Lead Mechanical Engineer

Essential Duties

• Define and evolve cooling system architectures across air-cooled, liquid-cooled, and hybrid data center environments.
• Lead development of hydronic system strategies supporting direct-to-chip cooling, including CDU integration, secondary TCS loop design, and rack-level heat rejection.
• Establish and maintain mechanical design standards, including redundancy models, system topologies, and equipment selections.
• Drive innovation in AI/HPC-ready infrastructure, including liquid-to-chip, immersion cooling, and high-density thermal management solutions.
• Develop and guide thermal performance modeling practices, including CFD, co-simulation modeling, load profiling, and optimization tied to PUE, WUE, and dynamic workloads.
• Support sustainability initiatives related to water usage, refrigerant strategy, and lifecycle optimization.

Design Engineering & Standards Development

• Create and maintain Owner’s Project Requirements (OPR) and Basis of Design (BoD) documentation for mechanical systems.
• Lead standardization of cooling plant designs, hydronic distribution systems, and mechanical sequences of operation (SOOs).
• Evaluate and integrate new technologies, vendors, and products to improve performance, cost, and scalability.
• Develop engineering guidelines, templates, and specifications to support rapid and consistent deployment.

Project Delivery & Execution

• Support Partner with design, construction, and commissioning teams to ensure mechanical systems are executed in alignment with design intent.
• Review construction documents, RFIs, and submittals to identify risks and ensure quality delivery.
• Support on-site validation and commissioning, including performance testing under load conditions.
• Provide technical leadership across the full lifecycle: Concept and site due diligence, Detailed design and procurement, Construction and commissioning, Turnover to operations, Collaborate with controls teams on BAS, PLC, and system integration strategies.

Vendor & Cross-Functional Leadership

• Lead technical engagement with OEMs and vendors for cooling systems, packaged skids, and modular plant solutions.
• Support procurement in equipment selection, standardization, and cost optimization.
• Capture and implement lessons learned from project execution to continuously improve standards and delivery.

Operational & Continuous Improvement

• Support Operations teams in optimizing system performance, reliability, and maintainability.
• Balance CAPEX vs. OPEX considerations through value engineering and lifecycle analysis.
• Develop tools and metrics to track cooling system performance and efficiency across the fleet.