HVAC Design Engineer; Licensed PE

Opportunity Profile

Location: Chicago, IL

Position Title: HVAC Design Engineer

This is a career‑defining opportunity for a seasoned, licensed Professional Engineer who wants far more than a traditional design role. The organization is growing rapidly through negotiated, design‑build work, and this position sits at the center of that growth. Today, senior leadership remains personally involved in diagnosing complex field issues, developing concepts, overseeing engineering execution, and stamping designs—creating a natural bottleneck as demand accelerates.

This role exists to remove that constraint and unlock the next phase of scale.

The engineer who steps into this position will immediately become the technical authority the business depends on to solve real‑world HVAC problems—on job sites, in mechanical rooms, and directly with clients. Rather than being confined to producing permit drawings, this role is about walking into a building, understanding what is truly wrong, envisioning a practical solution, and confidently driving it through design, construction, and closeout.

The impact is tangible: faster project execution, stronger client trust, higher‑margin design‑build work, and increased capacity for the organization to pursue and win larger, more complex opportunities.

Longer‑term, this role carries exceptional upside. As senior leaders plan for succession over the coming years, this position is viewed as a cornerstone leadership seat within the organization. For the right individual, this is a clear path to expanded authority, influence across departments, and the opportunity to help shape the future direction of a growing, highly respected mechanical contractor.

This is a long‑established, union commercial HVAC contractor with decades of experience in a major metropolitan market. The organization is known for large‑scale interior tenant buildouts, laboratory environments, and complex mechanical systems within high‑profile commercial buildings. It operates under the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS), emphasizing accountability, disciplined execution, and long‑term planning. With a workforce of approximately 100–160 employees, the company maintains a close‑knit, family‑oriented culture while consistently competing with the largest mechanical contractors in its region.

The business has demonstrated consistent year‑over‑year growth and operates with a proactive, future‑focused mindset built around defined long‑term goals.

The role reports directly to a long‑tenured operational leader who has spent more than three decades with the organization and currently serves in the top operational seat beneath ownership. Having personally worked up through drafting, estimating, project management, and leadership roles, this leader brings deep practical knowledge of the mechanical construction business. He is highly engaged, technically sharp, and directly involved in project problem‑solving, while actively seeking to transition responsibilities to experienced leaders who can grow with the company.

The Licensed Professional HVAC Design Engineer will serve as the senior technical leader within the engineering function and one of the most influential problem‑solvers in the organization. This is not a back‑office design role; it is a hands‑on, high‑judgment position that blends field diagnostics, engineering leadership, and executive‑level collaboration. The role sits just below the President in the organizational structure and is central to how engineering, sales, estimating, operations, and service come together on design‑build projects.

In practice, this engineer will be the person clients and internal teams rely on when challenges are complex, time‑sensitive, or high‑stakes. The role requires the confidence and experience to walk a job site, identify system deficiencies, develop creative and constructible solutions, and guide those solutions through internal engineering and drafting teams to completion. While others may produce drawings, this role defines the solution, ensures technical integrity, and applies the professional seal that allows projects to…