Principal Operations Engineer, Electrical — Data Center Operations

Fluidstack

3d•$200,000 - $250,000•Onsite

About The Position

We are seeking a Principal Operations Engineer, Electrical to serve as the most senior technical authority for the operational electrical infrastructure across our hyperscale AI data center portfolio. This is a field-first, deeply technical leadership role for an operator who has spent a career running mission-critical electrical systems and is ready to set the standard for how a rapidly scaling fleet is operated, audited, and improved. You will operate as the technical arm of senior operations leadership in the field — leading site assessments and operational audits, driving the technical readiness of teams 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 be a force multiplier across our cluster leads, field engineers, and commissioning teams, and the connective tissue between operations, design, construction, hardware, and EHS. The ideal candidate has come up through the trades, the field, or both, and has earned the technical respect that comes from decades of work in switchgear lineups, substations, and inside live MV/HV distribution systems. 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 mission-critical electrical systems, with at least 5 years as the senior technical voice on a site, campus, or fleet.
Data center operations experience strongly preferred; hyperscale, large colocation, utility, or industrial mission-critical experience considered.
Deep working command of MV/HV power distribution, generation, UPS and battery systems, protection and controls, and low-voltage distribution — earned in the field, not from a textbook.
Demonstrated ability to author, approve, and execute high-risk MOPs and EOPs in live critical environments.
A track record of leading root cause analysis on significant electrical events and driving corrective actions to closure.
A track record of holding OEMs, service vendors, and contractors accountable — you know how to enforce a standard without burning the relationship.
Strong written communication: operational health assessments, 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

Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering or related field
Hyperscale or large colocation operational experience at hundreds of MW+ scale
Journeyman or Master Electrician license; PE licensure
NETA Level III or IV certification
Uptime Institute AOS or equivalent operations credential
Tier III/Tier IV commissioning leadership experience
Experience operating across multiple sites or as part of a global fleet operations function
Experience standing up new sites from commissioning handover through steady-state
Experience contributing operational requirements into reference designs or productized data center builds

Responsibilities

Serve as the principal operational technical authority for electrical infrastructure across the fleet, including utility feeds, substations, transformers, MV/HV switchgear, generators, ATS/STS, UPS, battery systems, PDUs, RPPs, and busway distribution.
Lead technical and operational site audits across active and pre-activation sites; produce operational health assessments with prioritized findings and own the remediation roadmap through closure with site leadership.
Own electrical operational readiness for new sites coming online — assess team capability, validate procedures, and personally sign off on operational handover from commissioning to steady-state operations.
Review operational designs for new builds and capacity upgrades; represent the operational point of view in design forums and ensure operability, maintainability, and reliability concerns are surfaced and addressed before they are built in.
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.
Author and approve high-risk MOPs, EOPs, and AOPs; serve as the final technical approver for high-consequence electrical work across the fleet.
Lead root cause analysis for significant electrical events; drive corrective actions through to closure and ensure learnings propagate across all sites.
Contribute to and uphold the electrical safety program in partnership with EHS, with explicit accountability for NFPA 70E compliance, LOTO, and arc flash discipline across operations and contracted labor.
Partner with QA/QC during construction to provide an operational perspective on workmanship, installation quality, and pre-energization readiness.
Build and deliver technical training to Field Engineers and operational teams; own the technical curriculum for electrical 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.