Stephen Schanes

Background

About Stephen Schanes

Hi, my name is Steve Schanes. I work as a Commissioning Engineer for Group14 Engineering in Denver, CO. I work to ensure HVAC, plumbing, and smoke control systems meet the design intent and are functioning properly at the tail end of building construction per IECC and LEED commissioning requirements. I enjoy working on a variety of different buildings including airports, multi-family apartments, schools, and more in addition to the opportunity to think on my feet in the field. Before working at Group14, I worked for Jacobs one of the largest engineering consulting firms in the pharmaceutical industry. From Oct 2021 to Dec 2022, I worked as a project engineer (also known as design manager at Jacobs) for a large greenfield contract drug manufacturing organization (CDMO) fill/finish facility. My favorite part of this position was being able to interact with intelligent and hard-working managers, engineers, procurement staff, sub-contractors, and vendors each day from many organizations. My primary responsibilities included the following: presenting project action items in bi-weekly meetings and tracking them to completion; facilitating communication between engineering disciplines and client counterparts; ensuring RFI's and submittals from vendors and sub-contractors were receiving proper response; and ensuring that rigorous internal checks were performed on all documents issued to the client. Project engineering requires a diverse skillset to meet continually new challenges and I worked to support the people around me to the best of my ability. I began my professional career as a piping specification engineer for Jacobs in 2019 developing hygienic and non-hygienic specs in compliance with professional standards such as ASME BPE and industry best practices such as cGMP. Working as a specification engineer allowed me to develop my technical writing ability and gave me an understanding of the importance of quality early in engineering design. While working as a piping engineer, I volunteered for an 18 week assignment as an assistant turnover manager on a COVID19 vaccine manufacturing facility during the height of the pandemic. It was this field experience that strengthened many of the skills that I would use as a project engineer later, namely interpersonal communication, organization, and strong quality drive. Thank you for reading!