Director, Engineering Facilities and Safety

Overview

The Director, Engineering Facilities and Safety is accountable to the Dean of Engineering for safety leadership across the Faculty of Engineering and for the coordination of infrastructure matters with Plant Operations. This role advances a strong safety culture in the Faculty's teaching, research and shop environments, and ensures day-to-day infrastructure needs and capital project interests are effectively represented and coordinated with Plant Operations. The Director provides operational direction (via a dotted-line relationship) to the Faculty's shared technical facilities including the IDEAs Clinic, RoboHub, AVRIL, and GAIA, reporting to a designated faculty advisor for academic and research direction.

Key Responsibilities

• Safety Leadership: Provide Faculty-wide leadership for health, safety and environmental matters across teaching laboratories, research spaces, and shop environments.
• Shop Safety Programs: Lead safety program for the Engineering Machine Shop and the Engineering Student Machine Shop, ensuring safe operating procedures, training, supervision standards, and equipment safeguards are in place and consistently applied.
• Policy and Compliance: Oversee implementation of Policy 34 and the University health, safety and environment management system (HSEMS) within the Faculty; ensure legal and regulatory compliance; monitor performance and address non-compliance promptly.
• Collaboration: Partner with Safety Office and academic units to create a safe educational and research environment; participate as a member of Engineering's Safety Committee and foster a community of practice.
• Emergency Response: Coordinate safety-related emergencies and incidents, including investigation, root-cause analysis, and corrective action.
• Advisory Role: Provide safety-related advice to the Dean, Executive Officer, Chairs/Directors, faculty, staff and students.
• Infrastructure Coordination with Plant Operations: Serve as primary contact with Plant Operations on capital projects affecting Engineering buildings and spaces; translate research and teaching requirements into infrastructure outcomes.
• Infrastructure Operations: Manage day-to-day infrastructure issues, building systems, maintenance, renovations, and service requests with timely communication to affected units.
• Space Planning and Projects: Support input into space planning, retrofit, renewal and new build projects; translate needs into infrastructure outcomes.
• Risk and Maintenance Tracking: Track and escalate infrastructure risks and deferred maintenance impacting safety, operations, or research continuity.
• Advisory on Costs and Trade-offs: Provide guidance to the Dean and Faculty leadership on infrastructure-related decisions, costs, and trade-offs.
• Shared Facilities Operations: Provide dotted-line coordination to IDEAs Clinic, RoboHub, AVRIL, and GAIA; align operational practices, safety standards, and incident reporting across facilities.
• Handling Operational Issues: Support facility leads and escalate to the Dean's Office where appropriate.
• Strategic Initiatives: Advance priority safety and infrastructure initiatives as directed by the Dean; respond promptly during crises; recommend improvements to processes and documentation.
• Human Resource Oversight: Manage staff, recruit and supervise personnel, and provide career development opportunities; maintain operating guidelines in line with university policies.

Required Qualifications

• Education : A university degree in engineering, science, or a related discipline is required.
• Assets : Formal health and safety training or certification (e.g., CRSP, NEBOSH, or equivalent) is an asset.
• Understanding of health and safety considerations related to substances, machinery, and equipment in research and shop environments is required.
• Experience : Minimum 7 years of progressively responsible experience in safety leadership and/or infrastructure/facilities management, preferably in a post-secondary, research, or industrial environment.
• Experience leading safety programs in environments with machine shops, laboratories, or comparable hazards.
• Experience coordinating with central facilities/plant operations groups on capital projects and day-to-day building issues.
• Experience working effectively in a complex academic or matrixed environment with multiple stakeholders.
• Extensive experience in operational leadership, strategic thinking, and change management, with the ability to identify inefficiencies and implement solutions.
• Knowledge/Skills/Abilities : Strong working knowledge of occupational health and safety legislation, HSEMS principles, and University Policy 34 (or equivalent).
• Ability to assess hazards, investigate incidents, and implement corrective actions in shop, lab, and building environments.
• Strong interpersonal, communication, and influencing skills with the ability to build relationships across faculty, staff, students, and central service partners.
• Ability to manage competing priorities and respond effectively to time-sensitive safety and infrastructure issues.
• Sound judgment and discretion to provide clear advice and recommendations to senior leadership.
• Comfort working through dotted-line and matrixed reporting relationships.

Equity and Accessibility

The University of Waterloo acknowledges historical territories and is committed to equity, diversity and inclusion. Applications from members of historically disadvantaged groups, including First Nations, Métis and/or Inuit, women, 2SLGBTQ+, persons with a disability, and other equity-seeking groups are encouraged. We support accessibility for all applicants and employees. If you require accommodations during the application process, contact Human Resources.

Additional Information

Posting information: This posting is for an existing vacancy, with a two-year term and potential secondment/contract opportunity. Internal candidates are reviewed first. For more details, refer to the job posting records. This description preserves the essential duties and required qualifications of the role.