Facilities Engineer
Career Area: Engineering
Occupation Group: Mechanical and Related Engineers
Salary
Percentile wages tell how much a certain percentage of an overall population in a geographic area or within a given industry or field makes. The percentile wage estimate is the value of a wage below which a certain percent of workers fall.
An example would be the 25th percentile, 25 percent of workers employed in that occupation earn less and 75 percent earn more than the estimated wage value. At the 75th percentile, 75 percent of workers employed in that occupation earn less and 25 percent earn more than the estimated wage value.
A typical Facilities Engineer earns the following wages (national and state):
State
The average salary in North Carolina for those pursuing this career is $70,142
National
The average salary in the United States for those pursuing this career is $77,764
What Does a Professional in this Career Do?
Supports engineering activities surrounding planning design and maintenance of plant facilities.
Employment Trends
The job demand and job growth statistics shown here were derived from job posts over the past year. Expected job growth projections are extrapolated from year-over-year job post listing history.
Job demand and job growth is expected at the following rates:
| Location | Growth | |
|---|---|---|
| North Carolina | 50 | +8.5% |
| Nationwide | 1977 | +4.1% |
Skills
A professional in this position typically utilizes the following skills in the course of everyday work in this exciting and challenging field:
Baseline Skills
The following are baseline skills every Facilities Engineer is expected to have in order to experience success in this field:
- Communication Skills: The ability to convey information to another effectively and efficiently.
- Physical Abilities: Physical Abilities, which refers to the ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with the body, arms, and/or legs. These abilities often require strength, endurance, flexibility, balance and coordination.
- Problem Solving: Problem solving consists of using generic or ad hoc methods, in an orderly manner, for finding solutions to problems.
- Troubleshooting: Troubleshooting or dpanneuring is a form of problem solving, often applied to repair failed products or processes on a machine or a system.
- Planning: Working experience with the process of thinking about and organizing the activities required to achieve desired goals.
Specialized Skills
These skills are specific to working in this career:
- Repair: Restoration of a broken, damaged, or failed device, equipment, part, or property to an acceptable operating or usable condition or state.
- Mechanical Engineering: Mechanical Engineering, is the discipline that applies engineering, physics, and materials science principles to design, analyze, manufacture, and maintain mechanical systems.
- HVAC: Heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) is the technology of indoor and vehicular environmental comfort.
- Scheduling: Working experience making schedules, which are basic time-management tools, consisting of a list of times at which possible tasks, events, or actions are intended to take place withing an organization.
- Budgeting: Experience planning how the financial resources of a business or department are to be allocated during the next business period.
Distinguishing Skills
Any Facilities Engineer that possesses the following skills will stand out against the competition:
- Electrical Systems: Electrical system design is the design of electrical systems. This can be as simple as a flashlight cell connected through two wires to a light bulb or as involved as the space shuttle. Electrical systems are groups of electrical components connected to carry out some operation.
- Life-Safety Systems: Working experience of Life-Safety Systems, which refers to any interior building element designed to protect and evacuate the building population in emergencies, including fires and earthquakes, and less critical events, such as power failures.
- New Construction: New construction means, for the purposes of determining insurance rates, structures for which the start of construction commenced on or after the effective date of an initial FIRM or after December 31, 1974, whichever is later, and includes any subsequent improvements to such structures.
- Ventilation: Ventilation is the process by which clean air (normally outdoor air) is intentionally provided to a space and stale air is removed. This may be accomplished by either natural or mechanical means.
- Plumbing Systems: Plumbing is any system that conveys fluids for a wide range of applications.
Experience
This position typically requires the following level of experience. The numbers presented in the pie charts below were derived from actual job posts over the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.
| Experience Required | % |
| 0 to 2 years | 30% |
| 3 to 5 years | 47% |
| 6 to 8 years | 13% |
Many of the programs offered through NC State are designed for working professionals who need additional credentials to enhance existing work experience.
Students who do not have the expected level of experience may wish to look into internship and employment opportunities.
Common Job Titles
It is possible to find work in this field in positions commonly listed as the following job titles:
- Facility Engineer
- Critical Facility Engineer
- Mechanical Engineer
- Senior Mechanical Engineer - Data Centers/Mission Critical
- General Engineer
Similar Occupations
If you are interested in exploring similar occupations, you may want to research the following job titles: