Central Mechanical Plant Manager in Richmond, Virginia at Atlantic Constructors, Inc.

Atlantic Constructors, Inc.
Until Filled (EST)
608 - Special Projects Plumbing & Piping
1401 Battery Brooke Parkway, Richmond, VA, USA
Full Time

At ACI we build our company and our culture not by counting people, but by making our people count! Atlantic Constructors is seeking dynamic, motivated, career minded individuals to join our expanding team! Atlantic Constructors has been recognized as an industry leader in the Mid-Atlantic Region for over 50 years. Benefits: $0.00 COST FOR MEDICAL, DENTAL, SHORT TERM DISABILITY & LIFE INSURANCE (EMPLOYEE ONLY) COVERAGE! Dental Insurance Plan Vision Insurance Plan 401(K) Retirement Plan with Generous Company Matching Health Savings Plan with Generous Company Matching Wellness Programs Atlantic Constructors offers competitive benefits, for more information check out our comprehensive list on our website. ACIBuilds.com

Position Summary

The Manager – Chiller & Central Plant Services is responsible for developing, leading, and growing the company's Chiller and Central Plant Services group. This position serves as the company's senior technical resource for chiller systems and central utility plants while building the technical capabilities of the technicians assigned to the group.

The Manager provides hands-on technical leadership, troubleshooting, commissioning support, and maintenance planning, and develops a structured training and mentoring program that produces a highly capable team of chiller and central plant technicians. A significant focus is mission-critical facilities-including data centers-where reliability, redundancy, documentation, safety, and rapid response are essential.

Initially, assigned technicians will report directly to this Manager. As the group matures, the reporting structure and supervisory responsibilities are expected to evolve in line with the growth objectives described below.

The successful candidate combines advanced chiller and central plant expertise with leadership, teaching ability, customer communication skills, and a strong commitment to developing others.

Systems & Equipment Scope

The equipment and systems supported by this group-referenced throughout this description-include:

• Centrifugal, screw, scroll, and reciprocating chillers; air-cooled and water-cooled
• Cooling towers, condenser-water, and heat-rejection systems
• Chilled-water distribution and primary, secondary, and variable-primary pumping systems
• Boilers, hot-water, heat exchangers, and hydronic equipment (pumps, VFDs, valves)
• Central plant controls, BAS interfaces, and plant sequencing/optimization
• Refrigeration systems and controls; refrigerant management
• Water-treatment coordination; heat-recovery and energy-recovery systems

Key ResponsibilitiesTechnical Leadership

• Serve as the company's senior technical resource for commercial and industrial chiller and central plant systems.
• Lead complex diagnostics, troubleshooting, repairs, overhauls, startups, commissioning, and performance resolution.
• Evaluate equipment condition and recommend repair, overhaul, replacement, modernization, or operational improvement.
• Review operating data-trends, alarms, approach temperatures, flows, pressures, refrigerant and electrical characteristics, and vibration data-to identify developing problems before failure occurs.

Maintenance Operations

• Develop and lead the company's chiller preventive and predictive maintenance program.
• Establish standardized procedures, inspection requirements, documentation, and service intervals.
• Build equipment-specific maintenance plans based on manufacturer requirements, operating conditions, criticality, age, and customer needs.
• Ensure programs address overall plant performance rather than treating equipment in isolation.
• Support long-term maintenance agreements and central plant service programs across commercial, institutional, industrial, healthcare, mission-critical, and data-center customers.
• Participate in estimating, scope development, manpower planning, and technical review of major opportunities.

Technician Development & Training

• Build and lead a formal Chiller and Central Plant Technician Development Program.
• Assess current technicians' abilities and establish individualized development plans with measurable competency levels and advancement requirements.
• Deliver classroom, shop, manufacturer, and field-based training across refrigeration and chiller theory, hydronics, pumps and pump curves, cooling towers, boilers, electrical and VFD/motor-control troubleshooting, chiller controls and BAS integration, refrigerant management, oil and vibration analysis, tube inspection, water treatment, commissioning, plant sequencing, energy optimization, predictive maintenance, root-cause analysis, and mission-critical operating procedures.
• Teach technicians to understand the complete system rather than simply replacing components.
• Identify technicians with the aptitude to become advanced specialists; develop succession plans to expand the group.
• Promote cross-training among HVAC, controls, electrical, plumbing, and mechanical personnel where appropriate.

Mission-Critical & Data Center Services

• Provide technical leadership for work performed in data centers and other mission-critical facilities, including N+1/2N redundancy, multiple plants, redundant pumping and distribution, and concurrent-maintenance requirements.
• Participate in Method of Procedure (MOP), SOP, EOP, and Job Hazard Analysis (JHA) development and other customer-required planning.
• Coordinate with customers, facility personnel, controls contractors, commissioning providers, manufacturers, engineers, and other trades before performing work that could affect critical operations.
• Promote a zero-unplanned-impact approach to all mission-critical work.

Commissioning, Startup & Troubleshooting

• Support startup, commissioning, retro-commissioning, and recommissioning of chillers and central plant systems.
• Verify equipment operation, control sequences, flows, temperatures, pressures, safeties, alarms, and system integration; assist with functional performance testing.
• Work with controls and commissioning personnel to resolve issues involving equipment, BAS programming, sequencing, sensors, valves, and VFDs.
• Lead root-cause analysis following significant failures or performance problems.

Safety & Environmental Compliance

• Maintain the highest safety standards while performing or supervising work involving refrigerants, electricity, rotating equipment, pressure systems, chemicals, confined spaces, and elevated work.
• Ensure compliance with company safety policies, OSHA, EPA refrigerant regulations, customer requirements, and applicable codes.
• Promote proper refrigerant handling, recovery, documentation, and leak management; ensure lockout/tagout and energy-control procedures are followed.
• Exercise stop-work authority whenever conditions could endanger personnel, equipment, customer operations, or critical infrastructure.

Customer & Business Development Support

• Develop trusted technical relationships with facility managers, plant operators, engineers, general contractors, and data-center operators.
• Participate in customer meetings, equipment evaluations, plant assessments, and technical presentations.
• Assist Service Sales in developing scopes for maintenance agreements, major repairs and overhauls, replacements, upgrades, controls improvements, plant optimization, reliability improvements, and capital planning.
• Provide technically sound recommendations that support long-term relationships rather than unnecessary replacement or short-term sales objectives.

Leadership

• Lead by technical competence, professionalism, accountability, and willingness to teach.
• Set expectations for workmanship, troubleshooting methodology, documentation, customer communication, and jobsite conduct.
• Develop technicians rather than creating dependence on a single senior expert; delegate progressively as competence is demonstrated.
• Conduct technical reviews after difficult calls, failures, and major projects so lessons learned are shared.
• Participate in recruiting and evaluating technicians; assist leadership with manpower planning, tooling, training investment, manufacturer relationships, and growth strategy.

On-Call & Emergency Response

On-call participation for this role is strictly as needed to support the team that is built. Rather than serving in a standing rotation, the Manager provides senior technical escalation and backup so that day-to-day emergency response is handled by the developed group.

• Serve as senior technical escalation for critical equipment failures that exceed the field team's capability.
• Provide backup response as needed while the group's independent capacity is being built.

Minimum Qualifications

• Extensive commercial or industrial HVAC service experience with significant hands-on chiller experience.
• Demonstrated expertise troubleshooting and servicing large-tonnage chiller systems.
• Strong understanding of chilled-water, condenser-water, hydronic, and central plant systems, including centrifugal, screw, air-cooled, and water-cooled chillers.
• Strong electrical and controls troubleshooting capability.
• Ability to read and interpret mechanical drawings, piping diagrams, electrical schematics, control diagrams, sequences of operation, and equipment submittals.
• EPA Section 608 Universal Certification and a strong understanding of refrigerant management.
• Demonstrated ability to train and mentor technicians.
• Strong written and verbal communication; able to interact professionally with customers, engineers, manufacturers, commissioning personnel, and facility operators.
• Valid driver's license and acceptable driving record.

Preferred Qualifications

• 10+ years of commercial/industrial HVAC service experience; 5+ years of significant chiller service experience.
• OEM training or certifications (Trane, Carrier, York/JCI, Daikin, or equivalent).
• Experience with large-tonnage centrifugal chillers and mission-critical or data-center central plants.
• Boiler and hydronic systems experience; BAS and controls experience.
• Vibration analysis, oil analysis, eddy-current testing, or other predictive-maintenance technologies.
• Startup and commissioning experience.
• Previous supervisory, foreman, lead-technician, or technical-training experience.

Physical Requirements & Working Conditions

• Ability to work in mechanical rooms, on rooftops, and in central plants, including confined-space and elevated work.
• Ability to lift and carry tools and equipment, climb ladders, and access equipment in tight spaces.
• Exposure to refrigerants, chemicals, high-voltage equipment, rotating machinery, and varying environmental conditions.
• Ability to respond to emergencies and work extended hours when critical operations require.

Measures of Success

Success is measured not by the Manager's individual technical output, but by the development and performance of the entire group:

• Development of qualified chiller technicians, and growth in the number able to troubleshoot complex equipment independently.
• Quality and consistency of preventive maintenance; reduction in callbacks and repeat failures.
• Customer retention and equipment reliability.
• Quality of service documentation and safe execution of mission-critical work.
• Growth of recurring chiller and central plant maintenance agreements.
• Successful execution of data-center and mission-critical projects.
• Development of standardized procedures and technical best practices.
• Gross margin and financial performance of the group, and expansion of the company's chiller and central plant capabilities.

Position Objective

The long-term objective is to build a recognized, self-sustaining chiller and central plant organization capable of supporting sophisticated commercial, industrial, institutional, and mission-critical customers. The measure of success is not having one exceptional chiller mechanic-it is developing an entire team capable of safely diagnosing, maintaining, repairing, commissioning, and optimizing complex central plant systems while providing customers dependable technical expertise and exceptional service.

Final compensation will be determined based on experience, education, licensure, skills, and other relevant factors

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

An Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer

At this time, Atlantic Constructors, Inc. will not sponsor a new applicant for employment authorization (work visas) for any position.

Atlantic Constructors, Inc. is committed to equal opportunity for all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth or other related medical conditions), genetic information, sexual orientation/gender identity, veteran or marital status, or any other characteristic protected by law. If you would like an accommodation or any assistance in order to apply for a job, please call 1-877-WRK-4ACI for assistance, or fax your requested accommodation to 804-523-8781. Nothing contained herein is to be construed as an offer of employment or a binding contract of employment for a specific period of time. Employment can be terminated by either the employee or the employer at any time, for any reason, with or without notice.

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