Leadership role
Director of Engineering
Directs an engineering function, such as facilities and plant engineering in a hospital or campus or software and product engineering in a technology-focused nonprofit.
Reporting and scope
Typically reports to the Director of Facilities, VP of Facilities, COO, CIO / CTO or VP of Engineering, depending on the type of engineering. Authority covers the engineering staff and the systems they maintain or build.
Core responsibilities
- Manages engineering staff and outside contractors
- Plans capital projects and maintenance or development roadmaps
- Keeps building systems or software in line with codes, security and accreditation standards
- Prepares the engineering budget and capital requests
- Manages vendor contracts and procurement, including rules that apply to federally funded work
- Reports on system reliability and risk to leadership
How it differs
Director of Facilities covers the whole physical plant including housekeeping and space, while Director of Engineering covers technical systems. Director of IT runs internal technology services rather than engineering products. VP of Engineering is the executive tier above.
By organization size
In smaller organizations engineering is often folded into facilities or IT. Large hospitals, universities and research institutes have dedicated engineering directors with specialist teams.
Filings from the last five years mapped to this role commonly report titles such as: Director of Engineering; Dir of Engineering; Engineering Director; Director, Engineering; Director Engineering; Dir Engineering