Director of Facility Engineering

Alex Lee•Winston Salem, NC

About The Position

The primary purpose of this role is to oversee the Facilities of 140+ Lowes Foods and Kj’s Retail stores. Provide technical and professional leadership to a team of in-house and third-party maintenance professionals, fostering a culture of excellence, collaboration, and continuous improvement. Manage working relationships with Store Operations, Merchandising, Finance, Real Estate, and Construction.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree preferably in Engineering, Construction, or Project Management.
10 years’ experience in facilities management, preferably in big-box retail.
Previous experience in developing, implementing, and maintaining service delivery standards that meet critical business needs.
Experience with refrigeration system design, controls, and operation.
Strong analytical skills and the ability to make critical decisions based on a data-supported business case.
Demonstrated ability to apply principles of cost-benefit analysis.
Thorough knowledge of facilities maintenance and how to pro-actively maintain the health of an asset.
Strong vendor/client relationship skills
Financial Management, Project Management, Budgeting, and capital management – with a focus on facilities maintenance and construction
Solid experience with MS Office – including Word, Excel and knowledge of dashboards, data analysis, tracking and reporting.
Well spoken, with excellent verbal and written skills.
Ability to travel independently as required, up to 50%.

Responsibilities

Set clear objectives, performance standards, and KPIs for the maintenance team to ensure the highest level of service delivery, as well as providing rapid response to urgent requests.
Sources and negotiates cost on all store equipment and maintenance parts.
Manages the process with staff to source and negotiate costs on all store equipment to meet operation’s and merchandising needs.
Partner with suppliers and 3 rd party engineers to design grocery refrigeration systems to meet performance requirements, regulatory requirements, quality goals, and cost targets.
Develop and implement energy sustainability programs and initiatives for Retail Stores, including management of rebate programs.
Collaborate with marketing and communications teams to develop messaging and materials to raise awareness of sustainability initiatives.
Establishes best practice standards including developing policies, procedures, and work-flows.
Identify and develop talent to guarantee future performance and area growth.
Ensure that team members assigned to the area are trained in the required technical and behavioral competencies.
Collaborate with key stakeholders in relevant business areas including but not limited to Store Operations, Merchandising, Finance, Asset Protection, Construction, and Real Estate to maintain clean and safe facilities, identify/validate business needs, reduce total cost of ownership, and minimize asset downtime.
This role works to develop annual and strategic plans focused on maintaining clean and safe facilities, extending asset life cycles, reducing asset/equipment downtime, minimizing total cost of ownership, and conducting capital planning to ensure facilities management excellence.
Provide leadership in establishing and refining preventative maintenance programs, efficiency improvement programs, and regulatory compliance programs.
Establish and oversee the process for routine facility assessments for retail stores.
Manage vendor partnerships and services to improve response/resolution times, quality of service, and enterprise expenses.
Analyze equipment history to identify root cause of repetitive failures and effectively address them.
Identify critical inventory levels for all necessary maintenance equipment and select the most effective and efficient suppliers
Supervise and coach direct reports in the performance of their duties; completes performance reviews and provide feedback to direct reports
Comply with environmental, health & safety rules/procedures, regulations, and codes of practice.