Senior Sustainability Engineer

At SOM, we are a collective committed to shaping a better future for our clients, communities and planet. We aspire to create the most sustainable, impactful work through creative, interdisciplinary teams with all the resources and diversity of a global firm. We value those who are passionate about excellence, innovation, integrity, inclusivity, and collaboration. Together we can achieve great things.

Success at SOM Means

• Ideas: We believe in a meritocracy of ideas. We look to everyone to actively contribute to the discourse in the firm.

• Knowledge: We believe that expertise is the result of lifelong learning. We are not expected to know everything, but rather to passionately pursue answers, develop new skills and deepen our knowledge.

• Product: We strive for excellence in the concept, quality, and delivery of our work.

• Individual: We value individuals who bring the highest standards of professionalism and personal integrity in the way they work. Each person can develop and contribute their wealth of attributes, skills and knowledge to support the overall health of the firm.

• Team: We value the power of interdisciplinary integration. A positive team culture in which everyone collaborates openly towards common goals is essential.

• Firm: We have a history of making transformative contributions to the profession and our communities. We are constantly innovating and attempting to bring new approaches, solutions and processes to our work.

Position Responsibilities

• Collaborates with the MEP engineering studio and other design studios in delivering/documenting green building technologies and strategies for their projects.

• Performs Analysis of day lighting and solar radiation for building and master planning projects.

• Performs and provides oversight on detailed energy simulations to assess the impact of energy efficiency measures.

• Compares and assesses performance of various HVAC system designs and remains current on latest HVAC technology

• Performs and provides oversight on thermal comfort analysis at the building and master planning scale.

• Performs and provides oversight on heat transfer and moisture migration analysis on envelope components.

• Understands in detail heat transfer and how it impacts envelope design.

• Performs and provides oversight on detailed calculation to assess applicability of renewable technologies and relative energy yields.

• Remains current on issues related to sustainable and green building design, US Green Building activities and various versions of the LEED Green Building Rating System.

• Remains current on the development of new sustainability rating systems.

• Remains current on energy savings and renewable technologies.

• Collaborate with contractors, cost estimators and others to ensure specified strategies are cost effective from an early stage and add to the internal database of cost metrics.

• Performs graphic tasks as required.

• Prepares sustainability presentations and written reports.

• Provides formal verbal presentations to clients. and written reports for sustainable design projects.

• Develops and implements an internal sustainability and green building curriculum for the firm as a whole.

• Coordinate work on assigned projects, with architectural team and other disciplines.

• Provides mentorship, guidance and training to junior staff.

• Gains exposure within the industry on issues related to sustainability (publications; participation in networking events, etc.)

Leadership Responsibilities

• Inspires and leads others by example, participates in staff mentoring and training, clearly defines team member expectations and responsibilities, empowers others, and delegates where appropriate based on team members’ recognized abilities and potential.

• Directly supervises staff and is committed to direct reports’ professional development.

• Develops and engages in talent strategy to find specialists, leaders, and future professionals for the firm through resume review and interviews.

• In collaboration with team members, develops a clear and consistent work plan to achieve the project budget, deliverables, and schedule.

• Actively engages in internal and external professional development opportunities.

• Contributes to the implementation of sustainable strategies in all project assignments and the associated development of staff knowledge.

• Contributes to the development of standards, policies, and procedures.

• Protects SOM from financial and legal risk.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in architecture, engineering, environmental engineering or other related field is required; Master’s Degree in architecture, engineering, environmental engineering or other related field is preferred.

• Professional licensure; LEED accreditation strongly preferred.

• Minimum 6 years of experience or equivalent knowledge, skills and abilities in sustainable design and/or mechanical system design.

• Demonstrated knowledge of sustainable and green building design and/or construction.

• Demonstrated knowledge and use of the LEED Green Building Rating System and/or other green building rating systems.

• Demonstrated ability to perform independent research on sustainability on environmentally preferred alternative materials and strategies for building design, construction and operation.

• Demonstrated ability to work in a team and provide guidance to junior team members

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills and commitment to work within the integrated design team structure.

• Demonstrated experience with building simulation tools such as EnergyPlus, Radiance, Diva, Ecotect, Virtual Environment, THERM, WUFI and/or computational fluid dynamics software programs.

• Proficiency in AutoCAD, Rhino, PowerPoint, Excel, and the Adobe Creative Suite.

For more about SOM: www.som.com

Portfolios must be submitted for all design positions (Architecture, Interiors, Planning, etc). Applications without work samples will not be reviewed.  Portfolios should be one PDF attachment, 10-20 pages, maximum 5 MB. Submit portfolios as part of your application in the section where the application asks you for your Resume or CV.