Utilities Planning and Renewal Senior Engineer

Energy & Sustainability is comprised of four interactive teams: Campus Sustainability Office, Utilities Distribution and Energy Management, Utilities Production, and Utilities Planning and Renewal which work together to provide vital utilities services to the Ithaca campus and seizing opportunities to reduce our environmental footprint. 

The Utilities Planning and Renewal section of Energy and Sustainability focuses on operation, system renewal (replacement and/or repair) and future electrification of the University energy infrastructure system. This system is critical to University operations supplying power, heat, chilled water, and potable water on a 24-hour, 365 day per year basis. The Utilities Planning and Renewal team support production assets as well as buried and above-ground electric, steam, hot water, chilled water, potable water, storm and sanitary infrastructure serving over 17 million square feet of building stock. This job provides the opportunity to work in a collaborative team environment delivering capital projects, troubleshooting and repairs of the mission critical utilities systems.

   

Job Description Summary

The Utilities Planning and Renewal Team Senior Engineer provides engineering and project leadership for the University’s power, steam, hot water, chilled water, and related thermal utility systems. These systems will be transitioning over time from fossil fuels to full electrification with grid supplied power.

This position is accountable for system design, reliability engineering, asset management, and capital project leadership and support to ensure the safe, reliable, and efficient delivery of utilities on a 24/7/365 basis both now and into the future.

Working closely with operations, maintenance, project management, consultants, and campus stakeholders, the Senior Engineer will be the University Energy System subject matter expert: evaluating system condition and performance, developing renewal and upgrade strategies, supporting complex troubleshooting, and overseeing design and construction activities. The role will apply a knowledge of equipment to system modelling, system analysis, and lifecycle cost evaluation to inform operational decisions, long-term capital planning and execution.

The Senior Engineer will work independently and collaboratively, possessing professional judgement to facilitate decisions within all phases of a project. They will manage multiple complex and often-interdependent projects concurrently with varying scope and phases of development. They will collaborate with complex and diverse project teams and have a strong willingness to mentor other engineers and project managers.

This position will also support commissioning, documentation control, regulatory compliance, and emergency response.

While position responsibilities vary, every member of our community is expected to foster a culture of belonging and a healthy work environment by communicating across differences; being cooperative, collaborative, open, and welcoming; showing respect, compassion, and empathy; engaging and supporting others regardless of background or perspective; speaking up when others are being excluded or treated inappropriately; and supporting work/life integration of oneself and others.

We are a value–based organization where all employees are accountable for supporting the organization’s values of truth, respect, excellence, teamwork, and integrity. Facilities and Campus Services employees are required to attend staff development trainings and participate in the performance evaluation process.

We require these qualifications:

• Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, or other related Engineering degree.
• 10+ years of engineering experience—operations, design or technical construction administration.
• Direct experience managing engineering consultants
• New York State Professional Engineering license.
• Must be proficient in Microsoft Office.
• Experience in design, maintenance or operation of industrial boilers, chillers, heat pumps, geoexchange systems and/or thermal distribution systems.
• Is highly motivated and exhibits innovation, good judgement and reliability in the work place.
• Demonstrates the divisional values of truth, respect, teamwork, integrity and excellence. This includes such behaviors as the demonstrated ability to give and receive feedback, communicate honestly, listen, respect others, learn from mistakes, set high goals and achieve them, overcome obstacles, uses time effectively, sets priorities, and participates effectively on teams.
• Ability to work in an environment that includes high ambient temperature, noise and dust. Ability to safely work with chemicals, high temperature/pressure steam, confined spaces, and other potential hazards. Must be able to climb stairs, ladders and work with heights.
• Must have and maintain a valid driver’s license. Will be required to operate a motor vehicle (your own vehicle and Cornell owned) to travel to and from job sites.
• Experience modeling values that support inclusion, belonging, and wellbeing.

You will be a top candidate with our preferred qualifications:

• 10+ years of experience in technical roles related to energy production or thermal distribution systems.
• Instrumentation and controls design, commissioning and troubleshooting experience on industrial or utility scale equipment.
• Experience with HVAC, Direct Digital Controls and energy conservation.
• Direct experience managing construction projects of any size.
• Experience interpreting and applying federal, state and local regulations and codes.

Rewards and Benefits:

• This position is based in Ithaca, New York.
• Cornell receives national recognition as an award-winning workplace for our health, wellbeing, sustainability, and diversity initiatives.
• Our benefits programs include comprehensive health care options, generous retirement contributions, access to wellness programs, and employee discounts with local and national retail brands. We invite you to follow this link to get more information about our benefits: Understand Your Benefits | Working at Cornell.
• Our leave provisions include health and personal leave, three weeks of vacation and 13 holidays: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving and the day after, and an end of the year winter break from December 25-January 1. To offer greater flexibility for observing faiths and traditions we also offer two additional floating holidays. Learn more about our generous leave provisions: Holiday and Accrued Time Off | Working at Cornell
• Cornell's impressive educational benefits include tuition-free Extramural Study and Employee Degree Program, tuition aid for external education, and Cornell Children's Tuition Assistance Program. Learn more about our extensive educational benefits: Education Benefits | Working at Cornell
• Follow this link to learn more about the Total Rewards of Working at Cornell: Total Rewards | Working at Cornell.

 

Visa Sponsorship is not available for this position. Relocation assistance will not be provided for this position.

 

Application Procedure:

Interested parties should submit a resume and cover letter describing qualifications on-line at https://hr.cornell.edu/jobs under staff positions section.

 

When applying through our system, please remember to attach resume and cover letter in either Microsoft Word or PDF format. In the Experience section of your application, use the ‘Drop Files Here’ box to manually drag document(s) into your application. For a more detailed description and instructions on how to apply online please click here.

Cornell is an equal opportunity employer. For more information click here.

  

University Job Title:

Engineer Architect II

   

Job Family:

Facilities & Safety Services

   

Level:

H

   

Pay Rate Type:

Salary

   

Pay Range:

$125,680.00 - $153,609.00

   

Remote Option Availability:

Onsite

   

Company:

Endowed

   

Contact Name:

Tonya Eiklor

   

Contact Email:

tle37@cornell.edu

   

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2026-09-04