Director, Data Center CSA Engineering

Keel Infrastructure•New York, NY

17h•$205,000 - $275,000•Hybrid

About The Position

The Director of Commissioning & Quality Assurance is a senior leadership role with dual accountability: ensuring that every data center facility we develop is thoroughly tested and validated before it is handed over, and that the quality of design and construction meets our standards from day one of a project through final close-out. This individual serves as the company's independent authority on systems readiness, construction quality, and delivery integrity — protecting schedule, protecting reliability, and building confidence with customers and investors at every stage of development. On the commissioning side, this role owns the planning, execution, and documentation of all Cx activities from pre-functional testing through integrated systems testing and operational acceptance. On the quality assurance side, this role establishes and enforces the company's QA/QC program — embedding quality checkpoints into design reviews, submittals, procurement, and construction administration so that deficiencies are caught and corrected before they reach commissioning. Together, these two functions represent the owner's last line of defense against reliability risk and the primary mechanism for delivering facilities that perform as designed. The Director of Cx & QA partners closely with mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, CSA, construction management, procurement, and operations to build a fully integrated quality and commissioning framework that scales with the company's development pipeline.

Requirements

12+ years of experience in commissioning, quality assurance, or critical systems engineering, with a minimum of 7 years in data center or mission-critical facility environments.
Demonstrated experience owning both commissioning and quality assurance functions — candidates with deep expertise in one and working knowledge of the other will also be considered.
Experience leading and developing commissioning programs on hyperscale or colocation projects.
Prior experience managing third-party commissioning agents, inspection firms, and multi-discipline test teams across concurrent projects in multiple geographies.
Experience building internal program infrastructure — standards, templates, processes — from the ground up strongly preferred.
Strong working knowledge of data center mechanical and electrical systems.
Familiarity with construction quality requirements across civil, structural, and architectural scopes.
Proficiency in commissioning documentation and issue-tracking platforms; experience developing test scripts and acceptance criteria from first principles.
Working knowledge of quality management frameworks (ISO 9001, AISC Quality Certification, ACI inspection standards) as applied to large construction projects.
Familiarity with Uptime Institute Tier Standards, TIA-942, ASHRAE TC9.9, and NFPA 70/75/76 as they relate to commissioning, testing, and construction quality requirements.
Highly organized with the ability to manage multiple concurrent Cx and QA programs across different geographies, project phases, and disciplines.
Strong written and verbal communication; ability to produce clear, audit-ready reports and present quality and delivery readiness to executive and customer audiences.
Decisive under pressure with a demonstrated ability to triage field issues, assess operational risk, and escalate or resolve in real time.
Collaborative, credible presence in the field — able to work constructively with GCs and subcontractors while maintaining the owner's quality standards without compromising.
Continuous improvement mindset: approaches deficiencies as systemic problems to solve, not just individual items to close.
Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or related field required.

Nice To Haves

Professional certifications (CCP, CPMP, CQE, or similar) are a significant asset.

Responsibilities

Develop, own, and continuously improve the company's commissioning program, including master commissioning plans, standard test scripts, acceptance criteria, and documentation requirements for all critical systems.
Establish commissioning standards and procedures covering all phases: pre-functional testing (PFT), functional performance testing (FPT), integrated systems testing (IST), and operational acceptance testing (OAT).
Build and maintain a commissioning library of test scripts, checklists, issue logs, and turnover documentation templates that are reusable and scalable across the portfolio.
Establish and own the company's end-to-end QA/QC program, covering design quality, procurement quality, and construction quality across all active development projects.
Develop a quality management plan framework that defines inspection and test plans, hold points, witness points, and documentation requirements for all critical scopes of work — electrical, mechanical, civil/structural, and architectural.
Establish field quality inspection protocols and audit schedules; conduct or oversee periodic quality audits across active job sites to verify work-in-place meets design and specification requirements.
Lead commissioning planning and execution on all active development projects, either directly or through management of third-party commissioning agents (CxAs).
Engage at the design phase to review drawings and specifications for commissionability — identifying coordination gaps, testability issues, and missing infrastructure (temporary power, water, instrumentation) before construction begins.
Develop and manage project-specific commissioning schedules aligned with the overall construction and delivery schedule; proactively flag risks to critical path milestones.
Chair commissioning and QA coordination meetings with the GC, subcontractors, equipment vendors, and the owner's engineering team; maintain open issue logs and drive resolution.
Lead or oversee Level 4 and Level 5 integrated systems testing, including loss-of-utility simulations, N+1 redundancy validation, and emergency generator load transfer testing.
Develop and enforce a structured lessons-learned process that captures findings from commissioning, QA audits, and NCRs — and translates them into actionable updates to design standards, specifications, and construction details.
Publish periodic quality and commissioning performance reports for the executive team, summarizing trends, recurring deficiencies, root causes, and corrective actions across the portfolio.
Partner with engineering leads (mechanical, electrical, CSA) to close the feedback loop between field findings and upstream design decisions, driving continuous improvement in first-time quality.
Own the commissioning-to-operations handover process, including system documentation packages, as-built verification, O&M manual delivery, and operator training coordination.
Coordinate witness testing with customers, third-party auditors, and certification bodies (e.g., Uptime Institute) where applicable.
Partner with operations to define ongoing recommissioning and periodic testing protocols that sustain facility reliability post-handover.
Build, mentor, and lead an internal Cx & QA team as the company's development pipeline grows; define clear roles between in-house staff and third-party agents.
Develop and manage a pre-qualified roster of third-party commissioning agents, specialty testing vendors, and independent inspection firms; conduct performance evaluations after each project.
Collaborate with procurement and legal to ensure Cx and QA requirements — including ITPs, FAT obligations, NCR rights, and documentation deliverables — are clearly defined in contractor and vendor contracts.
Present commissioning and quality program status, risk summaries, and delivery readiness reports to executive leadership and customers.