IT Facilities & Data Center Engineer

Cornell University • City of Ithaca, NY

1d • Onsite

About The Position

Cornell Information Technologies (CIT) Network Facilities & Infrastructure Services (NF&IS) is seeking an IT Facilities & Data Center Engineer to play a critical role in the operation, maintenance, and reliability of CIT‑managed data centers, telecommunications rooms, and other essential IT facilities across the Cornell Ithaca campus. This position supports both day‑to‑day operations and engineering activities for mechanical, electrical, cooling, and infrastructure systems that underpin Cornell’s computing environment, including High-Performance Computing (HPC) and Graphics Processing Unit (GPU)‑intensive workloads.
The engineer maintains accurate facility documentation, monitors environmental and infrastructure health, performs inspections, responds to alarms and incidents, and coordinates preventive and emergency maintenance with Cornell Facilities and external vendors. The role also supports equipment installation, capacity planning, environmental monitoring, and data center service billing.
In addition to operational responsibilities, the position leads small‑to‑medium infrastructure projects, collaborates with cross‑functional teams and vendors, and ensures compliance with security, risk management, and disaster‑recovery requirements. The engineer brings strong technical knowledge, hands‑on experience, and a customer‑focused mindset to ensure the reliability, safety, and performance of CIT’s critical IT environments.
While position responsibilities vary, every member of our community is expected to foster a culture of belonging and a healthy work environment by communicating across differences; being cooperative, collaborative, open, and welcoming; showing respect, compassion, and empathy; engaging and supporting others regardless of background or perspective; speaking up when others are being excluded or treated inappropriately; and supporting work/life integration of oneself and others.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree and 2–4 years of relevant experience working in data centers, server rooms, telecom rooms, or other mission‑critical IT environments., or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Experience with power and cooling management in High‑Performance Computing (HPC) environments.
• Experience leading small projects and coordinating work across technical teams.
• Strong understanding of HVAC and data center cooling systems, including CRAC units, in‑row cooling, rear‑door heat exchangers, and chilled‑water systems.
• Knowledge of power distribution systems, including PDUs, RPPs, UPS systems, dual power feeds, and generators.
• Experience with environmental monitoring platforms (temperature, humidity, leak detection, airflow).
• Expertise in rack/stack design and physical layouts, including hot aisle/cold aisle configurations, containment strategies, and rack elevations.
• Experience coordinating and managing vendors for: Electrical and cooling upgrades Cabling projects Data center expansions and colocation services
• Experience with physical security systems, including badge access and key/lock hardware.
• Familiarity with copper and fiber optic cabling types and standards.
• Experience managing multiple projects simultaneously, including coordination with contractors, vendors, and multidisciplinary teams.
• Demonstrated customer service, communication, and organizational skills.
• Ability to adapt to a dynamically changing environment and respond effectively to competing priorities.
• Ability to participate in on‑call rotation and to perform occasional after‑hours and weekend work for maintenance or project activities.
• Ability to work in environments with noise levels > 80 dB TWA.
• Ability to work at heights of 4–10 feet.
• Ability to cultivate and develop inclusive working relationships with students, faculty, staff, other public safety agencies, and community members.

Nice To Haves

• Experience working in higher education, particularly within an R1 research university environment.
• Experience supporting network and/or server infrastructure for research computing or High‑Performance Computing (HPC) environments.
• Experience using ticketing systems (e.g., TeamDynamix) and inventory management systems (e.g., PCR360).
• Project management experience, including coordination across technical and cross‑functional teams.

Responsibilities

• operation, maintenance, and reliability of CIT‑managed data centers, telecommunications rooms, and other essential IT facilities
• supports both day‑to‑day operations and engineering activities for mechanical, electrical, cooling, and infrastructure systems
• maintains accurate facility documentation
• monitors environmental and infrastructure health
• performs inspections
• responds to alarms and incidents
• coordinates preventive and emergency maintenance with Cornell Facilities and external vendors
• supports equipment installation, capacity planning, environmental monitoring, and data center service billing
• leads small‑to‑medium infrastructure projects
• collaborates with cross‑functional teams and vendors
• ensures compliance with security, risk management, and disaster‑recovery requirements

Benefits

• Cornell receives national recognition as an award-winning workplace for our health, wellbeing, and sustainability.
• Our benefits programs include comprehensive health care options, generous retirement contributions, access to wellness programs, and employee discounts with local and national retail brands.
• Our leave provisions include health and personal leave, three weeks of vacation and 13 holidays: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving and the day after, and an end of the year winter break from December 25-January 1. To offer greater flexibility for observing faiths and traditions we also offer two additional floating holidays.
• Cornell's impressive educational benefits include tuition-free Extramural Study and Employee Degree Program, tuition aid for external education, and Cornell Children's Tuition Assistance Program.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Number of Employees: 5,001-10,000 employees