Director for Space Operations, Strategy & Planning: Tickle College of Engineering - UTK

University of Tennessee, Knoxville; Knoxville (TN); On-site; USD 120,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

The University of Tennessee, Knoxville seeks a Director for Space Operations, Strategy and Planning in the Tickle College of Engineering. The role leads space utilization, renovations, and campus planning to support research and teaching missions.

You will partner with Facilities Services, UT leadership, and external partners, overseeing space inventory and capital projects, guiding multi-million-dollar renovations from design to occupancy, and advising college leadership on strategic decisions.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Architecture, Technical Design, Building/Construction Management, or related fields.
• Minimum eight years of experience in space management, planning, maintenance, or renovation/construction.
• Strong written and oral communication abilities, attention to detail, and collaboration with faculty and administrators.

Responsibilities

• Strategically conceptualizes long-term space needs within college/university plans.
• Oversees renovations from design through occupancy for college/department spaces.
• Collaborates with Facilities Services, Capital Projects, and departments on funding and construction.
• Leads space strategy, analytics, and governance through UTK committees and planning efforts.
• Manages space inventory, timeframes and occupancy to support research and teaching goals.

Skills

Communication skills

Detail oriented

Space planning

Budget management

Stakeholder collaboration

Facilities coordination

Excel

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering/Architecture/Tech Design/Building-Construction

Master’s degree preferred

Tools

Microsoft Office

Job description

Job Description

The Tickle College of Engineering (TCE) is creating the position of Director for Space Operations, Strategy and Planning. The position will report to TCE Associate Dean for Research. The Tickle College of Engineering is distributed in 15 buildings supporting directly 15% of UTK’s undergraduate and graduate enrollment, 14% of the tenure-line faculty, and about 50% of the funded research for UTK.
This position strategically conceptualizes solutions for space allocation planning and operations while overseeing building operations, including optimization of space usage, requests for new space, and managing the college portion of the annual space inventory, along with supervising space renovations from the cost estimate through design and construction to occupancy/move-in. These renovations are complex as they often involve STEM instructional and research laboratories with several million dollars of projects active annually.
At the same time, the position serves as the key point of contact and leadership for the College when resolving building maintenance, repairs, outages and facilities emergencies. The position provides primary analysis for advising the College leadership concerning strategic decisions related to advancing capital projects, renovations and/or decommissioning of spaces to effectively support the missions and strategic goals of the College.
The position also serves as liaison for the College and as a collaborative decision-maker with the Provost’s Office, Office of Research Innovation & Economic Development, Facilities Services, UTK Space Committee, UT System Department of Capital Projects, contractors and architects with respect to all space maintenance, renovations, operations, strategy and planning at the University.
Consequently, this position works across its responsibilities simultaneously with well over 100 positions distributed throughout UTK Academic Affairs and Facilities Services, plus external architectural, engineering and construction partners.

Responsibilities

Space Operations - 55%

• Strategically conceptualizes solutions for the long-term and large-scale space needs, challenges and plans in the context of both the College and University strategic plans while creating example processes, solutions and outcomes that other academic colleges and university units can use, preferably in a collaborative manner.
• Collaborates with college Finance & Administration and departmental business offices to develop and complete the annual Space Survey.
• Manages the planning and completion with colleges, departments, and Facilities Services for renovations of college-controlled and department-allocated spaces, including laboratories, studios, offices, classrooms, instructional labs, and storage areas.
• Manages facilities in conjunction with UT Capital Projects, colleges, departments, and consultants to develop programming, DB-70 funding requests, and detailed design for major renovations and new capital construction projects.
• Determines feasibility and responsibility of funding renovations of college-controlled and department-allocated spaces and makes recommendations to the Assistant Dean of Finance & Administration.
• Leads and manages the involvement of college constituencies during capital project construction.
• Acts as a coordinator/leader between college/department stakeholders, project managers and consultants/contractors for renovations or local construction projects.
• Leads stakeholders in planning for pre- or post-renovation/construction moves, as well as helping with documentation and resolution of problems detected during the project warranty period.
• Assists Facilities Services and departments in scheduling utility or access outages so that critical research and teaching operations experience minimal interruption.
• Leads the college response to damaging events, such as unscheduled power outages, water leaks and storm damage, inspecting damage as appropriate while providing information and leadership to Facilities Services and stakeholders to assist with recovery and return to normal operations.
• Provides guidance to departments to submit insurance claims to Risk Management.
• Coordinates with Facilities Services the response to daily issues regarding building functioning and maintenance.
• Reviews and approves building access and key requests for several key TCE-related buildings including Zeanah, SERF, Perkins, Senter Hall and ERA.

Space Strategy and Planning - 40%

• Researches best practices for space usage and leads efforts, in partnership with stakeholders, to implement these practices.
• Conducts studies about space utilization and provides recommendations for assessing and improving efficiency for the College.
• Receives and manages requests for space from departments, consulting with college administrators and making effective decisions related to approval or denial of these requests.
• Meets with department heads and unit directors, faculty and staff to determine the extent of space needs for both the present and for the next several years, while working to identify opportunities for sharing and synergy with respect to space.
• Develops and implements space-related decisions to serve these needs in the context of the priorities of the Dean and the College’s strategic plan.
• Leads the development of a culture around space that supports space-related decisions to help with achievement of College strategic plans.
• Represents and articulates the space and facilities needs for the College during periodic strategic planning and/or campus master-planning activities by the University.
• Projects future space, infrastructure, and classroom technology needs based on institutional goals and capacity demands for the College.
• Analyzes academic space and infrastructure needs and priorities in the context of college-level and campus-level strategic and master plans.
• Represents the College in meetings of the UTK Space Committee and other appropriate committees such as the UTK Classroom Upgrade Committee or a Campus Master Planning Committee.
• Collaborates with the Provost’s Office, Office of Research Innovation & Economic Development, and Facilities Services to conceptualize, design and realize campus plans for creating, renovating and maintaining the infrastructure and buildings to achieve UTK research goals.

Other Duties - 5%

• Coordinates equipment and materials storage for both colleges, including annual space reviews to eliminate unneeded items to improve space usage.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications

• Education: Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Architecture, Technical Design, Building/Construction Management, or related fields.
• Experience: Minimum of eight years of experience in one or more aspects of space management, space planning, building maintenance, or renovation and construction management.
• Knowledge, Skills, Abilities:
  • Strong written and oral communication skills.
  • Detail oriented.
  • Ability to understand building/room types and uses, space management procedures, and priorities in higher education possibly based on experience in other settings.
  • Ability to work effectively with faculty, departmental administrators, and college leadership.
  • Ability to work effectively with Facilities Services personnel from unit leaders to white-collar managers to field-deployed superintendents and foremen plus their supervisees so as to be able to represent and resolve space operations, renovation, construction and planning needs effectively.
  • Ability to advise, report and/or manage renovation and construction timetables and budgets.
  • Ability to resolve renovation/repair/construction conflicts involving all stakeholders.
  • Strong budget management skills.
  • Strong skills with Microsoft Office suite, especially Excel.

Applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis without need now or in the future for sponsorship for employment-based visa status.

Preferred Qualifications

• Education: Master’s degree in Engineering, Architecture, Technical Design, Building/Construction Management, or related fields.
• Experience:
  • Greater than ten years of experience in the above-mentioned roles.
  • At least four years of experience at a higher education institution.
  • Experience with strategic planning related to space and facilities problems, including experience in a leadership role.
  • Experience dealing with university or college administrators.
• Knowledge, Skills, Abilities:
  • Ability to focus on serving faculty/departments/college in a collaborative manner
  • Peacemaking skills
  • Ability to be self-motivated
  • High level of confidence
  • Very strong skills with graphics packages, presentation software, and web-based applications related to space and facilities

Work Location

• Location: Knoxville
• Onsite

Compensation And Benefits

• UT market range: MR15
• Anticipated hiring range: $120,000 - $130,000 depending on qualifications
• Find more information on the UT Market Range structure here
• Find more information on UT Benefits here

About Us

The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, has shaped leaders, changemakers, and innovative thinkers since its founding in 1794. The university is home to more than 38,000 students and 10,000 statewide employees—the Volunteers—who uphold the university’s tradition of lighting the way for others through leadership and service.
UT Knoxville offers over 900 programs of study across 14 degree-granting colleges and schools. As Tennessee’s flagship land‑grant university, its footprint spans the entire state. The university holds the highest Carnegie classification for research activity and has deep partnerships with industry leaders and the US Department of Energy’s largest multidisciplinary laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
The Knoxville campus serves and recruits for UT Knoxville, including the Institute of Agriculture and the Space Institute, as well as the UT Institute of Public Service.
UT Knoxville considers its employees its number one asset. With values that focus on work-life balance, compensation, and innovation leadership, all Vols are supported to advance professionally. Employees have access to career development and coaching, continued education, and an extensive list of development and training possibilities. The Volunteer employee experience implements structures and practices to attract and retain top-tier talent, fostering a strong staff community and supporting a strong staff culture and engagement for everyone.
The university holds a strong commitment to its land‑grant mission of learning and engagement, with a tradition of service and leadership that carries that Volunteer spirit throughout the state and across the world. It has been ranked nationally as “Best Employer for New Graduates,” “One of America’s Best Large Employers,” and “Best Workplace for Women,” and has been designated as “Best Place for Working Parents” by Forbes Magazine.