Data Center Design Manager

OpenAI

19h • $225,000 - $285,000

About The Position

OpenAI's Compute organization builds and operates infrastructure for frontier AI training and inference. Its data center engineering teams develop technical standards and infrastructure for large-scale deployments across self-built and partner-operated environments, working across civil, structural, mechanical, electrical, construction, and infrastructure delivery disciplines.

The Data Center Design Manager coordinates the design and delivery of infrastructure for large-scale AI deployments. The role brings engineering disciplines and external design partners together to translate infrastructure requirements into coordinated, buildable design packages; manage design milestones; resolve cross-discipline interfaces; and keep technical decisions aligned with project requirements. In partnership with engineering, construction, commissioning, operations, and hardware teams, the manager helps preserve design intent from early planning through construction and turnover, with a focus on design execution, technical coordination, and clear ownership of design decisions.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in engineering, architecture, or a related discipline, or equivalent practical experience.
• Experience managing multidisciplinary design for data centers, mission-critical facilities, or comparable complex infrastructure.
• Technical understanding of data center infrastructure and the interfaces among power, cooling, controls, structures, and physical networks.
• Experience taking coordinated design packages from early planning through detailed design and construction support.
• Experience coordinating external design consultants, engineering specialists, and construction partners.
• Ability to read technical drawings and specifications, identify interface gaps, and work with discipline experts to resolve them.
• Strong written and verbal communication, disciplined issue tracking, and sound judgment when balancing technical requirements with delivery constraints.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with hyperscale data centers, high-density AI or HPC infrastructure, or other rapidly evolving mission-critical environments.
• Familiarity with liquid cooling, high-density power distribution, and integrating changing compute hardware requirements into facility designs.
• Experience managing design reviews, quality checks, and technical change control across concurrent projects.
• Experience with modular or prefabricated infrastructure and design approaches that improve constructability and deployment speed.
• Familiarity with BIM, model coordination, clash detection, and engineering document-control tools.
• Experience supporting commissioning readiness, as-built documentation, and handoff to operations.
• Experience adapting reference designs and engineering standards to site-specific constraints across a portfolio.
• Professional engineering or architecture licensure, or relevant design and project management credentials.

Responsibilities

• Manage design scope, deliverables, milestones, and dependencies from concept development through detailed design and construction support.
• Coordinate civil, structural, architectural, mechanical, electrical, controls, and physical network interfaces across data center buildings and campuses.
• Translate owner and hardware requirements into coordinated design criteria, working with discipline leads to resolve gaps and competing requirements.
• Lead multidisciplinary design reviews and track comments, decisions, technical risks, and actions through resolution before design release.
• Evaluate design changes with engineering and delivery partners, clarifying impacts on reliability, safety, cost, schedule, and maintainability.
• Coordinate external architects, engineering consultants, developers, and equipment suppliers to maintain design quality and meet agreed deliverables.
• Partner with construction and commissioning teams on constructability, sequencing, RFIs, submittals, field issues, and design changes.
• Maintain design documentation and handoff requirements, and incorporate field and operational lessons into reusable standards and reference designs.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Manager