AV Project Engineer
University of Michigan
How to Apply
A cover letter is required for consideration for this position and should be attached as the first page of your resume. The cover letter should address your specific interest in this position and outline your experiences that directly relate to this position.
Job Summary
The University of Michigan's College of Literature, Science, and the Arts is hiring a Three-Year Term-Limited Intermediate AV Project Engineer to join a diverse team of professionals dedicated to successful design, installation, and systems integration of AV equipment in classrooms, conference rooms, and event spaces across the College of LSA. This position focuses on AV programming (Crestron and API interfaces) to integrate an AV Monitoring platform with LSA's catalog of spaces. You will report to the manager of AV System Integration, Engineering, and Design in LSA Technology Services as you help implement and expand a new system to remotely monitor and support AV technologies in LSA classrooms and conference rooms.
Salary Range: $70,000 - $77,000
Salary will be based on the skills and background of the selected candidate.
Why Work at Michigan?
In addition to a career filled with purpose and opportunity, the University of Michigan offers comprehensive benefits and wellness programs to help you stay well and to support you as you plan for a secure future. Benefits include:
- Generous time off
- A retirement plan that provides two-for-one matching contributions
- Many choices for comprehensive health insurance
- Life insurance
- Long-term disability coverage
- Flexible spending accounts for healthcare and dependent care expenses
- Tuition reimbursement
- Parental leave benefits including up to six weeks of paid parental leave to all eligible parents and legal guardians to bond with a new child.
While you will primarily work from our central campus in Ann Arbor, LSA offers some flexible work options. To support well-being, LSA has a communication standard that limits non-essential emails to weekday business hours.
Responsibilities*
You will join a team of experienced and passionate AV professionals to provide and advance AV system automation programming in LSA classrooms and conference rooms, and help contribute to the in-room technology experience by ensuring that integrated technology solutions perform as designed.
Under the guidance of the Project Lead of the Innomate deployment, you will assist and implement the onboarding of new and existing systems onto our AV System Monitoring Platform (Innomesh), adding requisite code to existing programs and loading programs onto the system, testing, room data gathering, and other tasks. You will also follow established guidelines to implement proper IP address management, network configuration, and security measures.
Under the guidance of the Senior Project Engineers, your focus will be on system commissioning duties for complex integrated AV systems made up of 20+ core subsystems. This will include preparing automation programming (Crestron-based), installation completion, firmware management, configuration tasks on installed equipment, video and audio system performance verifications using proper test instruments, and ensuring the system functions as expected.
You will often delegate routine tasks to AV Technicians and escalate more advanced issues to the Senior Project Engineer leading the programming efforts. You will also contribute by performing troubleshooting and break/fix of programs as assigned.
At times, you will support complex AV projects across LSA and UM, assisting with system design, project leadership and management, installation, maintenance, and troubleshooting. You'll collaborate with project engineers to provide insight and feedback on how systems are working in the field, participating in the development and testing of new equipment/systems, helping the team advance innovation in AV integration, instructional technology, and LSA's Technology Services group as a whole.
Your work will be supported by a strong team culture that values feedback, collaboration, and continuous learning. You'll have dedicated time for professional development and growth through participation in some of the most exciting AV integration projects on campus.
About You
You have a foundation of experience and a variety of skills in AV technology with a focus on AV coding/programming. You have significant experience working on AV integration and maintenance projects, installations, and equipment upgrades. Your working knowledge of principles and procedures of coding/programming AV systems and digital AV technologies will strengthen the team as they complete renovations, new construction, and new installations, and maintain and troubleshoot existing systems. We care about teaching and learning, and need those spaces to work consistently for faculty and students to focus on their activities; to be successful in this position, you will, as well.
As a Project Engineer Intermediate, you demonstrate consistent leadership within the team and with other units, and dedication to teamwork and collaboration to reach the best overall outcome. You demonstrate patience, politeness, and empathy with others, and strive to find common ground and solve problems to meet the mission of the College. You express yourself non-verbally respectfully and attentively, asking clear and relevant questions, clarifying questions, and directions. You are action-oriented and are available/ready to help while acknowledging concerns, assuming ownership, listening, and providing solutions. You listen to, incorporate, and learn from others' ideas and feedback, and analyze successes and failures using them to build and grow.
It will be helpful if you have demonstrated experience working on construction sites and following all required safety regulations, OSHA guidelines, and local job site requirements, as some of our work is located on construction sites.
You will work with people from many different backgrounds, some more technical than others. It will be important that you can talk with people who are dedicated to teaching and learning and conducting research, but who also may not have the AV background. We need to be able to help them understand why we make certain recommendations for equipment and installations.
You might have an Associate's degree or a Bachelor's degree. You might not. The equivalent technical training and relevant AV system programming experience, or equivalent work experience in AV systems automation programming, and equipment setup and configuration, is absolutely acceptable. We care about what you can do and how you do it, not about the journey of how you got where you are. A record of conscientious, collaborative, and thoughtful work speaks volumes.
Required Qualifications*
- Completion of CTI-P201 Crestron programming course or equivalent work experience in AV system programming using SIMPL Windows and VisionTools Pro-e
- Demonstrated ability to develop complete AV automation packages for touchscreen-based control systems, adhering to provided standards (independently or as part of a team; without the use of AI)
- Experience configuring or programming open-architecture audio DSPs (Biamp, Xilica, Q-SYS. etc.)
- Proven ability to configure and troubleshoot digital video and audio distribution technologies, including DisplayPort, Dante, AES67, HDMI, HDBaseT, and AV-over-IP systems
- Solid understanding of networking protocols as they relate to AV systems, including TCP/IP, UDP, DNS, DHCP, and others
- 2-5 years of relevant technology experience or equivalent work experience in one or more of the following areas:
- AV systems integration, support, or installation
- AV or IT project management
- AV system design and drafting
- Video or audio engineering (live or recorded)
- Demonstrated ability to evaluate and solve technical issues in integrated AV systems using creative problem-solving, Tier 2 troubleshooting, and professional AV testing tools (e.g., SPL
meters, impedance meters, A/V generators) - Strong communication skills, with the ability to explain technical issues, guide AV technicians, and assist non-technical users effectively
- History of providing excellent customer service and working successfully in collaborative team environments
Physical Requirements
While this position does focus on coding/programming, it does require the person in this position to be able to move and transport objects such as projectors, screens, monitors, AV racks, and AV podia with a weight of up to 50lbs (frequency of working with the maximum weight may be up to several times a year). The person in this position will also occasionally need to negotiate and ascend/descend a 12-foot ladder to update software on a piece of installed equipment or assist in the installation of AV equipment in classrooms, auditoriums, and departmental spaces. This will occasionally involve maneuvering projectors and other equipment (weight of up to 35 lbs) to the installation location on ceilings and walls. Additional physical requirements also include: Manipulate and install objects overhead such as projectors, projection screens, and television monitors (weighing up to 50 lbs); Travel between buildings during inclement weather; Move cart-based equipment between buildings; Work in enclosed spaces, particularly around installed rack units in enclosed spaces; Work for an extended period of time to access AV racks, panels, and equipment at height of 3 to 7 feet.
Desired Qualifications*
- CTS Certification or other relevant AV certifications (e.g., Dante, HDBaseT, Netgear, etc.)
- Experience with SIMPL#/SIMPL# Pro or CH5 / HTML5 for custom UI and automation development
- Familiarity with other AV control platforms (e.g., Extron, Q-SYS, AMX) or general software development beyond AV (e.g., scripting, web or app development)
- Experience working with AI-assisted development tools
- Understanding of higher education learning space design and instructional technologies (e.g., active learning, hybrid classrooms)
- Experience working on construction sites and following all required safety regulations, OSHA guidelines, and local job site requirements.
Work Schedule
We feel strongly about work-life balance. While we love to work hard and finish projects, we will not work you to tears, burn you out, or make you choose between work and important family events. Our goal is for you to maintain a healthy relationship between life and work. Most of our team works 8 hours per day Monday through Friday, although some members do work 4 days with 10 hours/day. While our team does not typically work late or work weekends, there may be rare occasions where team members just want to get the work done when a classroom is empty and therefore may flex their schedule to come in on weekends or evenings to wrap things up. Your manager is eager to work with you to craft a schedule that is predictable and adjustable. Because this position's work focuses on programming for classroom and conference room AV Systems, these efforts usually require this person to be on campus during standard business hours. There may, however, be occasional tasks that require time and space to concentrate and focus, where work from home may be appropriate. That might include system coding and review of existing code, module creation or review, API requirements, creation of new documentation or KnowledgeBase articles, and other related tasks. We like to have an environment where there is the flexibility to get the work done in the best possible way.
Modes of Work
Positions that are eligible for hybrid or mobile/remote work mode are at the discretion of the hiring department. Work agreements are reviewed annually at a minimum and are subject to change at any time, and for any reason, throughout the course of employment. Learn more about the work modes.
Additional Information
LSA is the largest and one of the oldest of the university's 19 schools and colleges, with more than 100 degree programs in over 75 academic departments and programs. Learn more about LSA at https://lsa.umich.edu. The college has a large workforce of approximately 1,200 staff, 1,500 faculty, 1,800 graduate student appointees and research fellows, and an additional 2,000 temporary employees.
As one of the world's great liberal arts colleges, LSA pushes the boundaries of what is understood about the human experience and the natural world, and we foster the next generation of rigorous and empathetic thinkers, creators, and contributors to the state of Michigan, the nation, and the world.
To learn more about LSA's Mission, Vision and Values, please visit lsa.umich.edu/strategicvision.
To learn more about the LSA Technology Services organization and services, visit https://lsa.umich.edu/technology-services/
Mission Statement
The mission of the University of Michigan is to serve the people of Michigan and the world through preeminence in creating, communicating, preserving and applying knowledge, art, and academic values, and in developing leaders and citizens who will challenge the present and enrich the future.
Background Screening
The University of Michigan conducts background checks on all job candidates upon acceptance of a contingent offer and may use a third party administrator to conduct background checks. Background checks are performed in compliance with the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
Application Deadline
Job openings are posted for a minimum of seven calendar days. The review and selection process may begin as early as the eighth day after posting. This opening may be removed from posting boards and filled anytime after the minimum posting period has ended.
U-M EEO Statement
The University of Michigan is an equal employment opportunity employer.