Associate Controls Engineer

University of Minnesota

Minneapolis, MN

Estimated pay: Est. $30–$39/hr (market estimate, not employer-stated)

Shift: Full time

Required

• A two-year technical degree/certificate in Electronics, HVAC, or Building Maintenance with at least four years of experience in building systems and pneumatic/direct digital controls service work or related Bachelor’s plus at least two years of related experience or a combination of related education and work experience to equal at least six years
• Experience installing and maintaining one or more of the following DDC systems is required: Siemens, Johnson Controls, Trane, Honeywell, or equivalent product line.
• Must be knowledgeable of PC based software for energy efficient HVAC control strategies and monitoring.
• Must maintain low voltage electrician certification.
• Skill and experience using electronic testing equipment is required.
• A valid driver's license is required.

Preferred

• Ability to troubleshoot DDC hardware and software problems, network and communication concerns for Siemens, Honeywell, Johnson Controls, Trane and similar systems.
• Knowledge of programming languages used in Direct Digital Controls systems such as PPCL, LCT and Supervisory Controller Programming.
• Ability to apply newly developed technologies in HVAC&R and DDC.
• Ability to think independently, be self-motivated, and perform under minimal supervision.
• Strong organization, analytical, problem solving, and technical skills.
• Excellent customer service skills including responding to questions and inquiries from other employees and customers in a helpful, timely and courteous manner.
• Ability to coordinate and prioritize multiple assigned tasks to keep projects on schedule.
• Ability to work as a team player in a fast-paced, deadline driven environment.
• Ability to gather and analyze information.
• Knowledge of computer networks and building automation networks.
• Knowledge and skill using a personal computer
• Knowledge of Microsoft Office suite including Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills.

Energy Management oversees the reliable, safe and efficient operation of mechanical, electrical, and civil utilities systems in over 200 complex buildings on the Twin Cities campus. Home to the University’s technical and professional engineering staff, as well as a select group of skilled tradespeople, the group maintains the campus utility infrastructure and provides technical and engineering expertise to the U’s Capital Planning, Facilities Management building operations, and other facilities-related units across the U of M system. The Twin Cities campus consumes more than $50 million per year in purchased utilities, with electricity and steam making up most of these costs. The infrastructure required to reliably and safely distribute this energy includes more than twelve miles of underground steam tunnels and four high voltage (13,800 Volt) switch stations. The Utility Operations group manages and maintains this complex infrastructure, as well as overseeing storm water management, sanitary sewer systems, municipal water distribution, chilled water distribution and compressed air systems.

This position provides technical support, DDC programming installation, troubleshooting, maintenance and repair for Direct Digital Control (DDC) systems, networking and Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration systems (HVAC&R). The position will help develop, document and program control strategies for optimizing mechanical systems performance, prepare specifications and serve as a technical support resource for the Facilities Management Team. The position will also assist with equipment startup commissioning/re-commissioning to validate and document/report that building system performance meets the design intent.

Position Responsibilities

Operational Support (35%)

• Provide operational support for Direct Digital Control (DDC), Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration (HVAC&R), Building Automation and electro-mechanical systems.
• The position tests, maintains, calibrates, repairs, and operates DDC systems for mechanical, electrical, and fire/life safety systems to optimize system performance, maintain building comfort levels, and monitor critical alarms such as fire, mechanical/electrical equipment failure, clean rooms, critical research equipment and hazardous materials.
• Design dynamic graphics per technical specifications and support the feature set of the DDC application to improve reporting and monitoring for various groups of personnel.
• Work with district engineering staff to assist them in the development of technical solutions for their business needs.

Technical Consulting & Energy Strategies (25%)

• Provide technical consulting for multi-platform automation systems, and building automation systems networks.
• Implement energy savings programming strategies in DDC (Johnson, Siemens, Honeywell, Tridium, Trane, etc.) controllers at the direction of district engineering staff.
• Assist in the development of procedures and policy guideli