Portfolio Engineer

Healthpeak Properties, Inc.; Northern (KY); Hybrid; USD 220,000 - 250,000; Full time

Job summary

Healthpeak Properties, Inc. seeks a Director - Portfolio Engineer to lead engineering for life science, office, and medical office properties. This role develops standards, provides strategic oversight, and guides on-site teams and third-party providers across a multi-asset portfolio.

This leadership position emphasizes operational reliability, regulatory compliance, capital planning, and tenant service, with hands-on work limited to critical situations requiring escalation and rapid response.

Qualifications

• 15+ years in commercial property engineering, facilities engineering, or building operations.
• At least 5 years leading multi-site operations or managing third-party engineering providers.
• Strong knowledge of HVAC central plants, lab HVAC, BAS/BMS, electrical distribution, life safety, water treatment.
• Regulatory knowledge: OSHA, NFPA, ASHRAE, local codes and environmental requirements.
• Proficiency with CMMS and energy analytics/reporting tools.
• Ability to travel locally within the portfolio market.

Responsibilities

• Provide engineering leadership and oversight for a portfolio of assets, including third-party providers.
• Establish and enforce engineering standards, policies, and performance expectations.
• Conduct inspections, audits, and operational reviews to ensure reliability and compliance.
• Develop training, succession planning, and professional development for engineering staff.
• Collaborate with Property Management and other teams on portfolio-wide initiatives.
• Review tenant improvements, capital projects, and construction plans for compliance with standards.

Skills

HVAC systems

BAS/BMS

CMMS

Energy analytics

Leadership

Tools

CMMS

BAS/BMS

Excel

Microsoft 365

SharePoint

Job description

Company Overview

Healthpeak Properties is a fully integrated real estate investment trust (REIT) and an S&P 500 company. We specialize in owning, operating, and developing high-quality real estate focused on healthcare discovery and delivery. Our impressive portfolio includes nearly 50 million square feet of medical outpatient buildings, lab and life science facilities and Senior Assisted Living centers throughout the country.

Position Overview

The Director - Portfolio Engineer provides senior building engineering leadership for a portfolio of life science, office and medical office properties. This role establishes and advances Healthpeak engineering standards while providing strategic oversight, quality assurance, and technical guidance to third-party engineering providers and site engineering teams.

Working closely with Property Management/Operations, Capital Asset Management, Construction, and Leasing, this position supports system reliability, regulatory compliance, operational readiness, capital planning, energy performance, risk mitigation, and exceptional tenant service. The Portfolio Engineer also reviews tenant improvement, capital, infrastructure, and other construction plans from an engineering and building operations perspective.

This is primarily a leadership, oversight, and strategic planning role. The Portfolio Engineer is expected to possess deep technical expertise and be willing to roll up their sleeves during critical situations, complex operational challenges, staffing shortages, or major system failures; however, routine hands-on execution is not generally required. Day-to-day building system operation remains with on-site engineering teams, third-party service providers, specialty contractors, and project teams.

Portfolio Leadership & Third-Party Oversight

• Serve as the primary Healthpeak contact and strategic partner for third-party engineering service providers.
• Establish engineering standards, policies, procedures, and performance expectations that promote consistency, safety, operational excellence, and tenant-first service.
• Provide strategic direction, performance oversight, coaching, and accountability expectations for engineering teams across multiple assets in partnership with third-party engineering leadership.
• Conduct property inspections, engineering audits, and operational reviews to assess building conditions, preventive maintenance execution, documentation, and compliance with Healthpeak standards.
• Support recruitment, onboarding, training, succession planning, and professional development for engineering personnel.
• Collaborate with Regional Property Manager to assess and implement portfolio-wide engineering and operational initiatives.
• Ensure consistency in engineering practices, communication, documentation, and service delivery across all assigned assets.
• Develop and maintain relevant training programs for Building Engineers and Property Management teams.

Building Systems & Critical Environments

• Provide technical leadership and strategic oversight for mechanical, electrical, plumbing, BAS/BMS, life safety, laboratory infrastructure, specialty process, water treatment, and related building systems.
• Ensure Chief Engineers effectively use BAS/BMS platforms, trend analysis, alarms, scheduling, and sequences of operation to support reliability, occupant comfort, indoor environmental quality, and energy performance.
• Provide oversight and escalation support for complex troubleshooting, recurring system issues, major incidents, and critical system failures.
• Support high-performance laboratory and specialized research environments requiring precise temperature, humidity, airflow, pressurization, and infrastructure reliability.
• Partner with tenants and Environmental Health & Safety teams on inspections, audits, compliance initiatives, and operational coordination.

Operations, Compliance & Reliability

• Provide oversight to ensure engineering teams complete and document rounds, inspections, work orders, preventive maintenance, and required regulatory testing.
• Establish expectations and oversight processes for monitoring key operating parameters and responding to system abnormalities.
• Provide leadership and oversight for compliance with Healthpeak standards and applicable OSHA, NFPA, ASHRAE, environmental, and local code requirements.
• Provide oversight of inspection calendars, water treatment, laboratory waste systems, life safety programs, and corrective action plans.
• Promote preventive, predictive, and reliability-centered maintenance practices, including appropriate critical spare parts inventories.
• Support emergency preparedness and serve as a senior escalation resource during critical incidents, severe weather, and major operational events.

Capital Planning, Construction & Project Support

• Partner with the CAM and Property Management teams to develop multi-year capital plans, equipment replacement strategies, controls upgrades, infrastructure modernization, energy projects, and laboratory improvements, providing equipment condition assessments and prioritized recommendations that maintain the long-term integrity of each building.
• Support project scopes, budgets, lifecycle analyses, return-on-investment evaluations, commissioning, recommissioning, and operational readiness planning.
• Review and advise on tenant improvement, capital, infrastructure, and other construction plans for compliance with Healthpeak engineering standards, operational requirements, maintainability, life safety, system capacity, and long-term asset strategies.
• Provide building engineering review of mechanical, electrical, plumbing, controls, life safety, laboratory infrastructure, and building systems design.
• Review and advise on major shutdowns, tie-in, commissioning, turnover, and operational readiness plans, ensuring appropriate risk mitigation.
• Identify project-related operational risks and recommend mitigation strategies to minimize disruption to tenants, building operations, and critical infrastructure.
• Collaborate with Property Management, Leasing, Capital Asset Management, Construction Management, consultants, design professionals, and project teams through planning, design, construction, turnover, and transition to ongoing operations.
• Ensure as-built drawings, sequences of operation, equipment manuals, training materials, and turnover documentation are complete and incorporated into building records.

Energy, Financial & Vendor Management

• Promote building system optimization that balances occupant comfort, mission-critical requirements, reliability, and energy efficiency.
• Oversee energy benchmarking, reporting, regulatory compliance.
• Provide support for certifications including ENERGY STAR, LEED, Fitwel, and WELL.
• Support operating budget development, utility forecasting, repair and maintenance planning, and capital budgeting.
• Provide technical review of significant engineering proposals, contracts, service agreements, and invoices.
• Oversee engineering and specialty service vendor performance and support RFP development, contractor selection, and vendor negotiations.
• Maintain strong relationships with utility providers, consultants, contractors, and strategic partners to help ensure high-quality service and responsiveness.

Leasing & Stakeholder Support

• Participate in prospective tenant tours and respond to technical due diligence and infrastructure questions.
• Support lease negotiation and tenant planning by evaluating building capacity, infrastructure requirements, operational impacts, and prospective tenant improvements.
• Communicate effectively with internal stakeholders, engineering partners, vendors, and tenants regarding operational priorities, risks, and opportunities.

Position Requirements

Qualifications

• Experience: 15+ years in commercial property engineering, facilities engineering, or building operations, including significant experience with life science, medical office, biotechnology, laboratory, pharmaceutical, or other critical environments; at least 5 years leading multi-site operations, large complex properties, or third-party engineering providers.
• Technical: Strong knowledge of HVAC central plants, laboratory HVAC, BAS/BMS, electrical distribution, emergency power, life safety, water treatment, laboratory infrastructure, asset reliability, and CMMS workflows.
• Regulatory: Strong understanding of OSHA, NFPA, ASHRAE standards, local codes, environmental regulations, and life science operational requirements.
• Software: Proficiency with CMMS and BAS/BMS platforms, Microsoft 365, Excel, Teams, SharePoint, and energy analytics and reporting tools.
• Travel: Ability to travel locally throughout the assigned portfolio market.

• Offering $220 - $250k salary plus generous cash incentives

Preferred Certifications

CFC/EPA 608 Universal; Wastewater Operator License; Certified Energy Manager (CEM); SMA or SMT; LEED AP; manufacturer training related to chillers, boilers, BAS, or controls; and laboratory safety or related technical training.

Core Competencies

Engineering leadership and technical expertise, strategic thinking and portfolio management; operational excellence and quality assurance; people leadership and coaching; capital planning and asset stewardship; safety, compliance, and risk management; vendor accountability; financial acumen; communication and stakeholder engagement; technical troubleshooting; and tenant service, ability to support complex, high-demand, and mission-critical environments.