Lead Principal Data Center Facilities Engineer
About The Position
Serves as the engineering subject matter expert for data center delivery processes involving maintenance and repair of critical infrastructure, from liquid-to-chip systems. Leads change management, maintenance, repair, and consultation for new deployments and capacity. Operates with high autonomy to advance reliability, safety, compliance, and efficiency across global sites, setting standards and governance for design, operations, maintenance, commissioning, and change management. Acts as the principal engineering escalation point for novel, complex, and ambiguous issues across electrical, mechanical, and controls systems, developing scalable solutions that reduce risk and improve uptime, cost efficiency, and operational maturity. Influences multi-year planning and portfolio decisions across design, construction, commissioning, and operations; harmonizes practices across regions and vendors; and represents the function in executive discussions and post-incident reviews. The role leads enterprise maintenance standards and reliability programs, high-severity incident response, commissioning and build oversight, data center operational governance, engineering design standards, and training and knowledge sharing. It also provides technical support for contract negotiations and, as needed, directs colocation vendor strategy and performance. The position works across functions and external stakeholders, manages timelines and budgets for critical projects, addresses highly complex operational problems, and promotes continuous improvement and professional development.
Responsibilities
- Define and govern enterprise preventive and predictive maintenance standards for electrical, mechanical, liquid-to-chip, and life-safety systems, ensuring consistent execution and documentation across sites.
- Lead diagnostics and remediation programs for systemic reliability issues, recurring failure modes, site availability, and energy efficiency.
- Set reliability performance targets and KPIs, and establish dashboards and audits to validate SLA and regulatory compliance.
- Lead high-severity incident response across regions, coordinating stabilization, stakeholder communications, executive updates, and scalable corrective and preventive actions.
- Standardize root cause analysis (RCA) methodologies and corrective and preventive action (CAPA) governance; track cross-site action closure and effectiveness.
- Develop and maintain enterprise emergency operations plans, conduct simulation exercises, and implement improvements based on lessons learned.
- Provide technical oversight for site assessments, design reviews, uptime requirements, commissioning strategy, and integrated systems testing on high-priority builds and retrofits.
- Approve commissioning documentation and acceptance criteria, validating design intent, reliability targets, and maintainability before handover.
- Align design, construction, commissioning, and operations teams to integrate new systems with existing infrastructure and tooling.
- Serve as principal subject matter expert for complex operational scenarios involving power, cooling, building automation systems (BAS), and fire/life-safety systems.
- Lead the change advisory board (CAB) process and operational readiness for upgrades and expansion.
- Govern operational procedures, MOP/SOP/EOP standards, and access controls; ensure safe work practices and audit readiness across facilities.
- Align operations with capacity, performance, and sustainability objectives; oversee initiatives to reduce PUE, improve utilization, and control operating costs.
- Provide subject matter expertise for contract negotiations, including contract and change-order generation and review and due diligence validation.
- Define and maintain technical policies, standards, and playbooks; chair engineering review boards and governance processes for high-risk changes.
- Provide senior engineering guidance on complex design challenges, lifecycle strategies, and modernization roadmaps, including controls upgrades, UPS/generator strategies, and cooling transformations.
- Prepare and review technical reports and business cases to guide investment decisions and long-term planning.
- Define competency standards and training curricula for facilities teams and partners; mentor senior engineers and lead cross-site knowledge-sharing forums.
- Develop and deliver advanced training on complex systems, incident response, and change management; certify proficiency for high-risk procedures.
- Publish lessons learned and best practices from RCAs, commissioning, and optimization programs.
- Collaborate with design, facility engineering, and operations teams to validate colocation designs, influence decisions, and align tenant improvement work with operational objectives.
- Set vendor strategy and performance expectations; oversee selection, onboarding, and governance for colocation partners and critical service providers.
- Ensure vendor contract compliance, safety adherence, and availability of critical spares, consumables, and fuel; direct complex escalations and joint remediation of systemic issues.
- Use performance analytics and SLAs to drive vendor improvement and cost optimization.
- Influence cross-functional leaders and external stakeholders, foster partnerships, and incorporate diverse perspectives into strategic objectives.
- Drive process and workflow improvements, integrating feedback and aligning changes with organizational goals.
- Direct timelines and budgets for critical projects, adapting resource and schedule plans as business priorities change.
- Lead advanced problem-solving for complex or ambiguous issues, identify root causes, and implement preventive solutions.
- Monitor emerging trends, technologies, and industry standards; promote continuous learning and professional development.
Benefits
- Medical insurance
- Dental insurance
- Vision insurance
- Short-term disability insurance
- Long-term disability insurance
- Life insurance and AD&D
- Supplemental life insurance
- Health care and dependent care flexible spending accounts
- Pre-tax commuter and parking benefits
- 401(k) savings and investment plan with company match
- Flexible or accrued paid vacation, depending on employee eligibility and position
- 11 paid holidays
- Paid sick leave
- Paid parental leave
- Adoption assistance
- Employee Stock Purchase Plan
- Financial planning and group legal benefits
- Voluntary auto, homeowner, and pet insurance
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Principal
Education Level
No Education Listed
