Hotel Chief Engineer

Chief Engineer

Location: Panama City Beach, FL
Property: By the Sea Resorts
Position Type: Full-Time
Reports To: General Manager
Position Overview

By the Sea Resorts is seeking a hands-on, resourceful Chief Engineer to lead the engineering and maintenance operation of our beachfront property through an important period of stabilization, improvement, and renovation.

This is not a traditional Chief Engineer role at a fully stabilized hotel. Our property has deferred maintenance and infrastructure needs that require a leader who is comfortable rolling up their sleeves, prioritizing competing needs, solving problems creatively, and building stronger systems while keeping the hotel operating successfully .

The property will also be undergoing a renovation, making this an excellent opportunity for an experienced hotel engineer who enjoys transforming properties and wants to have a meaningful impact on the condition, reliability, and long-term performance of a hotel.

The Chief Engineer will oversee day-to-day maintenance while helping property leadership identify capital priorities, manage vendors and contractors, support renovation activities, and establish a disciplined preventative maintenance program.
Key Responsibilities
Property Maintenance & Engineering

• Lead the daily engineering and maintenance operation for the hotel, including guestrooms, public areas, back-of-house spaces, grounds, and building systems.
• Personally diagnose and address maintenance issues while effectively directing engineering team members and outside vendors.
• Maintain and troubleshoot HVAC, electrical, plumbing, mechanical, life-safety, pool, kitchen, laundry, and other property systems.
• Respond quickly to guest-impacting maintenance issues and work closely with hotel operations to minimize disruption.
• Conduct regular property inspections and proactively identify deficiencies before they become larger or more expensive problems.
• Develop practical short-term solutions while helping management plan appropriate long-term repairs and replacements.

Preventative Maintenance & Property Stabilization

• Assess the property's existing physical condition and help establish a prioritized repair and maintenance plan.
• Build, implement, and maintain an effective preventative maintenance program for guestrooms, equipment, and major building systems.
• Help reduce recurring maintenance issues, emergency repairs, equipment downtime, and unnecessary outside service calls.
• Maintain organized records for equipment, warranties, inspections, preventative maintenance, repairs, and vendor services.
• Help establish appropriate engineering inventory, tools, parts, and purchasing controls.

Renovation & Capital Projects

• Serve as the property's primary engineering liaison during upcoming renovation and capital improvement projects.
• Work closely with ownership, management, contractors, designers, project managers, and vendors.
• Provide practical operational input regarding building systems, equipment selections, maintainability, and construction sequencing.
• Assist with contractor access, project coordination, inspections, punch lists, commissioning, and project closeout.
• Identify potential infrastructure issues that could impact renovation plans or future operations.
• Help ensure renovation work is completed with consideration for guest experience and ongoing hotel operations.

Leadership & Financial Management

• Recruit, train, schedule, coach, and develop engineering team members as appropriate for the property.
• Establish clear standards of accountability, productivity, safety, and workmanship.
• Manage engineering expenses thoughtfully while recognizing the difference between short-term cost savings and necessary long-term investment.
• Solicit bids, evaluate vendors, negotiate where appropriate, and monitor contractor performance.
• Assist the General Manager and ownership with developing annual operating and capital budgets.
• Provide clear recommendations regarding repair-versus-replacement decisions and capital priorities.

Safety & Compliance

• Maintain the property in accordance with applicable building, fire, health, environmental, and life-safety requirements.
• Maintain required inspections, permits, testing, and documentation.
• Ensure appropriate procedures are followed for emergency systems and equipment.
• Promote safe working practices among employees, contractors, and vendors.

What We're Looking For

The ideal candidate is a hotel engineer who sees problems as projects to solve rather than reasons to become discouraged . You should be equally comfortable troubleshooting equipment, walking a renovation project with a contractor, preparing a capital recommendation for ownership, and responding to an urgent guestroom maintenance issue.

This position is particularly well suited for someone who enjoys taking a property that needs attention and making measurable improvements in its condition, reliability, organization, and appearance .
Qualifications

• 5+ years of hotel, resort, multifamily, commercial building, or facilities engineering experience preferred.
• Previous Chief Engineer, Assistant Chief Engineer, Director of Engineering, Maintenance Manager, or comparable leadership experience strongly preferred.
• Strong hands-on knowledge of HVAC, plumbing, electrical, mechanical, and general building maintenance.
• Experience working with older properties, deferred maintenance, property turnarounds, renovations, or major capital projects is highly desirable.
• Ability to assess problems, establish priorities, and determine when work should be completed internally versus outsourced.
• Strong vendor and contractor management skills.
• Ability to read plans, specifications, equipment documentation, and project scopes.
• Working knowledge of applicable safety, building, fire, and life-safety requirements.
• Strong organizational and communication skills.
• Comfortable working in an independent hotel environment where flexibility, ownership, and sound judgment are essential.
• Ability to respond to property emergencies outside normal business hours when necessary.
• Relevant trade licenses, certifications, CPO certification, HVAC certification, or other technical credentials are a plus.

Success in This Role

During the first year, the successful Chief Engineer will help us:

• Gain a thorough understanding of the property's physical condition and major infrastructure needs.
• Establish clear priorities for deferred maintenance and capital investment.
• Significantly improve preventative maintenance execution.
• Reduce recurring maintenance problems and guest-impacting equipment failures.
• Improve organization, documentation, inventory, and engineering procedures.
• Successfully support the property's renovation while maintaining ongoing hotel operations.
• Develop a stronger, more reliable property that the engineering team and entire hotel staff can take pride in.

Why Join Us

This is an opportunity to do more than maintain a building. You will have the ability to help transform a property.

As an independent hotel, we value practical thinking, initiative, and leaders who take ownership. The right Chief Engineer will have significant visibility with property leadership and the opportunity to directly influence renovation decisions, capital priorities, operating standards, and the long-term condition of the hotel.

For an engineer who enjoys fixing problems, improving properties, and being able to see the tangible results of their work, this role offers a particularly rewarding challenge.

By the Sea Resorts is an equal opportunity employer committed to creating an inclusive workplace.