Field Service Engineer

OpenAI

13d • $157,000 - $221,000 • Remote

About The Position

OpenAI’s infrastructure teams design, build, activate, and operate the critical systems that support large-scale AI compute. Field Service Engineering partners across design, construction, commissioning, site operations, hardware operations, and equipment providers to make complex infrastructure safe, reliable, and serviceable.

OpenAI is seeking a senior, field-oriented electrical and mechanical engineer to build the technical operating model for critical electrical and mechanical infrastructure across its data center portfolio. This is an engineering role rather than a traditional facilities operations position. The engineer will use deep systems understanding of data center power and cooling to support sequence of operations, design, maintenance and operability, troubleshooting, and other engineering responsibilities around key equipment. The role also involves establishing standards, developing people, coordinating vendors, and driving issues from design and first signals through verified resolution. Candidates should have deep expertise in electrical or mechanical systems and strong working fluency across the other discipline, such as controls and business acumen. The position is remote and involves up to 50% travel.

Requirements

• At least 8 years of hands-on experience supporting critical electrical, mechanical, or electromechanical infrastructure in data centers, industrial facilities, utilities, manufacturing, or similarly complex environments.
• Deep technical expertise in electrical or mechanical systems, with demonstrated ability to troubleshoot across electromechanical and controls boundaries.
• Experience building, leading, or materially developing a field engineering, service, maintenance, or technician team.
• Demonstrated success leading high-severity troubleshooting, root-cause analysis, corrective action, and reliability improvement.
• Ability to read and use one-line diagrams, schematics, P&IDs, sequence-of-operations documents, control diagrams, equipment manuals, and commissioning records.
• Strong safety judgment and experience working under formal energization, isolation, maintenance, and change-control procedures.
• Clear written and verbal communication with engineers, technicians, vendors, construction teams, and senior stakeholders.
• Ability to travel up to 50% and support planned or urgent field activity when required.
• Bachelor’s degree in engineering or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with hyperscale data centers, high-density compute infrastructure, or other mission-critical environments.
• Experience bringing new sites from construction and commissioning into steady-state operations.
• Working knowledge of BMS, EPMS, SCADA, PLC, or other infrastructure monitoring and controls platforms.
• Experience establishing service programs, readiness criteria, technical training, or fleet-wide reliability standards.
• Relevant electrical, mechanical, HVAC, controls, safety, or trade certifications.

Responsibilities

• Lead field support for startup, commissioning, troubleshooting, repair, and reliability improvement across critical data center infrastructure.
• Serve as senior technical owner for transformers, switchgear, UPS systems, generators, PDUs, protection and controls, chillers, cooling towers, pumps, CDUs, CRAH units, and associated control systems.
• Diagnose complex failures across power, cooling, controls, and hardware interfaces; identify root causes and drive corrective actions through validation.
• Build the field service operating model, including staffing recommendations, coverage, escalation paths, response expectations, spare-parts strategy, documentation, and performance metrics.
• Aid in hiring, development, and coaching of field service engineers and technicians while fostering safety, technical rigor, accountability, and continuous learning.
• Partner with design, construction, commissioning, site operations, and hardware teams to improve maintainability, readiness, and lifecycle reliability.
• Manage OEM and service-provider relationships, technical escalations, repair plans, warranties, and sustained corrective action.
• Establish and improve safe work practices, including lockout/tagout, switching and maintenance procedures, MOPs, SOPs, EOPs, and incident response.
• Translate field learning into design feedback, preventive maintenance improvements, training, and reusable standards.

What This Job Offers

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