Power Plant Manager - Full-time / Part-time

How to Apply A cover letter is required for consideration for this position and should be attached as the first page of your resume. The cover letter should address your specific interest in the position and outline skills and experience that directly relate to this position.

Responsibilities* This position, reporting to the Utilities Department, manages all aspects of the University's mission critical North Campus Research Complex (NCRC) Central Energy Plant (CEP). The CEP is located within Buildings 80, 85, 86 and 800 at the NCRC on the University's Ann Arbor, Michigan campus. The CEP supplies steam, chilled water and electricity to a 2.7 million SF campus with office, research and vivarium space. The natural gas fired plant includes 7 boilers totaling 300 thousand pounds per hour of steaming capacity, 12 chillers totaling 11,000 tons of cooling capacity, a 2.8 mw gas turbine generator with waste heat boiler and 4.5 of mw emergency generators. Responsibilities include providing a management framework which assures that every employee is empowered to carry out their daily work and maintains a strong team working together to continuously improve the primary goals of safety, reliability and efficiency. The Plant Manager oversees and has utility budget responsibility for approximately $9.0M annually, providing operations and engineering expertise in order to coordinate all associated activities. The Plant Manager is responsible to operate and maintain the facilities within all environmental, health and safety regulations and is responsible to lead the organization in a positive, proactive way to ensure excellent morale of all staff.

This position is responsible for the following areas:

Overall Plant Management - Provide direct supervision of a total of 13 staff including bargained for operators, maintenance personnel and administrative staff. Provide oversight and feedback to employees for plant wide supervisory responsibilities such as performance management, staff professional development, safety, and administrative duties related to timekeeping, record-keeping, and resource planning and contract management. Participate in union activities such as contract interpretation, grievance process, and contract negotiations. Responsible for hiring new staff within the CEP.

Plant Operations and Maintenance - Oversee coordination of all activities (maintenance and operations) associated with the production of steam, electricity and chilled water to 27 NCRC facilities including highly critical research including vivarium space. Ensure that day to day procurement activities of fuels and electricity align with operational plans. Direct, develop, and implement operational procedures and policies that promote safety, reliability, efficiency, and a quality work environment. Provide oversight to the full breadth of maintenance programs including preventive and corrective maintenance, water treatment and instrumentation and controls. Assure use of the CMMS system including proper documentation of all activities. This position is also responsible for compliance with all environmental and safety regulations. With assistance of the department of Occupational Safety and Environmental Health (OSEH), oversee the preparation of all regulatory reports to federal and state regulatory agencies. Improve oversight of these areas via the development and tracking of plant metrics.

Plant Strategic Planning - In coordination with NCRC Administration, participate in long range utility master planning weighing the complex issues of capital growth and renewal, operating costs, environmental compliance, campus usage and demand, in order to develop a comprehensive planning tool that aligns with overall NCRC, University of Michigan Health System (UMHS) and University strategic plans. Consult the Associate Director of Utilities on matters related to plant operations and overall operational strategy. Coordinate electrical system objectives with those in the Utilities department and other university stakeholders. Manage activities with other departments within the University and others outside the University such as project managers, contractors and regulatory agencies to assure that the University's best interests are served. In coordination with NCRC administration, interact and provide presentations and tours to others both inside and outside the university. Support NCRC and University sustainability efforts.

Plant Safety, Training, and Controls - Oversee plant safety and staff skill/technical development, develop emergency response programs, including all related documentation and training. In coordination with NCRC Administration, coordinate the implementation of response programs including continuation of operations business continuity planning and implementation, and building incident response team business intelligence reporting tool (BIRT) notification. Assist with the preparation and teaching of training programs related to projects, maintenance, and oversight of plant systems. Direct the preparation and maintenance of operations and maintenance manuals for plant systems. Ensure all aspects of project turnover and close out are completed per requirements.

Project Coordination and Site Customer Support - In coordination with NCRC Administration, participate as a utility subject matter expert in the development of a comprehensive annual capital projects plan related to deferred maintenance. Participate on project teams related to the implementation of deferred maintenance projects. Additionally, consult on shutdown planning and processes related to projects or maintenance in order to prepare the site for, or limit the impact of, utility related shutdowns. Support the on-lining of building assets previously placed in "caretaker mode". Ensure the proper documentation is collected and maintained related to the commissioning, repair or replacement of system assets, including performance standards, O&M's, drawings, and all other relevant materials. Provide reports as needed to aid in the monitoring of specialty space, i.e. temperature or humidity controlled. Participate as an NCRC team member to address other site or customer related requests as needed.

Financial Management - In partnership with NCRC Administration, forecast, prepare, monitor, and report on annual utility spend totaling in excess of $9 million/yr.

Support the campus Central Power Plant as requested. Perform other duties as assigned.

Required Qualifications* Bachelor of Science in engineering or equivalent experience. Five years of energy system leadership/supervisory experience. Proven experience in leading and building high functioning teams with high morale. Excellent communication and conflict resolution skills. Experience in the maintenance and operation of utility or industrial power production systems. Understanding of steam, electric, cogeneration and chilled water production systems, and related equipment such as combustion turbines, heat recovery steam generators (HRSG), gas/oil fueled boilers, chillers, power piping, boiler codes, air pollution controls, utility/process controls, rotating equipment, and electric generation. Must understand the stand-alone operating and maintenance characteristics of equipment, how groups of equipment function together to form a system, and how all the systems inter-relate. Ability to analyze the performance and operating efficiency of the systems to optimize energy use and production. Demonstrated ability to develop and maintain positive relationships with internal and external stakeholders at all levels. Act in accordance with the organizational values of focus, integrity, respect for people, empowerment, innovation, and responsibility to the environment.

Background Screening The University of Michigan conducts background checks on all job candidates upon acceptance of a contingent offer and may use a third party administrator to conduct background checks. Background checks will be performed in compliance with the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

U-M EEO/AA Statement The University of Michigan is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer.