Director of Facilities
The Seattle Aquarium, a leading marine conservation organization, is looking for a Director of Facilities to join the Facilities Team. The Seattle Aquarium’s physical facilities and associated equipment in concert with the departmental personnel provide foundational infrastructure to facilitate delivery of the aquarium’s mission: Inspiring conservation of our marine environment. The facilities team works diligently to safely maintain, operate, and secure the Aquarium’s campus and offsite facilities..
Functions & Responsibilities
Essential Functions
Team management and collaboration
Lead, collaborate with, direct, and support the maintenance, operations, safety, security, and exhibits teams/functions. Creating and promoting a positive, supportive, and inclusive work environment.
Foster professional growth of others through coaching and mentoring, providing feedback, training and professional development, accountability, team culture, and maintaining high performance standards.
Actively and effectively support internal and external collaboration and partnership to operate and maintain the facilities and infrastructure in alignment with best practices.
Champion the advancement of the organization’s regenerative and equity practices.
Provide leadership in strengthening internal communications with staff throughout the organization while meeting the needs of diverse communication styles.
Other Duties & Responsibilities
Facilities operations, safety, security, and exhibits
Oversee day-to-day operations of the Aquarium facilities, ensuring a world-class experience for visitors and staff.
Work cross-departmentally to update and/or create and implement facilities-related processes and procedures to promote efficient operations.
Provide oversight for our safety function to ensure with federal, state, and local regulatory agencies as they pertain to our facilities and operations. Actively examine safety practices using an equity lens, improving accessibility and inclusion, and encouraging diversity in thought and perspectives.
Work alongside security team to continue to develop the security processes and procedures, enhance physical site security, and collaborate with external partners to deliver a secure environment for staff, volunteers, and guests.
Collaborate with VP of Facilities and Operations, engineering team, and facilities operations staff to develop and implement standards of care and service level agreements for delivery of facilities-related services.
Author, review, and manage facilities contracts. Collaborate with external vendors, contractors, and service providers to ensure the timely and efficient completion of facility-related projects and maintenance tasks.
Participate in development, management, and leadership of facilities and exhibits-related capital projects.
Develop and maintain emergency response plans and procedures to address various scenarios, including natural disasters and security incidents.
Strategic thinking, planning & development
Serve as an active and collaborative member of the Aquarium’s management team to establish the short- and long-term strategic goals for the Aquarium’s facilities team and to manage and evaluate operations modeling cross-functional integration and collaborative ways of working.
Define tasks and milestones to achieve objectives, considering impacts on all areas of the Aquarium operations while ensuring the optimal use of resources.
Prepare and manage departmental budget, aligning four team budgets within the scope of the departmental budget, ensuring effective and responsible fiscal practices, including development and management of the annual capital maintenance budget.
Serve on, and at times lead, various cross-departmental teams and working groups. Including, but not limited to, safety committee, exhibits committee, daily operations advisory group, etc.
Proactively adapt to meet changing business requirements, facilitating the implementation and acceptance of change within the workplace. Seek to continuously improve processes and practices and respond to challenges and opportunities with innovative solutions.
Lead, advance and integrate diversity, equity, inclusion, and regenerative practices throughout team management, processes, and facilities projects. All Aquarium staff and volunteers are expected to participate in advancing and integrating into their work Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Regenerative practices in alignment with our S.A.L.I.S.H. Values.
Other duties as assigned.
Skills & Experience
Knowledge & Skills
Culturally responsive leadership and management skills, with demonstrated experience supervising and mentoring staff at multiple levels, including team development, career progression, and interdisciplinary teams.
Experience executing multi-faceted plans, projects, and initiatives across a complex organization.
Experience with environmental health and safety compliance
Experience implementing sustainable practices into operations.
Demonstrated history of implementing new ways of thinking and engagement while alternating strategic and tactical perspectives.
Deep understanding of resource management in terms of time, effort, and budget. Evidence of strategic decision making in allocation and tracking of resources. Solutions-oriented approach in addressing near- and long-term goals of the department.
Demonstrates an understanding of the Aquarium’s Mission and Values, including Regenerative and Equity work. Strong ability to build and maintain positive, respectful relationships with people from diverse backgrounds. Ability to approach others from an empathetic, authentic and curious perspective.
A preference for Multilingual applicants and English speakers with comfort and practice communicating across cultural and language barriers.
Education & Experience
We will consider various combinations of relevant experience and education to meet minimum requirements.
At least seven years of cumulative experience, demonstrating continued growth and leadership in facilities management and/or operations management in a complex organization as well as growing responsibility in staff leadership and management.
Job Requirements
Working Conditions
Most work is performed in a typical office setting with frequent interruptions. Other work areas include outdoor environments with the occasional need for travel.
Some exposure to elements as employees are located in campus environment with multiple buildings, outdoor and semi-covered areas, for example moving between Aquarium buildings in all types of weather to participate in meetings.
This position occasionally involves walking and working on uneven, slippery surfaces, climbing up and down ladders and working in a confined space.
On rare occasion must be available to be on-call for emergencies.
Must be flexible for occasional evening, early morning or weekend hours in support of events and projects.
