Director, Environmental Services

Swarthmore College is a highly selective liberal arts college located in the suburbs of Philadelphia, whose mission combines academic rigor with social responsibility. Swarthmore has a strong institutional commitment to inclusive excellence and nondiscrimination in its educational program and employment practices and encourages candidates who will further advance the goal of fostering a diverse and inclusive community. As one of the nation’s finest institutions of higher learning, Swarthmore College is global in outlook and draws students from around the nation and world. The 425‐acre campus is a designated arboretum, complete with gardens, rolling lawns, a creek, wooded hills, and hiking trails in the Crum Woods.

Who We Are:

The Environmental Services Department is part of the Facilities Management and Capital Planning Group.  The group has overall responsibility for the Swarthmore College campus, buildings and grounds.  Daily cleaning and maintenance operations and campus construction are conducted to high sustainability standards; keeping care of the College community and environmental stewardship at the forefront.  Each of the departments:  Environmental Services, Sustainable Maintenance, Grounds, The Scott Arboretum and Sustainable Capital Planning and Project Management, are led by departmental Directors who are close collaborators and peers of the Director of Environmental Services. 

Swarthmore College campus includes over 50 buildings, 1,800,000 gross square feet of space on 425 acres that includes the bucolic Scott Arboretum. The College seeks a Director of Environmental Services to lead a team of professionals to steward the evolution of the College’s campus to realize its strategic vision.

Swarthmore College is engaged in an aspirational and robust capital construction program that includes replacing the College’s combustion steam district energy system with district carbon-free geoexchange, Retiring the College’s Accumulated Deferred Maintenance through the Campus Renewal Program, and the adaptive reuse of Martin Hall.  Planning efforts are underway for significant, phased upgrades to the College’s Athletics Complex.  The College has recently completed a strategic plan that will lead to a campus master planning effort to guide the next decade of the capital program.  All this is conducted with a sharp focus on environmental sustainability and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.  It is an exciting time to be at Swarthmore College!

The opportunity:

Reporting to the Associate VP for Sustainable facilities Operations and Capital Planning, the Director accomplishes this by working with campus stakeholders and various consultants, guides the environmental services team that provides an optimal campus environment in academic, research, athletic, auxiliary and residential spaces to support the College’s high academic standards. 

The ideal candidate has vast experience and knowledge in daily cleaning operations, project cleaning and task organization in an institutional facilities management group.  The person will have strong and creative leadership, budget development and management experience, analytical and problem solving competency, sustainability and environmental stewardship as a core value, and is a strong communicator.  Experience in working within an institutional setting is preferred. The ideal candidate is ready to step into this dynamic role and lead the College’s dynamic and diverse environmental services team.

Essential Responsibilities

• Directs the operation and administrative functions of Environmental Services to ensure the efficient and economical functioning of the 100+-member department.
• Develops and sustains a workplace of equity, trust, and collaboration and develops a cohesive and collaborative team.
• Manages and conducts staff annual performance evaluations and maintains accurate and updated employee records.
• Applies standard policies or procedures and creates new procedures for resolving problems or performing tasks that have no precedence.
• Consults and partners with Human Resources on matters related to recruitment, employee relations and staff development and works closely with the Manager of Administration on staffing issues to ensure proper operational procedures are adhered to.
• Financial oversig