Director of Instrumentation & Controls

Cen Trio is a fully integrated, innovative and sustainable energy services provider to a wide range of industries such as higher education and healthcare campuses, cities, and communities. It serves more than 170 million square feet of space through utility infrastructure operations in 10 cities across the United States and growing. In each community, Cen Trio operates highly efficient and innovative utility infrastructures that produce and distribute electricity, steam, hot water and/or chilled water to customer buildings and campuses.

Customers connected to these systems enjoy multiple benefits, including reduced operating costs, lower emissions, and unmatched reliability. Cen Trio is a wholly owned subsidiary of a global infrastructure investment consortium that manages a portfolio of long-life, high-quality infrastructure assets.

Cen Trio offers a dynamic and friendly work environment dedicated to nurturing a top-notch team culture. Benefits and perks include:

• Medical benefits effective the first day of hire
• Medical, dental, vision, Life and AD&D benefits
• Option of supplemental Life and AD&D benefits
• Company-paid high-deductible healthcare benefit plan
• 401(k) plan with company match
• Training opportunities and career progression
• Competitive salaries that reflect the value of skills and experience
• Dynamic and friendly work environment in a rapidly expanding industry with a national presence
• 24-hour Employee Assistance Program/Hotline
• Corporate discounts for travel, entertainment, home, auto, apparel, health and wellbeing, and other retail options

The Director, Instrumentation & Controls is a key member of the Engineering team, reporting to the VP, Engineering, and is responsible for the strategy, design, standardization, integration, and lifecycle management of instrumentation and control systems across existing facilities and new acquisitions.

The role provides technical leadership to local controls engineers and establishes standards, procedures, and control philosophies that improve system reliability, efficiency, and performance across district energy plants, energy transfer stations, and customer connections.

The Director oversees control system architecture, hardware, software, industrial networks, field instrumentation, PLC/DCS systems, and commissioning, with extensive experience in platforms such as Emerson DeltaV and Allen-Bradley PLCs. Working closely with IT and Operations, the role ensures secure and effective integration of control system data and network architectures across facilities and the National Operations Center.

The successful candidate will bring deep hands-on expertise in control system programming, troubleshooting, instrumentation, commissioning, and lifecycle management, combined with strong leadership, problem-solving, and process improvement capabilities. The role requires a self-directed, collaborative leader who can operate effectively in a fast-paced environment and is expected to travel up to 50%.

• Manage, lead, and supervise Instrumentation & Controls (I&C) personnel and third-party contractors/resources, providing technical direction, prioritizing work activities, and ensuring projects and maintenance activities are executed safely, efficiently, and in alignment with business objectives.
• Serve as a technical leader and resource for local Instrumentation & Controls Engineers by fostering collaboration, promoting the sharing of solutions, lessons learned, best practices, and implementation challenges. Establish and maintain a structured approach for knowledge transfer across sites and projects to improve standardization, reduce recurring issues, accelerate troubleshooting efforts, and drive continuous improvement…