HVAC Design Engineer

Job Description

**THE OPPORTUNITY**

* **Step into a fast-growing engineering group with the backing of an $8 billion public company.**This is a small, entrepreneurial engineering unit inside a large, stable organization, real autonomy over your work, with real resources behind you.
* **This is not consulting engineering.**The firm designs and self-performs its own restoration projects nationwide, no architect-driven production packages, no throwing a design over the fence to someone else to build.
* **What you design here gets built, not filed away.**You carry a project from field data to a finished result, and you're trusted to make the call along the way.
* **Travel that respects your life.**This is not a road-warrior role. Expect occasional national midweek travel, supplemented by digital remote site walkthroughs that cut travel even further.
* **A genuine, not aspirational, growth path.**The engineering department is scaling nationally right now. Someone joining at this stage gets direct access to engineering leadership and a real hand in shaping how the department runs for years to come.
* **Work on unique challenges of real equipment.**The projects involve restoring/renovating existing HVAC systems in hospitals, universities, manufacturing plants, and other mission-critical facilities for maximum impact rather than simply "value engineering" new builds to drive cost down.
* **A connected team, not a silo.**Engineers here work directly with estimating, field operations, project management and sales. You'll never be stuck three layers removed from the people actually running the project.

**WHAT YOU'LL DO**

* Review field engineers' performance assessment reports and validate the data before design work begins.
* Specify and design air handling unit restorations, fan array selection, coil replacement, and temporary conditioning plans for facilities that can't afford downtime.
* Oversee production of AutoCAD drawings and engineering packages for restoration projects.
* Support estimating, operations, and sales, join customer calls as the engineering voice that gives building owners confidence in the plan.
* Participate in occasional site visits and field investigations, along with remote digital assessments.
* Help build the internal engineering standards, templates, and tools the department will run on as it grows nationally.

**THE RIGHT CANDIDATE**

**Education \& Technical Skills**

* A Bachelor's degree in Engineering is required: Mechanical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering Technology, or Architectural Engineering preferred; other engineering degrees (Civil, Structural, Electrical) with genuine, demonstrated mechanical depth are also considered.
* A minimum of 5 years of relevant experience is required. Candidates who are an Engineer Intern (EI/EIT) rather than a licensed PE are welcome and encouraged to apply: a PE is a plus, not a requirement, for this role.
* Hands-on proficiency in AutoCAD is required.
* Direct experience with existing-building HVAC systems and retrofit work is required. This is not a new-construction design role.
* A genuine, conversational command of HVAC fundamentals (pumping schemes, VFD controls, coil and fan selection) is required.
* Experience with energy-modeling software (such as Trane Trace, EnergyGauge, or COMcheck) is a meaningful plus.
* A background with a design-build contractor or an organization with in-house engineering is a strong plus.
* Experience with healthcare, data center, or other mission-critical facilities is a plus.

**Personal Traits \& Attributes**

* An ownership mentality: you talk about your work as yours, not something assigned to you, and you take responsibility for outcomes, not just tasks.
* A bias toward action: comfortable moving quickly and course-correcting rather than over-polishing before showing your work.
* A genuinely collaborative style: you don't retreat into a narrow lane when something outside your desk needs solving.
* A builder's mindset: you get real satisfaction from making something repeatable for whoever picks it up next, not just finishing the task in front of you.
* A real curiosity about older equipment, not just new builds.
* Able and willing to travel about once a month, midweek nights only
* Willing to live/relocate to the Tampa area -- this is NOT a remote role