Director of Mechanical Engineering & Project Development (PE)

You may already be a Senior Mechanical Engineer, Engineering Manager, Director, or VP looking for something more. Or you may be a recently licensed PE with the technical ability and ambition to take on significantly greater responsibility.

We're interested in what you can accomplish, not just the title you currently hold.

Roberts Design Build Solutions (DBS) is seeking a talented, hands-on Illinois Professional Engineer to help develop, engineer, and deliver commercial, institutional, and industrial HVAC and mechanical projects.

Our experienced business development team builds client relationships, identifies project opportunities, and brings you into the conversation when engineering expertise is needed. Your role is to understand the building, evaluate the challenges, develop the right mechanical solutions, and help communicate those solutions to the owner.

You'll work alongside our sales, estimating, and construction teams to transform engineering concepts into practical, well-developed projects.

This is not a traditional consulting engineering position focused on producing drawings.

You'll be involved early enough to influence what gets built, help establish the engineering approach, collaborate on budgets and equipment selections, and lead the technical direction through design, construction, commissioning, and completion.

You'll have the opportunity to take meaningful engineering responsibility, work directly with decision-makers, see your ideas become completed projects, and participate financially in the success you help create.

We bring you the opportunities. You bring the engineering expertise. Together, we develop and deliver the projects.

At Roberts DBS, you won't simply receive a completed concept and be asked to turn it into drawings.

You'll help determine:

• What is actually wrong with the building or mechanical system?
• What are the best engineering solutions?
• Which approach makes the most technical and financial sense?
• What equipment and systems should be selected?
• What will the project cost, and how can we build it efficiently?
• How do we present the solution and its value to the owner?
• How do we ensure the system gets built correctly and performs as intended?

You'll work directly alongside experienced professionals in estimating, HVAC, piping, sheet metal, controls, project management, construction, and service.

The difference is that you won't just design the project. You'll help create it, develop it, and see it built.

Project Development & Owner Engagement

• Join our business development team in owner meetings to provide technical expertise, assess needs, and help develop engineering solutions.
• Survey existing facilities and evaluate HVAC equipment, mechanical infrastructure, central plants, hydronic systems, ventilation, and building automation.
• Identify opportunities for system modernization, equipment replacement, energy improvements, and capital upgrades.
• Develop practical engineering concepts and compare alternative mechanical solutions.
• Participate in technical presentations, proposals, and project-development discussions alongside our sales team.

Mechanical Engineering & System Design

• Perform or oversee heating and cooling load calculations, ventilation calculations, energy analysis, and equipment sizing and selection.
• Develop HVAC solutions involving boilers, chillers, hydronic distribution, rooftop equipment, dedicated outdoor air systems, air distribution, controls, and other commercial mechanical systems.
• Prepare preliminary calculations, conceptual layouts, equipment selections, controls concepts, basis-of-design documents, and technical scopes.
• Evaluate alternatives based on first cost, lifecycle cost, energy efficiency, constructability, reliability, and maintainability.
• Ensure engineering solutions are technically sound, code-compliant, practical, and financially realistic.

Estimating & Project Development

• Work directly with estimating and operations to turn engineering concepts into executable projects.
• Assist with conceptual budgets, equipment selections, preliminary project scopes, and cost evaluations.
• Understand how engineering decisions affect project cost, schedule, constructability, and profitability.
• Support the business development team with technical solutions and presentations that allow owners to make informed capital decisions.

Engineering Leadership & Project Execution

• Establish the engineering direction and basis of design for projects moving into execution.
• Coordinate internal design resources, BIM personnel, outside engineering consultants, manufacturers, and specialty partners.
• Oversee and review calculations, drawings, specifications, equipment selections, controls sequences, and technical deliverables.
• Provide engineering QA/QC and professional engineering oversight.
• Serve as a responsible design professional and seal engineering documents when appropriate and within your responsible charge.
• Support construction teams with technical decisions, field coordination, equipment issues, and engineering solutions.
• Remain involved through installation, startup, testing, balancing, commissioning, and project turnover.

Required Qualifications

• Active Illinois Professional Engineer (PE) license in good standing. This is a firm requirement.
• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering or a closely related engineering discipline.
• Strong commercial, institutional, or industrial HVAC/mechanical engineering and design experience.
• Demonstrated ability to independently evaluate mechanical systems, perform engineering calculations, develop system designs, and select equipment.
• Strong knowledge of HVAC, hydronic piping, heating, cooling, ventilation, air distribution, central mechanical systems, and building automation.
• Working knowledge of applicable mechanical, building, and energy codes.
• Ability to lead technical decisions, oversee engineering deliverables, and assume professional responsibility for engineering work.
• Strong communication, presentation, and problem-solving skills.
• Comfortable working directly with owners, facility personnel, engineers, contractors, and field trades.
• Ability to attend in-person meetings, perform site assessments, and support projects throughout the Chicago metropolitan area and other company markets.
• Currently authorized to work in the United States. Employer visa sponsorship is not available for this position.

Experience We'd Especially Value

Experience with design-build, performance contracting, ESCO projects, energy engineering, facility assessments, existing-building modernization, K-12 schools, universities, municipal facilities, central plants, conceptual estimating, controls, commissioning, or mechanical project management.

Experience using TRACE, HAP, Revit, AutoCAD, or comparable engineering tools is beneficial.

We value technical capability, judgment, creativity, communication, and ambition over arbitrary years of experience.

We're looking for an engineer who enjoys solving real building problems.

Someone who can walk into an existing facility, understand the mechanical systems, identify deficiencies, evaluate possible solutions, and develop a practical plan.

Someone who understands the importance of engineering calculations but also recognizes that successful projects require sound budgets, smart equipment decisions, construction knowledge, and good communication.

You should enjoy collaborating with skilled tradespeople, contractors, and building owners as much as working with other engineers.

We're particularly interested in professionals who have reached a point in their careers where they want greater influence over projects, stronger connections to business decisions, and a meaningful opportunity to grow professionally and financially.

This is a hands-on engineering leadership position, not a purely administrative management role or a traditional sales position.

Base Salary: $140,000–$200,000 Annually + Significant Performance Incentives

We recognize that the right individual may already have a successful, well-compensated engineering career.

We're not looking to offer someone a lateral move. We're offering an opportunity to build something bigger.

Base compensation will reflect engineering expertise, project-development experience, technical leadership, and the ability to contribute to DBS's growth.

In addition to base salary, this position includes uncapped performance-based incentives tied to the financial success of DBS projects and the division.

Your contribution is measured through engineering leadership, successful project development, technical execution, and business growth, not individual sales quotas.

We believe the people who help develop profitable projects, provide strong technical leadership, and contribute to the growth of the business should participate directly in that success.

For the right individual, this creates an opportunity for substantial total compensation beyond a traditional engineering salary.

Benefits Include:

• Vehicle allowance and company gas card
• Medical and dental insurance
• Retirement benefits
• Paid time off
• Additional applicable company benefits

This opportunity is designed for someone who wants their engineering career to extend beyond traditional consulting.

As DBS grows, the right individual can take on increasing responsibility for project development, engineering strategy, technical resources, team leadership, and the overall direction of the division.

Whether you're an established engineering leader seeking a more entrepreneurial opportunity or an ambitious PE ready to advance quickly, we want someone who sees the potential to help build a successful business.