Chief Mechanical Engineer

Professional Alternatives; Washington (District of Columbia); On-site; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Professional Alternatives in Washington, DC is seeking a seasoned Senior Engineer/Property Manager for a Direct Hire role focused on engineering leadership across a multi-tenant portfolio. This role requires coordinating maintenance, safety, and capital planning while aligning with owner-driven initiatives.

You will guide maintenance, manage vendors, ensure GSA/lease compliance, and drive cost efficiency and sustainable building operations across a diverse set of properties.

Qualifications

• High school diploma or GED required.
• 15+ years in property mechanical repair in office buildings.
• 10+ years supervisory experience as senior engineer or equivalent.
• DC-specific engineering license and EPA Section 608 preferred.

Responsibilities

• Lead engineering staff across multiple properties; hire, train, and evaluate performance.
• Provide high-level technical leadership and problem solving.
• Coordinate with owner acquisitions and cost-reduction initiatives.
• Maintain compliance with GSA lease requirements and safety standards.
• Oversee vendor contracts and ensure proper maintenance of building systems.
• Support leasing and maintain strong safety programs across properties.

Skills

Employee Management

Technical Leadership

Vendor Management

GSA Compliance

Sustainability

Education

High School Diploma / GED

Job description

Direct Hire; competitive salary plus bonus

Washington, DC

• Employee Management: Provide leadership, direction, and support to Management staff to facilitate the effective management of assigned properties. Manage engineering staff resources to include: hiring, training and development, and conducting and/or monitoring performance and evaluation process. Set direction for team goals. Ensure consistent level of engineering support across properties and monitor staffing levels. Ensure the engineering culture fosters a positive team partnership with management, development and leasing.
• Technical Leadership: Provide high level technical leadership and support to engineering staff. Champion learning and problem solving to achieve technical excellence.
• Corporate Initiatives: Assist ownership by participating in acquisition due diligence. Provide leadership for continuous improvement initiatives and other productivity or expense reduction initiatives, as they occur. Provide leadership and management for the successful bidding and completion of extraordinary expense projects, using consolidated bidding, or other cost reduction initiatives, where possible.
• Multi-Ownership Coordination: Serve as the primary engineering point of contact across the portfolio’s institutional ownership groups. Maintain consistent engineering standards, reporting, and communication despite differing ownership requirements and reporting preferences across properties.
• Property Performance – Financial: Responsible for participation in the management of the property’s financial goals and projections. This includes development, implementation and monitoring of repairs and maintenance, utilities, extraordinary expenses and capital budgets. Additionally, responsible for long‑term maintenance and capital expenditure planning.
• Preventative Maintenance: Ensure that the work order system is used for continuous improvement measures, to strategically schedule and deploy workforce, decrease cost, and maintain buildings efficiently and effectively. Utilize proper execution of preventative maintenance systems to control and reduce capital. Set portfolio completion targets. Collaborate with property management to ensure that resource sharing is maximized across the properties.
• Customer Maintenance Issues: Collaborate with property management team to promptly address customer relation issues. Use work order system tenant request data to minimize the overall number of tenant request work orders and recurring work orders.
• Support Leasing: Actively support leasing efforts by assisting leasing and management teams as needed.
• Safety: Ensure overall safety of tenants as well as awareness and compliance with safety and environmental code and regulations. Maintain life safety and emergency procedures and programs per local codes; ensure compliance with local, federal, and state building, safety and environmental policies.
• Vendor Management: Collaborate with property management staff in optimization of vendor contracts for engineering services in compliance with purchasing guidelines. Oversee outside contractors to ensure building systems are properly maintained and utilized.
• Sustainability Program: Use systemic measures to promote energy awareness and conservation at properties. Champion consolidated energy conservation programs to achieve maximum results from tenants and staff. Drive the use of building systems to maximize the available technology, systems and programs to efficiently and effectively run buildings. Support the negotiation of energy contracts.
• GSA & Federal Tenant Compliance: Maintain full compliance with GSA lease requirements affecting building systems and operations, including Occupant Emergency Plan (OEP) coordination, applicable system testing and maintenance, indoor air quality standards, and life-safety system performance. Serve as the portfolio’s technical liaison to GSA’s Building Manager, Facility Security Committee (FSC), and other federal tenant representatives on engineering matters; elevate lease interpretation or compliance questions to the Director of Property Management rather than responding independently. Ensure engineering staff and contractors with routine access to government‑leased space complete required identity verification and background investigation processes in accordance with government tenant requirements.
• Perform additional duties as assigned by Supervisor.

Qualifications:

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty of the job satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skills and/or abilities required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential duties of the job.

• Education and Experience: High school diploma or general education degree (GED).
• 15 plus years related experience and/or training or equivalent combination of education and experience in property mechanical repair in office buildings.
• 10 plus years of supervisory experience as senior engineer or equivalent position in facilities operation. This includes strong employee relation skills, coaching skills and training skills and proven ability to lead by example.
• Certification/licensing based on local, state and federal requirements or as Supervisor assignment.
• Prior experience in a large, multi‑tenant commercial office portfolio; experience with GSA or other federal government tenants preferred given the portfolio's tenant mix. DC‑specific engineering license (e.g., Third Class Stationary Engineer or higher) and universal EPA Section 608 CFC certification preferred.
• Positions with routine, unaccompanied access to government‑leased space require completion of applicable identity verification and background investigation processes, and continued employment is contingent on obtaining and maintaining the required suitability determination.