Director of Facilities and Engineering

Whitney Museum of American Art•New York, NY

1d•$170,000 - $180,000•Onsite

About The Position

The Director of Facilities and Engineering is a senior strategic, operational, and technical leader responsible for the safe, reliable, efficient, and cost-effective operation of the Museum’s physical facilities, engineering services, and critical building infrastructure. This role provides leadership for facilities operations and engineering teams while ensuring that building systems, maintenance programs, capital strategies, vendor services, and emergency-response capabilities support the Museum’s mission, visitor experience, staff needs, collections stewardship, exhibitions, programs, and long-term institutional resilience. The Director of Facilities and Engineering leads the planning, management, and continuous improvement of building operations, engineering performance, mechanical and electrical infrastructure, life-safety systems, preventive and predictive maintenance, energy management, regulatory compliance, and daily facilities upkeep. The ideal candidate brings deep technical knowledge of complex institutional building systems, strong people leadership, disciplined financial and project-management skills, and the ability to translate engineering data, facility conditions, and operational priorities into sound short- and long-range decisions.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in engineering, Facilities Management, Construction Management, or Business Administration is required. Experience in a related field; equivalent technical experience may be considered.
7–10+ years of progressive experience in facilities management, building operations, engineering, property management, or a related field, including significant leadership responsibility.
Strong technical knowledge of commercial, institutional, industrial, or similarly complex building systems.
Demonstrated experience developing and managing operating and capital budgets.
Proven experience with capital planning, infrastructure renewal, construction, renovation, and major building-system projects.
Experience leading technical teams and managing contractors, consultants, and service providers.
Strong knowledge of preventive maintenance, asset management, building automation, energy management, and facility reliability.
Working knowledge of applicable building, fire/life-safety, environmental, and occupational safety requirements.
Strong analytical, financial, project management, communication, and negotiation skills.

Nice To Haves

Professional Engineering (PE), Certified Facility Manager (CFM), Facilities Management Administrator (FMA), or similar credentials.
Experience with computerized maintenance management systems (CMMS), building management systems (BMS), and facility condition-assessment platforms.
Experience managing large or multi-site facilities portfolios.
Experience with energy-management programs, sustainability initiatives, or building-performance optimization.
Experience with construction procurement, design firms, commissioning, and project delivery methodologies.

Responsibilities

Provide strategic, technical, and day-to-day leadership for the Facilities and Engineering functions, ensuring safe, reliable, responsive, sustainable, and cost-effective operation of the Museum’s buildings, infrastructure, and critical systems across the full facilities portfolio.
Direct engineering operations, including work-order prioritization, preventive and predictive maintenance, equipment troubleshooting, system repairs, shutdown planning, inspections, emergency response, and urgent building conditions, with a focus on reliability, asset life, risk reduction, operational continuity, and service quality.
Lead, supervise, and develop engineering personnel and facilities staff by establishing clear technical standards, service expectations, accountability measures, coverage models, training priorities, and escalation protocols for normal operations, exhibitions, special events, emergencies, and after-hours needs.
Ensure expert oversight of HVAC, mechanical, electrical distribution, plumbing, fire/life-safety, building automation, vertical transportation, security, and other facility infrastructure, including clear documentation of procedures, set points, recurring issues, system dependencies, and maintenance requirements.
Lead root-cause analysis for system failures, recurring deficiencies, comfort or environmental concerns, and equipment reliability issues; implement corrective and preventive actions that reduce downtime, strengthen resilience, improve occupant conditions, and support collection-sensitive environments.
Partner with Curatorial, Exhibitions, Security, Visitor Experience, IT, and other departments to coordinate engineering needs for gallery conditions, public operations, installations, special programs, construction activity, and business continuity.
Oversee engineering-related vendor and contractor work, including service quality, safety practices, scheduling, access coordination, maintenance documentation, warranty follow-up, and compliance with Museum standards.
Use performance data from CMMS, BMS, inspections, utility trends, and staff observations to monitor building conditions, evaluate maintenance effectiveness, identify risks and resource needs, strengthen preventive maintenance completion, and inform capital planning recommendations.
Ensure facilities are maintained in a safe, clean, functional, professional, and mission-ready condition, with engineering services aligned to public-facing operations, staff workplaces, back-of-house needs, exhibitions, events, collections care, and institutional priorities.
Lead, develop, and evaluate facilities, engineering, maintenance, and building operations personnel in alignment with departmental goals, technical standards, service expectations, safety practices, and Museum values.
Establish clear performance expectations, accountability measures, staffing models, and professional development programs.
Build a culture focused on safety, customer service, operational excellence, continuous improvement, and fiscal responsibility.
Coordinate facilities priorities with executive leadership, finance, IT, security, HR, workplace teams, and other internal stakeholders to align building operations with institutional needs.
Develop and maintain a multi-year capital improvement and asset-replacement plan based on facility condition, risk, operational requirements, and organizational priorities.
Identify, scope, prioritize, and justify capital projects, including major renovations, infrastructure upgrades, equipment replacement, energy initiatives, and building-system modernization.
Develop project budgets, schedules, business cases, and return-on-investment analyses.
Lead or oversee capital projects from planning and design through procurement, construction, commissioning, and closeout.
Ensure projects are delivered safely, on budget, on schedule, and in accordance with organizational standards.
Maintain accurate facility asset inventories, condition assessments, lifecycle plans, and capital forecasts.
Develop and manage annual operating and capital budgets for facilities, engineering operations, infrastructure maintenance, service contracts, and building-system investments.
Monitor expenditures, forecast variances, and identify opportunities for cost savings without compromising safety or reliability.
Negotiate and manage service contracts, maintenance agreements, and vendor relationships.
Establish reporting mechanisms for facilities and engineering operating costs, energy consumption, service contracts, project execution, asset reliability, deferred maintenance, and building-system performance to support budget oversight and informed decision-making.
Ensure compliance with applicable building codes, fire and life-safety requirements, environmental regulations, occupational safety requirements, permits, inspections, and other applicable standards.
Maintain effective emergency preparedness, business continuity, and disaster-response procedures.
Coordinate inspections, testing, certifications, and regulatory reporting.
Identify facility-related risks and implement mitigation strategies to protect people, assets, and business operations.
Develop initiatives to improve energy efficiency, building performance, sustainability, and resource utilization.
Analyze utility consumption and identify opportunities for energy conservation and operational optimization.
Support organizational sustainability and carbon-reduction objectives where applicable.