Principal Data Center Designer

Key Responsibilities
White Space and Infrastructure Design:
-Leads the planning, design, and optimization of data center white space, including rack layout, hot/cold aisle containment, power distribution, cable pathways, and build phases.
-Creates and maintains detailed white space documentation such as room layouts, rack elevations, bill of materials, and structured cabling designs.
-Develops design standards and Basis of Design (BoD) documents to guide internal and partner teams in delivering consistent white space fit-outs.
-Develops low voltage structured cabling system designs to support scalable, high-performance compute, storage, and network systems.
-Reviews new site layouts and proposed fit-out designs and failover configurations, to ensure compliance with standards.
Cross-Functional Collaboration and Stakeholder Engagement:
-Collaborates with colocation providers, developers, and internal teams (e.g., facilities, construction, operations) to gather, translate, and implement requirements into executable white space designs.
-Interfaces with multidisciplinary engineering functions (e.g., Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing, Fire, Controls) to ensure robust integration and reliable system performance.
-Leads project coordination meetings to align on scope, timelines, and critical design updates.
-Leverages relationship with technology partners (e.g., network, compute, carrier) to locate information and resources.
Project and Program Leadership:
-Contributes to white space design initiatives and related engineering projects from concept through execution independently.
-Leads internal and external project team members, including contractors and vendors, during design, fit-out, and commissioning phases.
-Ensures project deliverables align with company expectations, standards, and schedules.
-Provides expertise and guidance in contract administration, including review of change orders, cost forecasts, and engineering documentation.
-Provides mentorship and training to junior engineers and new team members to build organizational capability.
Operations Support and Site Validation:
-Travels to new and existing data centers to conduct on-site design validation, commissioning, and engineering analysis.
-Acts as a subject matter expert for mission-critical systems, validating integration with ongoing operations.
-Provides engineering support during live events and incident investigations to ensure rapid resolution and operational continuity.
-Ensures all documentation is effectively captured, stored and shared with operations and field engineering teams.
Standards Development and Governance:
-Executes and contributes to the evolution of global data center infrastructure standards, policies, and procedures.
-Reviews and develops documentation for standards adherence, commissioning protocols, and system testing.
-Participates in design summits, policy reviews, and commissioning activities to ensure continuous improvement.
Technical Innovation and Engineering Excellence:
-Researches and evaluates new designs, materials, and construction methods for mission-critical systems in data centers.
-Develops and tests engineering solutions using advanced modeling, component testing, and engineering principles.
-Creates and validates digitized data center models to support design integrity and capacity planning.
-Evaluates the reliability and performance of components, systems, and installation methods used in production environments, providing feedback to team on maintenance changes as needed.
-Leads internal engineering seminars, training programs, and knowledge-sharing initiatives.
Network Expertise:
-Collaborates with networking teams on network-related efforts (e.g., building fabrics).
Automation:
-Partners with software engineering team to design data into digital systems for automation.
-Coordinates design data to work with internal systems and databases.

Core Responsibilities
Planning & Execution:
-Manages and coordinates moderately complex tasks, monitoring timelines and deliverables to ensure timely completion and adherence to requirements for a moderately-sized project or initiative. Efficiently delegates, monitors, and prioritizes work across multiple projects, providing technical oversight and adjusting plans to address shifts in resources or timelines.
Collaboration & Partnership:
-Collaborates across the organization to align on expectations and achieve shared objectives. Leverages understanding of business leaders, stakeholders, and/or customers to ensure proposed solutions meet their needs. Supports inclusivity by actively seeking and listening to diverse perspectives, ensuring others feel heard and respected.
Problem Solving:
-Identifies and addresses moderately complex issues by analyzing a wide range of data and/or information to identify solutions in accordance with standard practices. Proactively escalates unresolved or critical issues with a thorough assessment and suggests potential solutions. Reviews, contributes to, and documents problem solving strategies.
Continuous Learning:
-Pursues learning opportunities to expand knowledge and skills and/or tools in new areas and stays abreast of the latest industry trends and best practices. Proactively seeks and leverages ongoing feedback and training to improve skills. Coaches and mentors junior team members, fostering continuous learning and knowledge sharing within and across teams.
Continuous Improvement:
-Develops ideas, recommends updates, and/or collaborates on the implementation of process improvements to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of processes, protocols, and workflows across teams, and evaluates the impact on key stakeholders. Solicits feedback from others on ideas for alternative approaches and methods for continued improvement.
Performance and Development:
-Contributes to the talent development pipeline by participating in candidate interviews, assessing candidates, and providing hiring recommendations.