Senior Mechanical Engineer

Position Overview

The University of Minnesota’s FM Energy Management department oversees the safe, reliable, and efficient operation of mechanical, electrical and civil utilities in over 250 complex buildings on the Twin Cities campus. Home to the University’s technical and professional staff, the group maintains the campus utility infrastructure including extensive steam and chilled water based district energy production and distribution systems and provides technical expertise and support across the U of M system of campuses and research outreach centers.

The Twin Cities campus district energy systems is truly a small city consisting of three heating plants with a production capacity over 1 million pounds of steam per hour, 16 district chilled water/heat recovery plants with a production capacity over 50,000 tons cooling and 24,000 MBH heat recovery, 12 miles of utility distribution tunnels for 2 steam and 5 district cooling networks.

Campus utilities also include a 13.8kV high voltage system, 4 switch stations, and a full complement of civil utilities. More about us: (Use the "Apply for this Job" box below).-management

Work is performed in an office setting as well as out in the field (10-40% time in a typical week). This position will be exposed to potentially hazardous conditions where hearing and visual protection may be required. Must be able to walk and climb to physically access and view various sites.

Please note, this position is not eligible for H-1B or Green Card sponsorship. This position does not offer a STEM OPT training program.

Operations & Maintenance (40%)

• Support both internal and external staff and trades for heating, cooling, and cogeneration plant operations and maintenance including troubleshooting and root cause analysis.
• Provide advanced technical support, diagnostics, and troubleshooting to trades, mechanics, operators and technicians responsible for the operation, repair, and maintenance of central utility distribution infrastructure and complex facility process and HVAC systems.
• Investigate complex field problems from an applied engineering perspective and independently develop sustainable engineering solutions.
• Review, modify, or develop, implement, and train comprehensive maintenance requirements for district energy mechanical systems and equipment, incorporating modern procedures and technologies for preventative (PM), predictive (PdM), and reliability (RCM)-based maintenance.
• Support continuous improvement initiatives for campus operations, equipment reliability, redundancy requirements, and energy efficiency using campus data and business tools.
• Conduct field surveys, evaluate existing conditions, and document performance and reliability trends. Support circular maintenance improvement programs.
• Provide clear technical documentation, training, and guidance to internal staff and coordinate related diagnostic work performed by external resources.

Design, Engineering, Construction, & Commissioning (40%)

• Design and implement facility and utility steam, condensate, heating hot water, and chilled water distribution system alterations/improvements for in-house construction projects. Prepare labor and material estimates, order equipment, support construction and commission new installations. Assignments may include high-level work for training/development purposes.
• Support construction activities and field questions for both internal and externally managed projects.
• Produce concepts and front end engineering and design for external consulting designs or future internal project delivery.
• Review designs and reports prepared by outside design firms to ensure conformity with University standards and operational and safety practices.
• Direct project design concerns to University leaders and/or correspond directly with project team leads.
• Inspect construction in progress for conformity to plans and specifications.
• Support the commissioning effort for utility production and distribution systems on major capital projects.
• Perform system modeling, analysis, and application review using engineering modeling tools such as Pipe Flo…