Director of Facilities

The Massachusetts Historical Society, founded in 1791, is America’s oldest historical society. Located in the Back Bay of Boston, in a 48,000 square foot historically registered building, the MHS is home to priceless documents, art, and artifacts that pre-date the Revolutionary War, and which continue up to the present day.

The Director of Facilities manages and maintains the MHS facility to ensure the safety of staff, researchers, the public, and to protect the Society’s collections and environment. The Director is responsible for ensuring optimal building performance in support of the Society’s mission. The position works closely with facilities team members to assist with maintenance, repair, and general operation of the building including supervising staff and vendor performance to ensure the highest quality service and value, recommending improvements to operations, and planning and scheduling work.

The position also collaborates with Collections staff on aspects of facilities management that overlap with the preservation of the Collection. The position requires the ability to manage projects, prioritize work, and solve problems collaboratively across departments.

The Society’s historically registered building is headquartered in the Back Bay of Boston, and consists of 48,000 square feet, six floors and basement, with occupancy and capital budgets to be managed by the Director.

This position is on call 24/7 for alarms, emergencies, facilities staff outages, and event coverage. The Director is the first person on the call list for alarms, emergencies, and off-hours calls, and has the responsibility to either respond or delegate the response directly, while managing all follow-up.

While the Society’s regular work week is Monday-Friday, 8:00AM-5:00PM, the building opens and closes outside of these hours and is open on Saturday. Earlier and later work hours will be required to meet the needs of the Society. Exclusive of special events, building hours include:
Monday-Thursday, close at 6:00PM, Friday, close at 5:00PM, Saturday hours 8:00AM-3:00PM.

This role works on site, 100% of the time.

A full copy of the job description is available upon request. The successful candidate will possess the following skills and experience:

• Bachelor’s degree strongly preferred;
  Associate’s Degree or equivalent management or technical certifications and trainings accepted;
• At least ten (10) years of progressively increasing facilities management experience is required.
• Strong project management, budget oversight, vendor management, and staff supervisor
• Collaborative communication with ability to successfully manage projects that span multiple departments
• Experience managing computerized building management systems
• Experience performing basic maintenance work: carpentry/painting, plumbing, painting, minor electrical
• Residence in sufficient proximity to Boston to be able to respond onsite on a 24/7 basis to alarms and other emergencies
• Prolonged periods sitting at a desk and working on a computer.
• Ability to lift 25-50 pounds regularly, and 50 pounds or more with assistance from other Facilities department and/or MHS staff.
• Ability to work on site full time.
• Ability to travel throughout facility as required to conduct safety inspections, including ability to use stairs, and ability to access attic, basement, or other spaces with narrow confines. Frequent climbing, kneeling, stooping, turning, reaching, pushing, pulling, carrying, shoveling, sweeping, using a ladder, and using hand and power tools are all essential functions of this position.
• Ability to travel to and from and be present on-site during trainings or any emergency.
• Ability to conduct in-person and virtual trainings, including evacuation trainings,…