Manager Applications Engineering Data Center Cooling

Pkaza•Ashburn, VA

4d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Manager, Applications Engineering will lead, develop, and grow the Applications Engineering organization supporting an expanding data center air-cooling and liquid-cooling business. The role oversees delivery of accurate, competitive, and timely equipment selections, performance data, submittals, technical proposals, and application support across the company’s cooling portfolio. The Manager serves as a primary technical partner to Sales, manufacturers’ representatives, customers, consulting engineers, and internal teams, supporting solutions throughout the sales and project lifecycle. This is a hands-on leadership position. Alongside managing and developing the team, the Manager personally supports complex and strategic opportunities, resolves technical escalations, improves application processes and tools, and establishes standards that support organizational growth. The position is based in Ashburn, Virginia, with a hybrid remote arrangement; preference is for candidates near a major airport east of the Mississippi River. Travel is approximately 25% to customer, consulting engineer, representative, and project sites, plus monthly onsite travel to the company location. The employer is a niche provider, OEM, and manufacturer of industrial air-cooled and liquid-cooled equipment for critical facilities. Its products and expertise serve enterprise, colocation, hyperscale, AI/HPC, and Bitcoin organizations. The company offers competitive salaries and benefits, including medical insurance and a 401(k) plan.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering or a closely related engineering discipline.
At least 8 years of applications, sales, or systems engineering experience with HVAC, refrigeration, precision cooling, or thermal equipment, including direct experience with chillers and heat rejection equipment.
At least 5 years as a Design Manager.
Demonstrated command of precision cooling applications, including capacity and efficiency ratings, part-load and ambient performance, fluid/glycol considerations, refrigerant circuits, redundancy configurations, hydronics, and controls interfaces.
Experience preparing and defending submittal packages, equipment schedules, and technical responses to consulting engineers, contractors, and end users.
Demonstrated ability to lead, coach, or formally supervise technical staff, or clear readiness to take on first-line people management.
Working knowledge of applicable industry standards and rating methods, with ability to substantiate published performance claims.
Ability to translate complex technical concepts into business value for customers, engineers, contractors, and non-technical stakeholders.
Willingness and ability to travel to customer, consulting engineer, representative, and project sites as required, approximately 25%.
Willingness and ability to travel onsite monthly to the company location to meet with the internal team and other internal customers.
Team player able to build relationships with individuals involved in the business development process.
Excellent communication skills, including the ability to translate complex technical concepts into business value for clients.
Proficiency with MS Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams, etc.) and CRM platforms such as Salesforce.
Strong organizational and project management skills, with the ability to manage multiple clients and opportunities simultaneously.

Nice To Haves

Professional Engineer (PE) license or Certified Energy Manager credential.
Direct experience with data center cooling applications, including hyperscale, colocation, or enterprise facilities.
Experience with liquid cooling, coolant distribution units (CDUs), fan walls, rack-level thermal products, or heat-reuse applications.
Experience supporting an independent manufacturers’ representative channel.
Experience building or substantially improving selection software, performance libraries, or Applications Engineering processes.
Experience supporting new product introduction from an Applications Engineering position.

Responsibilities

Lead, coach, and develop the Applications Engineering team; establish performance expectations, priorities, and development plans, and recruit and onboard additional engineers as the business grows.
Allocate resources and balance workload according to sales priorities, project requirements, and deadlines; build organizational depth and succession planning.
Own the accuracy, completeness, competitiveness, and timely delivery of equipment selections, sizing, performance calculations, technical proposals, drawings, schedules, and submittals.
Establish and manage standard turnaround times for selections and budget pricing support; review and approve technical deliverables before release.
Establish consistent engineering processes, review procedures, and quality controls across the team.
Personally lead complex, strategic, and high-risk applications and provide technical guidance on chillers, heat rejection, CRAH/FanWall systems, liquid cooling, CDUs, hydronics, and controls.
Support non-standard operating conditions, system configurations, redundancy strategies, and application challenges; serve as the escalation point for complex technical issues.
Serve as the primary technical resource for Sales and manufacturers’ representatives, supporting opportunity development through selections, system design guidance, competitive comparisons, technical presentations, and value-engineering responses.
Participate in customer and consulting-engineer meetings to establish technical credibility and support specifications; train Sales and channel partners on routine technical questions.
Develop and continuously improve selection tools, calculation methods, performance databases, templates, and standard technical details.
Establish scalable processes for increasing sales volume while maintaining quality and turnaround; implement document control and version management.
Work with Product Management, Engineering, Manufacturing, Quality, Supply Chain, and Service to resolve technical, configuration, capacity, quality, and lead-time issues.
Provide market and customer feedback to Product Management and Engineering to influence product development and roadmap priorities.
Support new product introductions by ensuring selections, performance data, submittals, training, and application tools are ready at launch.
Ensure applications work complies with applicable industry standards, certification programs, and rating methods, and that published performance claims are substantiated and defensible.
Maintain records, calculations, and issued documentation so that released selections can be reconstructed and defended.