Assistant Vice President, Mechanical Engineer - Buildings

This Opportunity

WSP is currently initiating a search for an Assistant Vice President, Mechanical Engineer to join our growing Property & Buildings Healthcare Team in Cleveland, Ohio, with an alternate location in Columbus, Ohio.

This opportunity is ideal for a senior mechanical engineering leader with extensive healthcare facility experience who is passionate about delivering innovative, resilient, and sustainable healthcare environments. The successful candidate will provide technical and strategic leadership, project and operational oversight, business development support, and client relationship management while helping expand WSP's Healthcare practice throughout Ohio and the broader Midwest.

As an Assistant Vice President, you will serve as a trusted advisor to healthcare clients, lead multidisciplinary project teams, mentor engineering staff, and collaborate with local, regional, and national leadership. You will oversee the delivery of complex healthcare projects while contributing to business growth, staffing strategies, client relationships, operational excellence, and market expansion.

Your Impact

Technical Leadership

• Serve as a senior mechanical engineering leader for healthcare projects across Ohio and the broader Midwest region.

• Lead the planning, design, coordination, and delivery of complex healthcare mechanical systems through all project phases.

• Function as Engineer of Record and/or Mechanical Discipline Lead on complex, multidisciplinary healthcare projects.

• Review and approve mechanical calculations, specifications, studies, and design documentation.

• Provide technical oversight for HVAC, hydronic, plumbing, medical gas, building automation, energy recovery, and central utility systems.

• Oversee construction administration activities, including submittal review, RFIs, field observations, testing and balancing coordination, commissioning support, punch lists, issue resolution, and closeout.

• Ensure compliance with healthcare design standards, industry regulations, and applicable codes.

Project & Operational Leadership

• Manage project budgets, schedules, staffing plans, deliverables, scope, fees, and quality objectives.

• Provide oversight of project execution, profitability, risk management, change management, and financial performance.

• Lead project reviews, QA/QC efforts, and technical excellence initiatives.

• Promote compliance with WSP health, safety, quality, and risk-management policies and contractual obligations.

• Support contract negotiations, scope and fee development, project delivery strategies, and corrective actions.

• Ensure successful delivery that meets client expectations, contractual obligations, and business objectives.

Client Leadership & Business Development

• Develop and maintain strong relationships with healthcare clients, architects, contractors, and strategic industry partners.

• Serve as a trusted advisor to healthcare systems and facility owners.

• Support strategic pursuits, including client engagement, capture planning, proposal development, technical narratives, interviews, presentations, scope clarification, and fee development.

• Identify cross-selling opportunities and help grow strategic client accounts.

• Collaborate with local, regional, and national leadership to expand WSP's healthcare market presence.

Talent Development

• Mentor and develop engineers, designers, and technical staff.

• Support recruiting, onboarding, retention, and succession planning initiatives.

• Foster a culture of technical excellence, collaboration, accountability, and innovation.

• Provide leadership and coaching to project teams across multiple offices.

• Support employee growth through training, professional development, and career progression opportunities.

Leadership Responsibilities

• Contribute to strategic planning and healthcare market growth initiatives.

• Support office leadership, workforce planning, and operational objectives.

• Promote innovation, sustainability, resiliency, and infrastructure modernization solutions for healthcare clients.

• Champion WSP's culture, values, technical excellence, quality, and collaboration.

• Exercise responsible and ethical decision-making regarding company funds, resources, and conduct consistent with WSP policies and professional standards.

Healthcare Mechanical Engineering Focus Areas

This role supports projects involving:

• Acute care hospitals

• Academic medical centers

• Children's and pediatric healthcare facilities

• Behavioral health facilities

• Cancer treatment centers

• Ambulatory care and outpatient facilities

• Surgical and procedural facilities

• Medical office buildings

• Research and laboratory facilities

• Central utility plants

• Healthcare campus infrastructure programs

• Facility modernization, expansion, resiliency, and decarbonization initiatives

Key technical areas include:

• Airborne infection isolation and pressure-control strategies

• Operating room and procedural-space HVAC systems

• Critical environment design

• Heating and chilled water systems

• Plumbing and medical gas systems

• Central utility and thermal plant systems

• Building automation and control systems

• Sustainability and carbon reduction initiatives

• Facility resiliency and redundancy planning

• Commissioning and turnover support

Who You Are

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in Mechanical Engineering, Architectural Engineering, or a related discipline.

• 10+ years of progressive mechanical engineering experience in building systems design.

• Professional Engineer (P.E.) license in at least one U.S. jurisdiction required; Ohio licensure, or the ability to obtain it within a reasonable period after hire, is preferred.

• Significant experience designing and overseeing healthcare mechanical systems.

• Strong understanding of HVAC, hydronic, plumbing, medical gas, building automation, central utility, and healthcare facility operations.

• Working knowledge of healthcare facility requirements and applicable codes and standards, including FGI Guidelines, NFPA standards, ASHRAE healthcare applications, local authority requirements, accreditation considerations, infection-control risk assessment considerations, and healthcare phasing strategies.

• Demonstrated success leading complex, multidisciplinary healthcare projects through all phases of delivery.

• Experience serving as a client-facing project leader and trusted advisor.

• Strong project management, financial management, risk management, and team leadership abilities.

• Experience supervising, mentoring, and developing engineering professionals.

• Excellent verbal, written, presentation, and relationship-building skills.

• Demonstrated ability to build and maintain client relationships.

• Working familiarity with Revit, AutoCAD, and mechanical design and analysis tools used to deliver and review building-system designs.

• Ability to travel occasionally to client sites, WSP offices, and project locations as business needs require.

Preferred Qualifications

• LEED Accredited Professional (LEED AP) or comparable sustainability expertise.

• Experience delivering major hospital and academic medical center projects.

• Experience with healthcare master planning, campus infrastructure, resiliency, and facility modernization programs.

• Existing relationships with healthcare clients, architects, and contractors throughout Ohio or the Midwest.

• Proven experience supporting business development, strategic pursuits, proposal preparation, and client account growth.

• PMP certification or equivalent project management experience.

• Experience leading large, multidisciplinary engineering teams.

• Active involvement in relevant professional organizations such as ASHE, ASHRAE, ASPE, or similar industry groups.

WSP Benefits:  

WSP provides a comprehensive suite of benefits focused on a providing health and financial stability throughout the employee’s career. These benefits include coverage related to medical, dental, vision, disability, and life; retirement savings; paid sick leave; paid vacation (or other personal time); paid parental leave; and paid time off for purposes of bereavement, voting, and/or attendance at naturalization proceedings.  

Compensation: 

Expected Salary (all locations): $125,900 - $187,000 

WSP USA is providing the compensation range that the company in good faith believes it might pay and offer for this position, based on the successful applicant’s education, experience, knowledge, skills, abilities in addition to internal equity and specific geographic location. WSP USA reserves the right to ultimately pay more or less than the posted range and offer additional benefits and other compensation, depending on circumstances not related to an applicant’s sex or other status protected by local, state, and/or federal law.

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