Senior Associate Vice President for UW Facilities

University of Washington•Seattle, WA

1d•$360,000 - $375,000•Onsite

About The Position

The University of Washington seeks a Senior Associate Vice President for UW Facilities to provide strategic and operational leadership for the University’s facilities organization. Reporting to the President, this senior leader is responsible for the reliable operation, maintenance, renewal, and improvement of the University’s physical environment, including the people, services, infrastructure, and capital delivery that support its academic, research, clinical, and public service missions. The role leads core facilities functions such as building operations and maintenance, utilities and infrastructure, custodial and grounds services, transportation, and capital project planning and delivery. The Senior Associate Vice President develops responsive services and actionable plans with campus partners, stewards complex financial resources, and advances strategies to fund infrastructure renewal and institutional priorities. The leader works closely with Finance, Planning & Budgeting (FPB) on capital and portfolio planning, contributing expertise in asset condition, infrastructure needs, feasibility, lifecycle implications, cost, schedule, and delivery risk to support recommendations to the President and Provost. The position will strengthen core operations, improve service, simplify processes, use data and resources strategically, and build a culture of accountability and continuous improvement. The portfolio may evolve over time to support institutional priorities. The position is regular, full-time (100% FTE), and first shift. It is based in an office and campus environment, with regular presence across University facilities and project sites and occasional travel to UW Bothell, UW Tacoma, UW Medicine locations, and other University sites. The incumbent may need to respond to significant facility incidents or operational emergencies outside normal business hours. The annual pay range is $360,000 to $375,000. The University provides benefits; details are available through its benefits website. The search is being assisted by WittKieffer and remains open until an appointment is made.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in engineering, architecture, facilities management, construction management, planning, business, public administration, or a related field, or equivalent experience.
At least 10 years of progressively responsible leadership experience in facilities operations, capital development, infrastructure, construction, or a related field within a large and complex organization.
Senior leadership experience spanning both day-to-day facilities operations and capital project or asset renewal delivery.
Significant experience leading large multidisciplinary organizations and senior leadership teams.
Demonstrated experience managing complex operating and capital budgets.
Experience overseeing major physical assets, infrastructure, building operations, construction, or capital programs.
Ability to translate strategy into operational priorities, service expectations, performance measures, and measurable results.
Experience leading significant organizational or operational change while maintaining service continuity.
Ability to work effectively across organizational boundaries where responsibility and authority are distributed.
Strong communication skills and experience advising senior executives on complex operational, financial, capital, and strategic issues.
Experience developing productive relationships with employees, customers, institutional leaders, and other stakeholders.
Demonstrated commitment to responsible stewardship of organizational, financial, and physical resources.

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree in engineering, architecture, planning, facilities management, construction management, business, public administration, or a related field.
Senior facilities leadership experience within a research university, academic medical center, government organization, or comparably complex institution.
Experience overseeing a heterogeneous physical environment, including research, instructional, and highly specialized facilities.
Experience in a unionized environment.
Experience implementing enterprise asset-management, work-management, or other data-driven operational management systems.
Demonstrated leadership in sustainability, energy management, resilience, or carbon-reduction initiatives.
Experience improving customer service and operational performance within a large internal-service organization.
Experience presenting major facilities, infrastructure, or capital matters to a governing board.

Responsibilities

Lead reliable, safe, efficient, customer-focused delivery of facilities services, including building operations and maintenance, utilities and infrastructure, custodial and grounds services, transportation, and other assigned functions.
Establish service expectations, operating standards, and performance measures for a large, distributed service organization.
Maintain 24/7 operational readiness and ensure effective responses to facilities incidents, infrastructure failures, and other events threatening continuity of University operations.
Use data to understand service demand, cost, asset condition, productivity, service quality, and customer experience; prioritize work when resources are limited.
Simplify processes, reduce duplication, improve workflows, and embed continuous improvement in operations and leadership practice.
Translate University priorities into Facilities operating plans, renewal strategies, implementation approaches, and resource requirements; advise the President and senior leaders on facilities condition, infrastructure risk, operational priorities, service performance, and major investments.
Partner with FPB and institutional leaders on capital and portfolio planning, contributing Facilities expertise on asset condition, infrastructure need, feasibility, lifecycle implications, cost, schedule, and delivery risk.
Ensure Facilities plans and operations support academic, research, clinical, and administrative priorities, and build partnerships with UW Bothell, UW Tacoma, UW Medicine, and other institutional partners.
Provide executive leadership to translate capital priorities into executable programs and projects; lead planning, design, construction, and delivery of capital projects and major renovations within the Facilities portfolio.
Manage projects with disciplined attention to scope, budget, schedule, design quality, sustainability, stakeholder engagement, and risk. Establish milestones, decision timelines, and escalation paths; remove unnecessary handoffs and delays; and hold leaders accountable for delivery commitments.
Integrate capital delivery with maintenance, renewal, and operations to improve the long-term performance and reliability of University assets; report on project execution, delivery risk, and major capital work to University leadership and the Board of Regents as appropriate.
Steward Facilities operating, capital, self-sustaining, and recharge resources through an integrated multiyear financial strategy; explain cost drivers, funding restrictions, financial risks, and the consequences of underinvestment to institutional leaders.
Develop investment cases linking facilities needs to academic, research, clinical, and service outcomes; evaluate creative funding, financing, partnership, and service-delivery approaches with attention to affordability, lifecycle cost, and risk.
Strengthen financial planning, forecasting, transparency, and accountability, including consideration of public-private partnerships; align Facilities financial practices with University budgeting, capital planning, and administrative structures.
Advance sustainable service delivery and resource allocation without compromising critical infrastructure, safety, or the institutional mission.
Lead and develop the Facilities senior leadership team, establish organizational accountability, and foster a culture of service, respect, collaboration, accountability, and operational discipline.
Partner with UWHR as Facilities transitions from its own HR infrastructure to the University’s integrated HR model; develop leadership capability and succession pipelines, especially for the specialized technical workforce; and build productive relationships with labor partners in collaboration with UWHR.
Engage proactively with campus leaders, develop shared priorities and clear commitments for services and projects, resolve concerns across organizational boundaries, and ensure timely answers and consistent follow-through.
Use structured campus feedback to improve services and evaluate leadership performance; represent UW Facilities in University governance and institutional capital and portfolio discussions.
Maintain partnerships with FPB and enterprise functions, including Human Resources, Information Technology, Environmental Health & Safety, UW Medicine, research administration, emergency preparedness, and sustainability; resolve cross-organizational issues.
Communicate facilities services, priorities, tradeoffs, performance, and risk to University leaders and stakeholders, and represent Facilities before the Board of Regents and external agencies when appropriate.