable but not required.
Familiarity with Agile/Scrum or similar collaborative tools.
Ability to obtain relevant certifications within 6–12 months if not already certified.

Responsibilities

Assist in managing day-to-day operations of critical infrastructure facilities to support optimal performance and reliability.
Support development and implementation of maintenance strategies and procedures for safe, efficient facility systems, including routine and emergency maintenance.
Monitor HVAC, electrical, mechanical, and related systems, identify potential issues, and implement corrective actions.
Coordinate vendors and contractors for maintenance and repair work, and oversee service performance, access, safety, quality, schedule, documentation, and follow-up.
Assist with facility operations and maintenance budgets and monitor operating expenses, labor and overtime, vendor spend, purchase requests, invoice support, accruals, and forecast changes within assigned controls.
Maintain accurate facility documentation, including maintenance logs, safety records, procedures, site records, work history, inspections, action logs, and reporting.
Conduct inspections and audits and coordinate permits, training records, audit responses, and corrective actions to support regulatory and safety compliance.
Participate in sustainability initiatives to improve energy efficiency and reduce operating costs.
Collaborate with other departments on facility projects and initiatives.
Plan staffing, scheduling, coverage, onboarding and offboarding, training, and workload for assigned employees and service teams.
Set performance expectations, coach and develop employees, recognize performance, and address performance concerns in accordance with ABM policies and HR guidance.
Support an environment in which employees raise safety, service, workload, and customer concerns and follow issues through.
Identify coverage risks, develop qualified backups, and support succession planning and knowledge transfer.
Govern work orders and service requests, including intake, prioritization, dispatch, ownership, dependencies, service timing, customer updates, evidence, repeat work, and verified closure.
Monitor service levels, aging work, backlog, preventive maintenance, repeat issues, response quality, and customer feedback; identify and correct data gaps.
Use dashboards, action registers, inspections, and service reviews to surface risks, remove barriers, and track corrective actions to completion.
Reinforce safe work practices, stop-work expectations, hazard and incident reporting, required training, contractor controls, and site safety requirements.
Lead facilities coordination during urgent incidents by protecting people, setting priorities, notifying leaders, engaging qualified responders, communicating status, and tracking recovery actions.
Promptly escalate safety or regulatory threats, critical outages, repeated failures, access disruptions, vendor disputes, contract interpretations, spending outside delegated limits, and requests that could change approved scope or commercial commitments.
Identify service and cost improvements without deferring required maintenance, safety, compliance, or customer needs.
Serve as the primary ABM facilities relationship lead for authorized onsite client stakeholders; clarify needs, communicate facts and options, and manage expectations.
Coordinate approved workplace changes, moves, events, inspections, projects, and service transitions, including requirements, ownership, communication, risk controls, readiness checks, and closeout.
Coordinate with Building Engineers, technicians, eMobility, Safety, Security, IT, Procurement, Finance, and qualified trades to plan and complete work safely.
Maintain contacts, escalation paths, decision records, site procedures, coverage plans, and handoff notes to sustain service during absences or transitions.
Help ensure specialized engineering, energized electrical, refrigerant, high-voltage or critical-power, fire-alarm or suppression repair, internal EV-charger repair, engineering design, and other licensed work are assigned to qualified owners.