Company: CENTERS, LLC
Job Location:
Category: Manager/Director
Type: Full-Time
The Senior Director - Facilities Management is a senior executive position appointed for a defined one-year period to stabilize, assess, and transform the Facilities Management department of a public university located in Maryland. The position is designed to restore operational discipline, strengthen leadership accountability, and design and implement a Facilities organizational model that is aligned with institutional needs, industry standards, and long-term sustainability. Candidates with…
experience working within unionized environments and demonstrated ability to lead effectively within collective bargaining frameworks are strongly encouraged to apply.
Why This Role Matters
The Assistant Director plays a crucial role in restoring daily operational stability and strengthening the foundation needed for long-term Facilities transformation. This position directly improves service quality, reliability, and the operational culture of the department.
Individuals in this one-year appointment may be considered for a permanent role if the position transitions to a regular appointment.
ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS
Day-to-Day Operational Leadership
- Provide direct oversight of daily Facilities maintenance operations, including general maintenance, MEP/skilled trades, grounds, and Work Control functions.
- Serve as the primary operational point of contact for supervisors and frontline teams.
- Monitor workload, staffing coverage, and service responsiveness to ensure consistent performance.
- Address operational issues in real time and escalate risks or resource constraints as needed.
Standards Enforcement & Accountability
- Enforce established policies, protocols, and service expectations consistently across all units.
- Ensure supervisors are actively managing staff performance, attendance, work quality, and productivity.
- Reinforce expectations for documentation, verification, and close-out of completed work.
- Address performance gaps promptly through coaching, corrective action, or escalation.
Supervision & Work Quality Improvement
- Strengthen frontline supervision by:
- Clarifying supervisory roles and expectations
- Ensuring supervisors are present, engaged, and accountable for outcomes
- Developing feedback loops and establishing routine check-ins with direct reports
- Improve quality control by requiring verification of completed work and effectiveness of service delivery.
- Monitor repeat work orders, rework, and unresolved issues to identify systemic problems.
Operational Boundary Definition & Workflow Clarity
- Establish and enforce clear operational boundaries between Facilities units, including:
- Ownership of preventive maintenance versus reactive work
- Defined roles for Work Control versus supervisors and field technicians in administering and managing work orders
- Clear guidelines for when complex work escalates from general maintenance to skilled trades specialists
- Work with the Interim Senior Director to formalize these boundaries into documented operating procedures.
Work Order & Systems Execution
- Oversee daily work order execution and ensure compliance with system requirements (MicroMain).
- Ensure:
- Work orders are properly triaged, assigned, and updated
- Labor hours and materials are accurately captured
- Work orders are not closed without verification
- Collaborate with Work Control leadership to improve routing accuracy and customer follow-up.
- Conduct a demand analysis of work orders, classroom activity, evening events, and campus usage cycles to identify where service gaps occur under the current single-shift model.
- Improve communication loops between internal staff and vendors so that work orders, maintenance activities, and preventive routines are coordinated and visible.
Budget, Contracts & Resource Management
- Build a structured cost-analysis framework that links labor hours, material usage, vendor spend, and work order demand to operational outputs.
- Monitor maintenance and service contracts to ensure scope, performance, and accountability expectations are met.
- Support preventive maintenance planning and efforts to reduce deferred maintenance backlog.
- Conduct a shop-by-shop area assessment to identify gaps in layout, safety, workflow design, and storage capacity.
Rapid Learning & Continuous Improvement
- Engage in deliberate and immediate learning of existing departmental policies, procedures, and institutional practices.
- Identify operational inefficiencies, bottlenecks, and risks during the interim period.
- Provide actionable recommendations to the Interim Senior Director based on observed conditions and performance data.
EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE
- Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Facility management or closely related field required.
- Minimum 5 years of facility maintenance, preferably in large, multi-use or institutional setting.
- Progressive experience with staff supervision
- Knowledge of standard practices and demonstrated experience in higher education operations including facilities maintenance, grounds maintenance, construction, etc.
- Knowledge of pertinent federal, state, and local laws, codes and regulations.
- Experience with budgeting, project estimating, construction oversight.
SKILLS AND ABILITIES
- Proven track record of developing and maintaining strong, lasting relationships with relevant stakeholders.
- Proven ability to develop and achieve financial plans. Ability to
- motivate and lead employees and hold them accountable.
- Demonstrated ability to lead effectively within collective bargaining frameworks preferred.