CHIEF PROFESSIONAL ENGINEER - South Florida Water Management District

Are you an Licensed Professional Engineer that wants to be a part of leaving a lasting legacy by working on designs related to the world’s largest ecosystem restoration efforts and the thousands of miles of canals and levees and hundreds of existing water control structures and pump stations that provide flood protection for 9 million residents? You should apply to join the District team, with its diverse workforce and great benefits.

We’re looking for a Professional Engineer with extensive experience in designs of multidiscipline projects that would enjoy working with a team of professionals to participate in design and constructability reviews for implementation of the District’s $4.5 BILLION environmental restoration and capital improvement programs. The successful candidate enables the Bureau to deliver high quality designs of complex projects and assists in streamlining the processes to ensure that engineering consultants design to our standards, best engineering practices and meet the objectives of the projects. The successful candidate also possesses excellent communication skills (both verbal and written), strong interpersonal skills and must be able to multi-task and provide guidance and leadership to the team to meet assigned deadlines.

This position will be involved in review of multidiscipline design projects and standards development for the construction of our unique facilities to support the existing water management system and the construction of water storage impoundments, man-made wetlands, and other infrastructure to support the restoration of America’s Everglades. The designs are heavy on site civil, structural, geotechnical, mechanical and electrical design and construction components.

Selected candidate will be instrumental in ensuring that the multi-discipline practitioners, which includes internal designers and external consultant designers, are providing complete, well documented, quality-controlled deliverables for complex construction projects that are undertaken in support of the agency's core mission of flood control, restoration and water supply. A person in this position must be a leader that’s well-organized, open-minded, decisive, and flexible. Must be able to communicate well with others, work as a team, and lead others by example and direction. Good writing, communication and computer skills are necessary. Extensive knowledge and experience in multi-discipline engineering design is required. A demonstrated track record for having a high level of attention to detail is also required. A thorough understanding of constructability and long-term operations and maintenance processes is highly desirable.

The selected candidate is expected to be a senior expert that demonstrates the highest level of knowledge, creativity and foresight to successfully evaluate engineering projects and processes. This person should have skills to assess the feasibility and soundness of proposed engineering design decisions and calculations, presentation and suitability of designed features, products, and equipment. This position requires the ability to identify errors / malfunctions / omissions and implement corrective actions. A significant part of this work will be to perform reviews of project documents developed by engineers within the work group as well as those developed by external design groups to ensure projects are coordinated and follow industry standards and District practices and guidelines. The Chief Engineer assists management staff of the Bureau in developing and refining standards and internal processes. Other responsibilities may be assigned which provide broader understanding of the infrastructure and built environment that are represented in the design deliverables that are anticipated to be reviewed by this individual. The Chief Engineer may oversee the work of other design reviewers, including internal staff and assigned reviewers provided thru consultant contract work orders.

Technical advice and direction given by this person crosses District boundaries and supervision received is essentially administrative in nature. Incumbent keeps abreast of trends/developments across engineering disciplines, regulatory changes and new technologies. The Chief Engineer manages one’s time strategically and tactically to assure timely execution of assignments in alignment with Bureau level business plans and strategies and reprioritizes workloads to effectively respond to unplanned events, critical operations and/or special work requests.

May be filled as a Principal Engineer or Lead Engineer.

Employment Guidelines:

Chief Engineer: Bachelor's Degree in an Engineering field from an ABET/EAC accredited program and 25+ years of experience that demonstrates measurable career progression within a multidisciplinary engineering role and leadership that can be directly applied to support the District's strategic goals and objectives.

Principal Engineer: Bachelor's Degree in an Engineering field from an ABET/EAC accredited program and 11+ years of experience that demonstrates measurable career progression within a multidisciplinary engineering role and leadership that can be directly applied to support the District's strategic goals and objectives.

Lead Engineer: Bachelor's Degree in an Engineering field from an ABET/EAC accredited program and 8+ years of experience that demonstrates measurable career progression within a multidisciplinary engineering role and leadership that can be directly applied to support the District's strategic goals and objectives.

Disciplines for engineering education and experience requirements include Civil, Structural, Electrical, Mechanical, Construction. Other related engineering degree may be considered if experience is directly related to the above disciplines.

License(s) / Certification(s): 
Valid State of Florida Driver's License required.

Florida PE or ability to obtain by reciprocation within 6 months of hire.

Physical Requirements/ Working Environment:
Due to the District's response role and in the total scope of emergency management, this position may at times, be required to provide support before, during and after major storm events and emergency situations, such as hurricanes or other declared emergencies, depending on assigned emergency response role.

Working environment is typically office oriented but incumbent will be required to perform field work at remote projects sites with exposure to a hot and humid environment in remote areas in support of project design development and construction.

Veterans’ Preference:
Pursuant to Chapter 295, Florida Statutes, candidates eligible for Veterans’ Preference will receive preference in employment for vacancies and are encouraged to apply.  Candidates claiming Veterans’ Preference must attach supporting documentation with each submission that includes character of service (for example, DD Form 214 Member Copy #4) along with any other documentation as required by Rule 55A-7, Florida Administrative Code.  All documentation is due by the close of the job posting.