Data Center Design Lead - Civil

Mott MacDonald•The Woodlands, TX

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

Mott MacDonald is seeking a Data Center Civil Design Lead to provide senior technical leadership for the planning, design, and delivery of site infrastructure for large-scale data center and mission-critical campuses. This role will support the growth of their North American Data Center practice by leading civil design strategy, technical governance, project delivery, client engagement, and capability development across various data center environments. The ideal candidate will have dedicated experience in data center developments, focusing on site readiness, utility capacity, grading, stormwater, access, permitting, phasing, constructability, and infrastructure resilience. The role involves close collaboration with multidisciplinary teams to provide senior technical direction, support major pursuits, establish design standards, mentor teams, and ensure site infrastructure solutions are resilient, scalable, compliant, and aligned with client and operational requirements.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Site Development, Infrastructure Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
20+ years experience leading civil and site infrastructure design for data center, mission-critical, industrial, logistics, utility, energy, advanced manufacturing, or large campus developments.
Demonstrated experience working on data center projects as a primary area of focus, ideally across hyperscale, cloud, AI, colocation, or enterprise environments.
Strong understanding of site selection, grading, stormwater, utilities, access, roads, permitting, phasing, erosion control, drainage, duct banks, utility corridors, site logistics, and campus expansion.
Experience coordinating with utilities, municipalities, environmental teams, permitting agencies, contractors, developers, and multidisciplinary design teams.
Knowledge of North American civil design standards, stormwater regulations, permitting requirements, environmental constraints, accessibility, fire access, and site resilience principles.
Experience supporting fast-track design and construction programs where utility readiness, entitlement, constructability, and schedule certainty are critical.
Strong familiarity with Civil 3D, BIM coordination, digital delivery, model-based collaboration, clash resolution, and interdisciplinary design reviews.
Proven ability to review and approve civil deliverables, manage design risk, coordinate approvals, and drive quality across complex programs.
Strong client-facing capability, including proposals, interviews, technical workshops, agency meetings, and executive-level design discussions.
Experience mentoring engineers, supporting recruitment, and building civil / site infrastructure capability.
Excellent communication, commercial awareness, technical judgement, and stakeholder management skills.

Nice To Haves

Professional Engineer, Chartered Engineer, or equivalent professional registration preferred.
Familiarity with Uptime Institute Tier Standards, TIA-942, LEED, Envision, ASHRAE, and data center operational requirements preferred.

Responsibilities

Lead civil and site infrastructure design strategy for major data center projects across North America, including hyperscale, cloud, AI, colocation, enterprise, and mission-critical campuses.
Provide technical leadership from site selection and feasibility through master planning, concept design, detailed engineering, permitting, construction support, commissioning, and operational handover.
Develop site infrastructure solutions that support power readiness, utility coordination, grading, drainage, access, security, constructability, phasing, resilience, and long-term campus expansion.
Lead the design and review of site plans, grading, earthworks, stormwater management, erosion and sediment control, roads, access routes, utility corridors, duct banks, water infrastructure, wastewater systems, fire access, and site logistics.
Coordinate closely with electrical teams on utility corridors, substation interfaces, transmission routes, duct banks, easements, access, equipment yards, and grid interconnection constraints.
Partner with mechanical teams on water supply, cooling infrastructure interfaces, heat rejection equipment, drainage requirements, process water, and site-based mechanical infrastructure.
Support planning, zoning, entitlement, environmental review, permitting, utility approvals, municipal coordination, and agency engagement where civil design leadership is required.
Provide senior technical oversight for civil calculations, drawings, specifications, design reports, stormwater studies, utility plans, permitting packages, and quality reviews.
Support major pursuits, client interviews, proposal development, technical presentations, and strategic account growth as a senior civil / site infrastructure subject matter expert.
Establish and improve civil design standards, templates, workflows, QA/QC processes, lessons learned, and technical governance for data center projects.
Collaborate with construction and preconstruction teams to support value engineering, site logistics, sequencing, mass grading strategy, temporary works, and field issue resolution.
Mentor civil engineers and design managers, supporting technical development, leadership capability, recruitment, and succession planning.
Coordinate with global delivery teams to ensure technical quality, production efficiency, and alignment with North American codes, standards, and client expectations.
Stay current with emerging trends in data center siting, utility constraints, water stewardship, climate resilience, sustainable site design, low-impact development, modular campus deployment, and AI-driven infrastructure demand.
Represent the organization with clients, utilities, agencies, contractors, and industry stakeholders as a senior civil / site infrastructure design leader.