Lead Electrical Commissioning Engineer

Overwatch Mission Critical•Remote,

About The Position

The Lead Electrical Commissioning Engineer directs the electrical validation and power reliability program for large-scale, mission-critical data center construction projects. Serving as the technical authority for power infrastructure, the role manages the end-to-end commissioning process across Levels 1 through 5 (L1–L5) and provides technical oversight to electrical commissioning engineers, field technicians, and electrical contractors. The position ensures that medium-voltage power distribution, backup systems, and emergency topologies deliver reliable operation during grid disruptions and concurrent maintenance scenarios. The role leads commissioning from factory acceptance testing through integrated systems testing and turnover to Operations. It includes overseeing installation readiness, equipment startups, component-level functional testing, and integrated heat-load and electrical fault testing using load banks. The Lead Engineer reviews electrical designs and protection settings, develops and approves testing and energization procedures, troubleshoots complex power issues, and manages deficiency resolution. The position also directs field assignments and serves as the primary electrical contact among clients, contractors, vendors, and utilities. The position is heavily tied to deployment sites and may require travel 50% to 65% of the time. Candidates must be able to navigate construction sites, climb ladders, and lift up to 30 pounds.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Power Systems Engineering, Construction Management, or equivalent technical field experience.
Minimum 3 years of direct electrical commissioning, engineering, or mission-critical facilities construction experience.
Minimum 2 years of dedicated data center project experience.
Demonstrated experience leading L1–L5 commissioning programs on hyperscale, colocation, or enterprise builds.
Advanced ability to read and interpret complex single-line diagrams (SLDs), three-line diagrams, schematic diagrams, control wiring diagrams, and time-current coordination curves.
Ability to navigate construction sites, climb ladders, and lift up to 30 pounds.

Responsibilities

Direct the electrical commissioning sequence from factory acceptance testing (FAT/L1) through final Integrated Systems Testing (IST/L5) and turnover to Operations.
Oversee Level 2 documentation verification, on-site installation and construction-readiness checks, and Level 3 equipment and vendor startup validation.
Lead Level 4 functional performance testing, including breaker coordination, insulation resistance, and component failover testing.
Design, coordinate, and lead Level 5 integrated systems testing, including heat-load and electrical fault testing with load banks to validate redundancy, concurrent maintainability, transient behavior, and automated throwover schemes.
Review electrical design packages, single-line diagrams, protection settings, breaker coordination studies, arc-flash evaluations, and engineering submittals for risk and commissionability.
Author and approve site-specific test scripts, Method Statements (MOPs), Energization Plans, and pre-functional checklists.
Analyze root causes of electrical faults, protection trip events, harmonic distortion, and transient power abnormalities.
Own the electrical project issue log, categorize discrepancies and safety gaps by risk, and track vendor remediation without impacting the master schedule.
Manage and prioritize assignments for internal field electrical commissioning engineers and third-party NETA technicians.
Serve as the primary electrical point of contact for the client, general contractor, electrical subcontractors, equipment vendors, and utility representatives.
Represent electrical commissioning in high-voltage energization coordination, master schedule reviews, construction coordination meetings, and client performance updates.
Validate installation, protection tuning, and failure modes of distribution, emergency generation, continuity, switching and controls, protection, and grounding systems.