Principal Operations Engineer, Controls — Data Center Operations

Fluidstack

3d•$200,000 - $250,000•Onsite

About The Position

We are seeking a Principal Operations Engineer, Controls to serve as the most senior technical authority for the operational building automation, EPMS, and equipment-level control systems across our hyperscale AI data center portfolio. Controls is where mechanical and electrical infrastructure becomes a coordinated system — this role exists to ensure that coordination is operated, maintained, and continuously improved at the standard the AI workloads we host demand. You will operate as the technical arm of senior operations leadership in the field — leading site assessments and operational audits, driving team technical readiness ahead of site activation, reviewing designs and specifications from an operational lens, and feeding operational learnings back into the design and manufacturing organization as we shift toward a productized, repeatable build model. You will set the standard for how our BMS, EPMS, and PLC environments are operated, maintained, and changed across the fleet. The ideal candidate has spent a career programming, commissioning, and operating controls systems on complex central plants and critical environments, and has the platform fluency to walk into any site in the fleet and own the front-end within a day. Formal engineering credentials are valued but not required — practical depth, judgment under pressure, the ability to teach, and the discipline to keep critical infrastructure running through change are what define this role.

Requirements

10+ years of hands-on experience in building automation, industrial controls, or instrumentation, with at least 5 years as the senior technical voice on a site, campus, or fleet.
Data center operations experience strongly preferred; central plant, semiconductor, pharmaceutical, or other complex industrial controls experience considered.
Deep, platform-agnostic command of modern BMS/BAS environments (for example, Ignition, Niagara, Metasys, or EcoStruxure) and the ability to operate, troubleshoot, and standardize across them — earned in the field, not from a textbook.
Fluency across the major control system communication protocols (BACnet, Modbus, SNMP, and equivalents).
PLC programming experience on at least one major platform (for example, Allen-Bradley or Siemens).
Strong working knowledge of the mechanical, electrical, and fire and life safety systems that controls coordinate.
Demonstrated ability to author, approve, and execute high-risk controls MOPs and change records in live critical environments.
A track record of leading root cause analysis on significant controls-driven events and driving corrective actions to closure.
A track record of holding integrators, OEMs, and service vendors accountable — you know how to enforce a programming and documentation standard without burning the relationship.
Strong written communication: operational health assessments, sequences, RCAs, procedure reviews, and design review feedback are second nature.
Comfort operating as the senior technical voice across operations, design, construction, hardware, and EHS.
Willingness to travel extensively across the fleet.

Nice To Haves

Associate's or Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering Technology, Controls Engineering, Building Automation, or related field
Hyperscale or large colocation operational experience at hundreds of MW+ scale
Experience with EPMS platforms (for example, Schneider Power Monitoring Expert or Eaton Power Xpert) and DCIM tooling
Experience with historian platforms (for example, OSIsoft PI or Ignition Historian) and scripting against controls data (Python, SQL)
Certification on a leading BMS/BAS platform (for example, Ignition)
Networking/IT certification or working knowledge of OT network segmentation and cybersecurity practices
Uptime Institute AOS or equivalent operations credential
Experience operating across multiple sites or as part of a global fleet controls function
Experience contributing operational requirements into reference designs or productized data center builds

Responsibilities

Serve as the principal operational technical authority for BMS, EPMS, PLC, and equipment-level control systems across the fleet.
Own all material BMS changes and enhancements across the fleet as part of a coordinated global controls posture; ensure standardization where it matters and discipline around change control everywhere it matters.
Lead technical and operational site audits across active and pre-activation sites focused on sequences of operation, alarming, trending, integration health, and cybersecurity hygiene; produce operational health assessments with prioritized findings and own the remediation roadmap through closure.
Own controls operational readiness for new sites coming online — assess team capability, validate sequences, and personally sign off on operational handover from commissioning to steady-state operations.
Review operational designs for controls scope on new builds and retrofits — including sequences of operation, points lists, and network architecture — and represent the operational point of view in design forums.
Feed structured operational learnings back into the design and manufacturing organization as we shift toward repeatable, productized data center builds; reinforce patterns that work and drive out patterns that have not held up in operations.
Diagnose and direct repair of complex control system malfunctions across multiple platforms and protocols; lead PID tuning and trend analysis on systems that are not performing.
Author and approve high-risk MOPs, EOPs, and AOPs for controls work; serve as the final technical approver for high-consequence controls changes across the fleet.
Lead root cause analysis for significant controls-driven events; drive corrective actions through to closure and ensure learnings propagate across all sites.
Partner with QA/QC during construction to provide an operational perspective on integrator programming, point-to-point verification, and controls installation quality.
Build and deliver technical training to Field Engineers and operational teams; own the technical curriculum for controls content in the campus rotation and training model.
Mentor Field Engineers and rising operational leaders; act as the senior technical voice in operational reviews, incident reviews, and design reviews.