Chief Engineer

Opening in early 2025, The Standard, Brussels marks the hotel brand’s third outpost in Europe. Set in the city’s Northern Quarter, The Standard, Brussels brings the brand’s design, culture and activation-driven philosophy to Belgium.

With 180 guestrooms (plus 20 residences), the modern, new-build project features many stages for The Standard’s renowned day- and nightlife. A ground-floor greenhouse welcomes guests and locals into the lobby lounge, restaurant, and terrace. Upstairs, The Rooftop features its own restaurant, bar and garden—set to become a neighbourhood destination. Throughout the building, additional public and private event spaces are platforms for happenings.

The Standard, Brussels will welcome a new set of creative, dynamic guests into the brand ethos. In Brussels, The Standard’s signature mix of playful, sophisticated, unexpected hospitality finds roots and resonances in local culture. The simple premise behind The Standard is that it is anything but. Founded in 1999, the goals of every Standard are to up the aesthetic stakes and defy convention while attending to every detail, embracing our local communities, providing a welcoming and inclusive environment for our teams and, of course, delivering a smashing good time for our guests.

We are defined by our richness of personality, diversity of background and lifestyle and are now looking for a Chief Engineer who will embody our ‘Anything but Standard’ ethos as we commence our pre-opening period.

Your role

As our Chief Engineer, you will work in partnership with our General Manager and Regional Director of Engineering to oversee the Engineering function of our new property in Brussels. As part of our senior pre-opening team, you will oversee a number of important Engineering and Building projects on our critical path during pre-opening period, to ensure that our pre-opening timelines are maintained and that the hotel opens on schedule. You will also work closely with the wider ZIN development construction team and building ownership to act as an important link between these teams and senior executive team throughout the critical pre-opening phase.

Post opening, your role will focus on the management of our building, facilities and assets with the support of a dedicated engineering team in addition to the wider development facilities team who oversee some of the shared services within the building. Operationally this will involve the management of a team of Duty Engineers and trade specialists who ensure that our product is maintained to the highest standards for all our guests and employees to enjoy. In addition to our inhouse team you will also coordinate the work of contractors and external engineers.

As a trade specialist you will naturally feel comfortable ‘working on the tools’ and have a flexible and adaptive hands-on operational approach in order to lead, guide and continuously train a team of Engineers; you’ll be equally comfortable both front and back of house areas, in plant rooms and kitchens, through to ensuring our guest bedrooms are well maintained and are consistently presented in a pristine condition.

Possessing distinct leadership qualities, you will be passionate about delivering a quality engineering service with a meticulous eye for detail, maintaining your team’s standards through coaching and training in order to achieve the highest levels of service and presentation. You’ll oversee a range of senior management duties under the direction of the General Manager including the implementation of Fire, Health & Safety procedures, safety checks and of course the management of contractors and control of various service level agreements for plant and equipment. From a strategic perspective you will oversee all planned maintenance, projects and manage the Capex budget for the year. This will include the costing of future projects in terms of building works, FF&E and contractor costs.

This is not a ‘Standard’ Chief Engineer position, so you will need to have miles and miles of personality and stamina, be highly social, upbeat and friendly; confident and can handle pressure well; thrive in a high-volume, high-energy environment and able to work equally well both independently and as part of a team.

Do you have what it takes to be our Chief Engineer at The Standard, Brussels?

A minimum of 5+ years’ experience Senior Hotel Engineering experience with at least 3 years as a Chief Engineer or Engineering Manager ideally gained within a similar Lifestyle Hotel or large 4- or 5-star Hotel in Brussels or the Benelux region is essential for this role

In addition to this, the ideal candidate will also…

  • A qualified trade professional; ideally holding trade qualifications/licences for either Electrical, Mechanical, Gas/Plumbing or HVAC combined with a solid understanding of hotel operations, facilities and BMS
  • Experienced of working within a mixed use development would be beneficial
  • Pre-opening Hotel Experience
  • Exceptional project management skills and experience of delivering complex Engineering projects and managing a critical path
  • A solid understanding of Belgium Health & Safety, COSHH, Fire Safety, Building Safety and facilities legislation
  • Experience of creating Risk Assessments and Safe Systems of Work
  • Prior experience of managing a team and prioritising and allocating work (previous use of Knowcross or similar facilities management system)
  • Your communication skills will be exceptional with the ability and confidence to build strong working relationships at all levels of the business
  • In addition to this you will also need to be highly organised with great attention to detail and demonstrate proven experience in the day-to-day management of a large and highly visible team.
  • Exceptional attention to detail with strong Administration and IT skills
  • Fluency in either French and/or Dutch in addition to English is essential for this role
  • During our preopening period you may need to have a flexible approach to working hours

We are defined by our richness of personality and diversity of background and lifestyle so if you think you have what it takes to be a Chief Engineer at The Standard, Brussels we’d love to hear from you.

All applicants must be eligible to live and work in the European Union. Documented evidence of eligibility will be required from candidates prior to commencing employment.

Benefits Include

  • CDI - Contrat à Durée Indéterminée
  • 20 Days Holiday + Public Holidays
  • Meals on Duty (once hotel is open)
  • Worldwide Travel Discounts via The Standard Advantage platform
  • Employee & Family Rates across all Standard and Bunkhouse properties
  • In-house Experience Programme
  • F&B Discounts ranging from 25-50%
  • Recruitment Referral scheme
  • Local Transport benefit
  • Eco-vouchers
  • Social Committee with regular monthly social activities

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