Director of Facilities and Engineering

The Director of Facilities and Engineering is a senior strategic, operational, and technical leader responsible for the safe, reliable, efficient, and cost-effective operation of the Museum’s physical facilities, engineering services, and critical building infrastructure. This role provides leadership for facilities operations and engineering teams while ensuring that building systems, maintenance programs, capital strategies, vendor services, and emergency-response capabilities support the Museum’s mission, visitor experience, staff needs, collections stewardship, exhibitions, programs, and long-term institutional resilience.

The Director of Facilities and Engineering leads the planning, management, and continuous improvement of building operations, engineering performance, mechanical and electrical infrastructure, life-safety systems, preventive and predictive maintenance, energy management, regulatory compliance, and daily facilities upkeep The ideal candidate brings deep technical knowledge of complex institutional building systems, strong people leadership, disciplined financial and project-management skills, and the ability to translate engineering data, facility conditions, and operational priorities into sound short- and long-range decisions.

Responsibilities:

Building Operations & Engineering

Provide strategic, technical, and day-to-day leadership for the Facilities and Engineering functions, ensuring safe, reliable, responsive, sustainable, and cost-effective operation of the Museum’s buildings, infrastructure, and critical systems across the full facilities portfolio.

Direct engineering operations, including work-order prioritization, preventive and predictive maintenance, equipment troubleshooting, system repairs, shutdown planning, inspections, emergency response, and urgent building conditions, with a focus on reliability, asset life, risk reduction, operational continuity, and service quality.

Lead, supervise, and develop engineering personnel and facilities staff by establishing clear technical standards, service expectations, accountability measures, coverage models, training priorities, and escalation protocols for normal operations, exhibitions, special events, emergencies, and after-hours needs.

Ensure expert oversight of HVAC, mechanical, electrical distribution, plumbing, fire/life-safety, building automation, vertical transportation, security, and other facility infrastructure, including clear documentation of procedures, set points, recurring issues, system dependencies, and maintenance requirements.

Lead root-cause analysis for system failures, recurring deficiencies, comfort or environmental concerns, and equipment reliability issues; implement corrective and preventive actions that reduce downtime, strengthen resilience, improve occupant conditions, and support collection-sensitive environments.

Partner with Curatorial, Exhibitions, Security, Visitor Experience, IT, and other departments to coordinate engineering needs for gallery conditions, public operations, installations, special programs, construction activity, and business continuity.

Oversee engineering-related vendor and contractor work, including service quality, safety practices, scheduling, access coordination, maintenance documentation, warranty follow-up, and compliance with Museum standards.

Use performance data from CMMS, BMS, inspections, utility trends, and staff observations to monitor building conditions, evaluate maintenance effectiveness, identify risks and resource needs, strengthen preventive maintenance completion, and inform capital planning recommendations.

Ensure facilities are maintained in a safe, clean, functional, professional, and mission-ready condition, with engineering services aligned to public-facing operations, staff workplaces, back-of-house needs, exhibitions, events, collections care, and institutional priorities.

Leadership & Management

Lead, develop, and evaluate facilities, engineering, maintenance, and building operations personnel in alignment with departmental goals, technical standards, service expectations, safety practices, and Museum values.

Establish clear performance expectations, accountability measures, staffing models, and professional development programs.

Build a culture focused on safety, customer service, operational excellence, continuous improvement, and fiscal responsibility.

Coordinate facilities priorities with executive leadership, finance, IT, security, HR, workplace teams, and other internal stakeholders to align building operations with institutional needs.

Capital Planning & Project Management

Develop and maintain a multi-year capital improvement and asset-replacement plan based on facility condition, risk, operational requirements, and organizational priorities.

Identify, scope, prioritize, and justify capital projects, including major renovations, infrastructure upgrades, equipment replacement, energy initiatives, and building-system modernization.

Develop project budgets, schedules, business cases, and return-on-investment analyses.

Lead or oversee capital projects from planning and design through procurement, construction, commissioning, and closeout.

Ensure projects are delivered safely, on budget, on schedule, and in accordance with organizational standards.

Maintain accurate facility asset inventories, condition assessments, lifecycle plans, and capital forecasts.

Financial & Vendor Management

Develop and manage annual operating and capital budgets for facilities, engineering operations, infrastructure maintenance, service contracts, and building-system investments.

Monitor expenditures, forecast variances, and identify opportunities for cost savings without compromising safety or reliability.

Negotiate and manage service contracts, maintenance agreements, and vendor relationships.

Establish reporting mechanisms for facilities and engineering operating costs, energy consumption, service contracts, project execution, asset reliability, deferred maintenance, and building-system performance to support budget oversight and informed decision-making.

Compliance, Safety & Risk Management

Ensure compliance with applicable building codes, fire and life-safety requirements, environmental regulations, occupational safety requirements, permits, inspections, and other applicable standards.

Maintain effective emergency preparedness, business continuity, and disaster-response procedures.

Coordinate inspections, testing, certifications, and regulatory reporting.

Identify facility-related risks and implement mitigation strategies to protect people, assets, and business operations.

Energy & Sustainability

Develop initiatives to improve energy efficiency, building performance, sustainability, and resource utilization.

Analyze utility consumption and identify opportunities for energy conservation and operational optimization.

Support organizational sustainability and carbon-reduction objectives where applicable.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in engineering, Facilities Management, Construction Management, or Business Administration is required. Experience in a related field; equivalent technical experience may be considered.
• 7–10+ years of progressive experience in facilities management, building operations, engineering, property management, or a related field, including significant leadership responsibility.
• Strong technical knowledge of commercial, institutional, industrial, or similarly complex building systems.
• Demonstrated experience developing and managing operating and capital budgets.
• Proven experience with capital planning, infrastructure renewal, construction, renovation, and major building-system projects
• Experience leading technical teams and managing contractors, consultants, and service providers.
• Strong knowledge of preventive maintenance, asset management, building automation, energy management, and facility reliability.
• Working knowledge of applicable building, fire/life-safety, environmental, and occupational safety requirements.
• Strong analytical, financial, project management, communication, and negotiation skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Professional Engineering (PE), Certified Facility Manager (CFM), Facilities Management Administrator (FMA), or similar credentials.
• Experience with computerized maintenance management systems (CMMS), building management systems (BMS), and facility condition-assessment platforms.
• Experience managing large or multi-site facilities portfolios.
• Experience with energy-management programs, sustainability initiatives, or building-performance optimization.
• Experience with construction procurement, design firms, commissioning, and project delivery methodologies.

Compensation & Benefits

• Compensation Range: $170,000-$180,000
• Medical, Dental, Vision, 403(B) elections
• Generous PTO benefits
• Commuter benefits - parking and mass transit
• Admission to world-renowned museums across the city and nationally
• Pet insurance and discounted membership for Citibike

If you believe that you could excel in this role, we encourage you to apply. We are dedicated to considering a broad array of candidates. Whether you’re new to arts and culture administration, returning to work after a gap in employment, simply looking to transition, or take the next step in your career path, we will be glad to have you on our radar. Please use your cover letter to tell us about your interest in the arts and culture space and what you hope to bring to this role.

About the Whitney
The Whitney Museum of American Art, founded in 1930 by the artist and philanthropist Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, houses the foremost collection of American art from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. From her vision arose the Whitney Museum of American Art, which has been championing the most innovative art of the United States for 86 years. The core of the Whitney’s mission is to collect, preserve, interpret, and exhibit American art of our time and serve a wide variety of audiences in celebration of the complexity and diversity of art and culture in the United States. Through this mission and a steadfast commitment to artists themselves, the Whitney has long been a powerful force in support of modern and contemporary art and continues to help define what is innovative and influential in American art today. Its signature exhibition, the Biennial, is the country's leading survey of the most recent developments in American art.

EEO Statement
The Whitney Museum of American Art is an Equal Opportunity Employer. The Museum does not discriminate because of age, sex, religion, race, color, creed, national origin, alienage or citizenship, disability, marital status, pregnancy, partnership status, caregiver status, veteran status, gender (including gender identity), sexual orientation, genetic information, predisposition, or carrier status, arrest or conviction record to the extent required by applicable law, credit history, domestic violence, sexual violence, or stalking victim status, or any other factor prohibited by law. The Museum hires and promotes individuals solely on the basis of their qualifications for the job to be filled. The Museum encourages all qualified candidates to apply for vacant positions at all levels.