Project Development Engineer

Job Description

The Project Development Engineer participates as a leader of the Project Development Team to achieve department and project objectives on medium to large projects. Leads engineering, field auditing, data analysis processing, and financial modeling tasks during both preliminary and detailed development of projects. Performs high-level detailed analysis on more complex technical and financial elements, focused on delivering full project value to the customer through bundled programs. Responsible to establish an

ongoing partnership with the customer on assigned projects. Provide leadership and mentorship to other engineers.

Primary Responsibilities

• Provide technical, process and financial analysis support to the Development team during the design process.
• Assist as needed in developing the customer business case for the conceptual solution.
• Lead preliminary and detailed data collection and analysis as well as other specific tasks associated with the detailed development of medium to large projects ($5M-$100M).
• Build and maintain a detailed development budget, scope, and schedule.
• Assist in preparing proposals and other customer communication documents.
• Utilize and develop specialized functional expertise as a development team member.
• Provide a high degree of technical competence in multiple functional areas, capable of assessing design risk and being accountable for all elements of large projects.
• Maintains current knowledge and relationships with subcontracting partners and vendors in the marketplace
• Perform on-site auditing and data collection at customer facilities as required to perform solution design or detailed development tasks.
• Perform detailed engineering and financial analysis to quantify cost savings or other customer benefits. Assist in technical or financial benchmarking as needed.
• Participate in a lead role in developing fee proposals, qualification packages, and RFP/RFQ responses. Participate in interviews and related sales activities.

• Ability to lead portions of customer presentations to all levels of the customers organization (technical, financial, C-level, etc.) as needed.
• Responsible for remaining current with relevant engineering or design standards and practices.
• Maintain relevant professional certifications and licenses (e.g., Professional Engineering licenses).
• Responsibility for the promotion and adherence of safety policies.

Key Competencies and Skills Expectations:

• Fully competent in analysis and assessment of facility mechanical and electrical systems.
• Demonstrated ability to lead engineering teams, work effectively with others, drive for results, focus on the customer, and act professionally and ethically.
• Has demonstrated excellent written and verbal communication skills and is comfortable working in customer-facing situations.
• Computer skills, including a proficient understanding of MS Word, MS Excel, MS PowerPoint, MS Project, building energy modeling tools (eQuest), benchmarking tools, etc.

Requirements:

• Education: Bachelor’s degree in engineering or a related field as appropriate.
• Experience: 15+ years or more experience in designing / selling building systems, energy modeling, construction, or facility management.
• Technical Knowledge: Undergrad experience performing building modeling preferred (example IAC program) Function-specific licenses or certifications preferred (e.g., Professional Engineering license, CEM etc.)
• Travel: Ability to travel approximately 20% - 40%.

Optimum Energy is an Equal Opportunity Employer encouraging diversity in the workplace.

 About the Company

Optimum Energy, a Bernhard Capital Partners portfolio company, has spent 20 years helping hospitals, universities, government facilities, and advanced manufacturing operations reduce energy consumption in heating and cooling systems by up to 50% and turn that infrastructure into a strategic financial and operational asset. With 300+ plants and institutions served globally, nobody understands energy

infrastructure, efficiency, and financial opportunity quite like Optimum Energy.
Our Energy-as-a-Service model converts aging central utility plants into upfront unrestricted cash, cuts utility operating expenses 25 to 35%, and keeps the transaction entirely off the balance sheet. The structure has been confirmed by Big Four auditors and cited by rating agencies as a driver of improved credit outlooks.

We work with clients from master planning and design through implementation, commissioning, and into long-term operations and maintenance. How we show up depends on what the client needs. That could mean fully managed plants with Optimum carrying total accountability for performance and uptime. It could mean supplementing an existing facilities team with engineering support, analytics, training, and escalation resources. Or it could mean a tailored combination of both. In every engagement, we stay for the life of the agreement.

Proprietary technology, including OptiCx and OptimumLOOP, powers everything we do. It is not what we sell. It is what enables us to deliver the most continuous, precise system-level optimization across chilled water, hot water, and steam plants available in the market today. Machine learning algorithms trained on two decades of operational data adapt to load, weather, and occupancy in real time. AI-driven predictive maintenance and fault detection catch equipment degradation before it becomes a problem. We guarantee the performance. We carry the risk.

Behind the technology is a team built on a simple set of principles: be sharp, be relentless, and be accountable for outcomes. Our people are engineers, operators, and financial structurers who would rather solve the hard problem than talk around it. Every engagement gets that same intensity, whether the scope is a single plant or a 26-site enterprise portfolio. For more information, visit www.optimumenergyco.com.

About the Industry
Commercial and institutional HVAC infrastructure is aging faster than organizations can replace it. Hospitals are running central plants built in the 1960s and 70s. Universities carry over $112 billion in collective deferred maintenance nationally. Advanced manufacturing operations face intensifying energy demand from reshoring and facility expansion. Rising energy costs, tightening regulations, sustainability mandates, and a skilled trades labor gap that shows no sign of closing all compound the pressure.

Connected systems are generating more data than most organizations can act on. The capacity to analyze it and translate it into operational decisions requires platforms and people most facilities teams do not have. The industry is not short on ambition or technology. It is short on the capital structures, operational models, and workforce capacity to turn intent into sustained results.
Why Optimum Energy?
With 300+ sites and over 300M square feet of operational data, our machine learning algorithms continuously optimize in real time. No competitor replicates this at scale.

We do not sell software, and we do not sell equipment. We deliver guaranteed outcomes through the convergence of deep engineering expertise, proprietary optimization technology, and financial structures that align our interests directly with those of our clients. That means tailoring solutions to unique financial and operational realities, not forcing a one-size-fits-all model. It means verifiable success across facility design, ongoing operations, and complex deal structuring. And it means protecting client investments by optimizing the 70% of total costs that occur after day one.

Our EaaS contracts transfer construction, performance, and lifecycle risk entirely. No upfront capital. No balance sheet impact. Capital that would have gone to back-of-house infrastructure stays available for the priorities that matter most, whether that is clinical growth, enrollment expansion, or production capacity.

No other firm brings this combination of engineering, technology, operations, and financial structuring under a single partnership.