Data Center Design Lead Mechanical

Mott MacDonald•The Woodlands, TX

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

At Mott MacDonald, we trust our brilliant people to do brilliant things in engineering, management, and development services, supporting multisector project work in over 150 countries. As one of the largest employee-owned companies in the world, we pride ourselves on our ability to deliver exceptional outcomes through our network of 20,000+ talented consultants. With sustainability and innovation at the heart of all our sectors in North America, including, Buildings, Energy, Transportation, and Water. We believe in empowering our people to excel, learn, and grow, offering diverse opportunities to contribute to career-defining work. Join us and be part of a collaborative environment where your ambitions are united with ours, and you can truly shape your story. If you share that vision, even if you don’t meet every requirement listed, we’d still love to hear from you. We value potential and diverse perspectives as much as experience. Let’s explore how we can support your growth and help you take the next step in your career, while contributing to an exciting new chapter for Mott MacDonald in North America. We are seeking a Data Center Mechanical Design Lead to provide senior technical leadership across the planning, design, and delivery of high-performance mechanical systems for data center and mission-critical infrastructure projects. This role will be central to growing our North American Data Center practice and will support the delivery of resilient, scalable, energy-efficient, and AI-ready facilities for hyperscale, cloud, colocation, enterprise, and mission-critical clients. The successful candidate will bring deep expertise in mechanical design for data centers, including cooling architecture, thermal management, airside and waterside systems, liquid cooling, high-density compute environments, redundancy strategy, energy efficiency, water use, commissioning support, and operational resilience. This role requires a specialist who understands the unique technical, commercial, and operational pressures of data center environments, not simply a general buildings mechanical engineer with occasional data center exposure. Working closely with electrical, structural, architectural, civil, telecoms, commissioning, construction, sustainability, and global delivery teams, the Mechanical Design Lead will provide technical direction, support major pursuits, shape design standards, mentor teams, and ensure our mechanical solutions meet the performance expectations of sophisticated data center clients.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Architectural Engineering, Building Services Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
Professional Engineer, Chartered Engineer, or equivalent professional registration preferred.
20+ years experience leading mechanical design for data center, mission-critical, semiconductor, advanced manufacturing, industrial, or complex technical facilities.
Demonstrated experience working on data center projects as a primary technical focus, ideally across hyperscale, cloud, AI, colocation, or enterprise environments.
Strong understanding of mechanical systems serving mission-critical facilities, including chilled water, airside cooling, evaporative systems, liquid cooling, heat rejection, redundancy, maintainability, and energy efficiency.
Experience designing for high-density compute, AI infrastructure, thermal resilience, phasing, concurrent maintainability, and 24/7 operations.
Knowledge of ASHRAE data center guidance, energy standards, thermal management principles, applicable mechanical codes, and sustainability frameworks.
Experience coordinating closely with electrical, architectural, structural, telecoms, civil, fire protection, controls, commissioning, and operations teams.
Strong familiarity with BIM, digital delivery, model coordination, equipment planning, plantroom layout, and interdisciplinary clash resolution.
Proven ability to review and approve technical deliverables, manage design risk, and drive consistent quality across complex programs.
Strong client-facing capability, including experience supporting proposals, interviews, technical workshops, and executive-level design discussions.
Experience developing teams, mentoring engineers, supporting recruitment, and building mechanical design capability.
Excellent communication, commercial awareness, judgement, and stakeholder management skills.

Nice To Haves

Familiarity with Uptime Institute Tier Standards, TIA-942, LEED, sustainability rating systems, commissioning requirements, and operational performance metrics preferred.

Responsibilities

Lead mechanical design strategy for major data center projects across North America, including hyperscale, cloud, AI, colocation, enterprise, and mission-critical environments.
Develop resilient, scalable, energy-efficient, and maintainable cooling solutions aligned with client performance, redundancy, uptime, sustainability, and operational requirements.
Provide technical leadership across feasibility studies, master planning, concept design, detailed engineering, construction support, commissioning, and operational handover.
Lead the design and review of chilled water systems, airside cooling, direct and indirect evaporative systems, air handling systems, CRAH / CRAC systems, CDUs, liquid cooling, heat rejection, economization, ventilation, fuel systems interface, and associated controls strategies.
Support AI and high-density compute environments through advanced cooling strategies, thermal modelling coordination, rack density planning, liquid cooling integration, and future-ready design approaches.
Partner with electrical and architectural teams to coordinate power and cooling density, equipment layouts, plant space, maintenance access, redundancy strategy, phasing, and heat rejection requirements.
Provide senior technical oversight for mechanical calculations, drawings, specifications, design narratives, equipment selections, sequence of operations, commissioning requirements, and quality reviews.
Support major pursuits, client interviews, proposals, technical presentations, and strategic account development as a senior data center mechanical subject matter expert.
Establish and improve mechanical design standards, templates, workflows, governance processes, lessons learned, and technical quality procedures for data center projects.
Collaborate with construction, commissioning, and operations teams to support value engineering, constructability, commissioning readiness, maintainability, and lifecycle performance.
Mentor mechanical engineers and design managers, supporting technical development, succession planning, recruitment, and capability building.
Coordinate with global delivery teams to ensure technical consistency, quality, efficiency, and compliance with North American codes, standards, and client-specific requirements.
Stay current with emerging trends in AI-ready infrastructure, liquid cooling, water stewardship, energy efficiency, low-carbon design, heat reuse, modular deployment, and mission-critical mechanical systems.
Represent the organization at client meetings, industry forums, technical reviews, and strategic engagements.