Lead Principal Data Center Facilities Engineer

Oracle•Virginia Beach, VA

About The Position

Serves as the engineering subject matter expert for data center delivery processes related to maintenance and repair of critical infrastructure, including liquid-to-chip systems. Leads change management and maintenance and repair efforts in mission-critical environments, and provides consultation for new deployments and capacity. Operates with high autonomy to advance reliability, safety, compliance, and efficiency across global sites by 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 spanning 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 regional and vendor practices; and represents the function in executive discussions and post-incident reviews. The role governs preventive and predictive maintenance standards, leads reliability and incident response programs, oversees commissioning and operational readiness for builds and retrofits, and directs continuous improvement across mission-critical facilities. It also provides technical support for contract negotiations, vendor strategy, engineering governance, workforce training, and knowledge sharing. The position guides critical projects, budgets, and timelines while promoting collaboration, continuous learning, and data-driven problem solving. The stated U.S. hiring range is $126,200 to $264,100 per annum. The role may be eligible for a bonus, equity, and compensation deferral. Oracle offers a comprehensive benefits package, including insurance coverage, retirement savings with company match, paid leave, parental leave, adoption assistance, employee stock purchase, and voluntary benefits. U.S.-based employees must complete identity verification during onboarding, including collection and processing of biometric information; accommodations may be granted following an individualized assessment.

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 for systemic reliability issues and remediation programs to eliminate recurring failures and improve availability and energy efficiency.
Set reliability targets and KPIs, and establish dashboards and audits to validate adherence to SLAs and regulatory requirements.
Lead high-severity incident response across regions, coordinate stabilization and communications, provide executive updates, and ensure corrective and preventive actions are implemented at scale.
Standardize root cause analysis and corrective and preventive action governance; track cross-site action closure and effectiveness.
Develop and maintain enterprise emergency operations plans, run simulation exercises, and apply lessons learned to improve plans.
Oversee site assessments, design reviews, uptime requirements, commissioning strategy, and integrated systems testing for priority builds and retrofits.
Approve commissioning documentation and acceptance criteria and validate design intent, reliability, and maintainability before handover.
Align design, construction, commissioning, and operations teams to integrate new systems with existing infrastructure and tooling.
Serve as the principal SME for complex mission-critical operations involving power, cooling, building automation systems, and fire/life safety.
Lead change advisory board processes for change management and operational readiness for upgrades and expansions.
Govern operational procedures, MOP/SOP/EOP standards, and access controls, and ensure safe work practices and audit readiness.
Align operations with capacity, performance, and sustainability objectives; oversee initiatives to reduce PUE, improve utilization, and control operating costs.
Provide technical SME support 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 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-range 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, and certify proficiency for high-risk procedures.
Publish lessons learned and best practices from root cause analyses, 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.
Use performance analytics and SLAs to drive vendor improvement and cost optimization.
Influence cross-functional leaders and external stakeholders, build partnerships, and incorporate diverse perspectives.
Drive process, protocol, and workflow improvements aligned with organizational goals.
Manage and direct timelines and budgets for high-impact projects, adapting plans to shifting business priorities and resources.
Lead advanced problem-solving for complex issues, using data-driven approaches to identify root causes and prevent recurrence.
Monitor emerging trends, technologies, and industry standards; promote professional development and apply new knowledge across teams.