Chief Operating Engineer

University of Ottawa; Ottawa; On-site; CAD 112,000 - 141,000; Full time

Job summary

An established industry player is seeking a Chief Power Engineer to lead a dedicated team in managing the university's Power Plant. This pivotal role involves overseeing complex operations, ensuring compliance with safety regulations, and fostering a culture of innovation and efficiency. The ideal candidate will possess a 1st Class Operating Engineer license and extensive experience in a dynamic environment. Join a forward-thinking institution committed to sustainability and excellence in research infrastructure, where your leadership will significantly impact the campus community and its operations.

Qualifications

• Hold a valid 1st Class Operating Engineer license in Ontario.
• Minimum of 10 years’ experience in a complex operations environment.

Responsibilities

• Operate and maintain complex chiller and boiler plants safely.
• Ensure compliance with legislation and regulations for assets.

Skills

Leadership

Analytical Skills

Communication Skills

Bilingualism (French and English)

Problem Solving

Education

1st Class Operating Engineer License

10+ years of experience in operations

Tools

Windows

Financial Systems

Spreadsheets

Databases

Job description

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Job Type:

Employee

Duration in Months(for fixed-term jobs):

N/A

Job Family:

Maintenance and Operations

# of Open Positions:

1

Faculty/Service - Department:

Facilities Maintenance and Operations

Campus:

Main Campus

Union Affiliation:

N/A

Date Posted:

March 21, 2025

Applications must be received BEFORE:

Hours per week:

35

Salary Grade:

Non-Union Grade NM2

Salary Range:

$112,957.00 - $140,190.00About the service:

Facilities services are characterized by a dynamic and creative growing team where the winds of change are blowing, offering people like you opportunities to use your leadership and innovation skills to contribute to the achievement of their inspiring mission: to deliver best in class research infrastructure, reshape campus life and student experience, and provide a sustainable environment for students, researchers, teachers and community.

uOttawa’s facilities encompass three main sites that are comprised of over 600,000 square meters of building space (over 6.4 million square feet), 42.5 hectares of grounds, 125 buildings and 4,500 beds in 11 residences. There are over 150 employees in Facilities, including Project Managers, Energy and Commissioning Specialists, Mechanical and Electrical Engineers, Architects, and space Planners. The facilities capital and operating expenditures are in the range of $100M for the University’s $2.0 billion assets under management. The 20-year Capital spending plan envisions $4.0 billion of new investment highlighted by uOttawa launch of project Top Shelf, a $300 million capital investment to build a new facility for the Faculty of Health Sciences at uOttawa’s River Campus, as well as a tower at the Roger Guidon campus to house uOttawa’s new Advanced Medical Research Center (AMRC).

Position purpose:

We are actively recruiting for the position of Chief Power Engineer at the University of Ottawa, a critical role as we prepare for the retirement of the current incumbent, who has provided exceptional leadership for over 23 years.

The position will remain posted until the role is filled.

This key leadership role offers a unique opportunity for an experienced leader to step into a critical position, managing a team of 2nd and 3rd Class Shift Engineers and overseeing complex operations to ensure the ongoing excellence of uOttawa’s Power Plant. The Chief Power Engineer, is responsible for extending and optimizing the lifespan of current assets by tactically issuing the goals and objectives required to manage the Central Power Plant, satellite plant and associated distribution system infrastructure that is critical to business continuity at the University.

This seasoned professional will also act as a strategic agent-of-change; they will create structures and processes to proactively and safely measure and manage assets in order to enable continuous improvement and increase efficiencies aligned with associated resources at the University.
TSSA, Ontario Regulation 219/01 states that in order to register a high-pressure steam power plant with energy producing capacity in excess of 11,770 Kilowatts, a first class licensed operating engineer must be in charge.

In this role, you will:

• Operates and maintains in a safe condition: complex chiller and boiler plants, high pressure steam lines, as well as heating and cooling systems and related campus equipment, centrifugal chillers, ice-making equipment and hot water boilers throughout campus.
• Responsible for ensuring compliance with applicable legislation, regulations, codes and standards for the assets under their responsibility.
• Provides qualitative and quantitative recommendations and data to assist the senior director in determining changes and improvements to the various assets and how to allocate the departmental budget for operational expenditures within approved budget constraints.
• Provides innovative and strategic leadership and expertise in planning, executing, monitoring and evaluating major and minor projects involving the infrastructure for which they are responsible. Participates in project commissioning and onboarding to ensure a seamless transition between construction and on-going operation.
• Uses balanced key performance indicators to evaluate and manage the performance of internal and external tradespeople. Ensures that system data is accurate to allow for on-going analytics and auditing. Ensures that the methods used are entirely transparent.
• Maintains a healthy and productive work environment. Recruits, trains, leads, mobilizes and evaluates operating engineers and operating assistants under their responsibility in a union environment. Plays a key role within management by promoting health and safety and performance values to foster a culture of safety and performance that supports operational and strategic decision-making.
• Collaborates with key internal groups, such as Asset Management, Construction and Business Management, on different initiatives, such as sustainability efforts to increase energy efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
• Monitors and manages all risks and issues, and takes appropriate action to mitigate and resolve them. Plans, directs and co-ordinates activities in the event of emergencies, service interruptions or breakdowns. Applies, tests and maintains the Business Continuity Plan to ensure the continuity of critical University operations.
• Administers contracts and contract agreements associated with third-party contractors, oversees the work of service contractors, prepares and obtains tenders for services and/or renovation projects for the department and recommends changes to future agreements to the senior director as part of related procurement and contract development processes.
• Develops and implements policies, systems and procedures to systematically handle emergencies, and to ensure the operation and maintenance of all equipment and infrastructure under their responsibility, to meet established standards and defined service levels.

What you will bring:

• Hold an Operating Engineer license 1st class valid in Ontario.
• Minimum of 10 years’ experience in operations that are directly related and in a complex and diverse environment.
• Extensive knowledge of engineering systems and sound operational and maintenance practices.
• Proven flexibility with the ability to lead in a changing and complex environment.
• Strong knowledge of the Operating Engineers Act and of Ontario health and safety legislation and regulations as amended.
• Ability to encourage innovation in others through strong communication, relationship-building and listening skills.
• Strong business acumen and advanced analytical skills. Knowledge and experience in using computer systems and software, such as Windows, financial systems, spreadsheets, databases, the internet and email.
• Experience in managing and supervising employees in a multi-union environment.
• Experience in managing operating budgets.
• Effective written and verbal communication skills.
• Bilingualism – French and English (spoken and written) is a strong asset.

Key Competencies at uOttawa:
Here are the required competencies for all or our employees at uOttawa:

Planning: Organize in time a series of actions or events in order to realize an objective or a project. Plan and organize own work and priorities in regular daily activities.
Initiative: Demonstrate creativity and initiative to suggest improvements and encourage positive results. Is proactive and self-starting. Show availability and willingness to go above and beyond whenever it is possible.
Client Service Orientation: Help or serve others to meet their needs. This implies anticipating and identifying the needs of internal and external clients and finding solutions on how to meet them.
Teamwork and Cooperation: Cooperate and work well with other members of the team to reach common goal(s). Accept and give constructive feedback. Able to adjust own behaviour to reach the goals of the team.

The University of Ottawa embraces diversity and inclusion in the workplace. We are passionate about our people and committed to employment equity. We foster a culture of respect, teamwork and inclusion, where collaboration, innovation, and creativity fuel our quest for research and teaching excellence. While all qualified persons are invited to apply, we welcome applications from qualified Indigenous persons, racialized persons, persons with disabilities, women and LGBTQIA2S+ persons. The University is committed to creating and maintaining an accessible, barrier-free work environment. The University is also committed to working with applicants with disabilities requesting accommodation during the recruitment, assessment and selection processes. Applicants with disabilities may contact [e-mail] to communicate the accommodation need. All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however, Canadians and permanent residents will be given priority.

Note: if this is a union position: The hiring process will be governed by the current collective agreement related to the union affiliation noted above; you can click here to find out more.

If this is a front-line position with responsibilities to interact with students, selected candidates must be rated at the Low Advanced proficiency level or higher for both oral comprehension and reading comprehension in their second official language. The rating is determined by a proficiency test designed by the Official Languages and Bilingualism Institute.

Prior to May 1, 2022, the University required all students, faculty, staff, and visitors (including contractors) to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 as defined in Policy 129 – Covid-19 Vaccination. This policy was suspended effective May 1, 2022 but may be reinstated at any point in the future depending on public health guidelines and the recommendations of experts.