Manager-Chilled Water Plant Operations

Position Summary

Manager – Chilled Water Plant Operations is a key leadership role responsible for the safe, reliable, and efficient 24/7/365 operation of the University’s three Central Utilities chilled water plants and the campus-wide chilled water distribution system. The Manager sets and drives a culture of safety and operational reliability targets, leading a skilled workforce in plant operations, maintenance, SOP/EOP governance, asset and cost management, and continuous improvement.

The role ensures regulatory compliance, system resiliency, and seamless service delivery to support academic, research, and healthcare operations.

• Plant & Distribution Operations Leadership:
  Lead all aspects of 24/7 chilled water generation and distribution operations, including chillers, cooling towers, pumps, heat exchangers, controls/BAS/SCADA, and water treatment programs.
• Ensure capacity, stability, and responsiveness to seasonal and peak demands.
• Direct daily rounds, trend reviews, and set-point optimization to meet campus and hospital loads.
• Direct operation and maintenance of the Enterprise Chill Water Central System and related distribution and return systems; manage decentralized chill water systems campus-wide.
• Direct water treatment vendor relationships and oversee campus-wide water treatment program for chilled water systems.
• Oversee safety and maintenance practices in distribution vaults and other confined spaces (permits, atmospheric testing, ventilation, rescue readiness).
• Maintain seasonal readiness procedures (cooling-season prep, freeze protection, weather-event response).

• Establish annual performance targets (OEE, MTTR, MTBF, PM completion, kW/ton) and lead reliability programs (CBM/PM, failure elimination, energy/water optimization).
• Chair Root Cause Analysis for chilled water system failures; ensure corrective actions are implemented and embedded in SOPs/PMs.
• Maintain a reliability dashboard cadence: monthly KPI reports, quarterly performance reviews, and annual health system summaries.

• Keep approved organization positions filled.
• Lead recruiting, onboarding, training, coaching, performance management, and retention across multiple shifts.
• Establish Skills Index targets for Operators, Mechanics, Repairers, and Supervisors; maintain documented training pathways and certification plans (e.g., EPA 608, OSHA 30, BOC).

• Develop, maintain, and audit SOPs, EOPs, LOTO procedures, PM strategies, and PM routes (vibration analysis, IR thermography, water chemistry).
• Enforce 5S workplace standards within plants, cooling tower areas, and distribution vaults.
• Drive CMMS governance KPIs: PM Library Coverage, Failure Code Adoption, Work Order Closure Quality Score, Asset Data Completeness; conduct quarterly audits and updates.

• Promote a safety culture and compliance with OSHA, EPA/ADEM, NFPA, ASHRAE, and University EH&S standards.
• Conduct hazard assessments, incident reviews, and program audits.
• Ensure cooling-tower hygiene and water-treatment compliance including legionella risk management and inspection readiness.
• Govern safe work practices: LOTO, confined space, hot work, chemical handling, fall protection, and PPE usage.

• Capture and analyze asset operating costs; manage O&M budgets and cost-reduction initiatives without compromising reliability.
• Maintain min/max levels for critical spares (e.g., seals, gear reducers, VFDs, sensors, control modules).
• Sustain a lead-time risk register for long-procurement items and single-source dependencies; review quarterly and align with outage/seasonal plans.

• Partner on plant upgrades, equipment replacements, and distribution improvements; review designs for operability, maintainability, and reliability.
• Own the Chilled Water Commissioning Readiness Checklist (alarm/point verification, SOP availability, equipment functionality, operator training, spares staging, CMMS readiness, turnover…