Reliability Engineer Advisor, Thermal Systems & Cooling

IREN•Fort Worth, TX

About The Position

The Reliability Engineer Advisor, Thermal Systems & Cooling holds technical accountability (TA1) for thermal and cooling asset classes across IREN’s data center portfolio. These include central utility plants, chilled-water and dry-cooler plants, hydronics and heat exchangers, liquid-cooling loops and distribution units, and the cooling-water and coolant chemistry that supports them. The role sets asset strategies, operating envelopes, and water-quality limits, and provides functional direction and mentoring to campus reliability engineers. This is a senior individual-contributor position that performs engineering work while also directing it. IREN is a vertically integrated AI Cloud provider that builds, owns, and operates data centers and GPU clusters, supported by renewable energy. The role contributes to sustainable operations and the reliable delivery of cooling for high-performance computing. The advisor owns portfolio-wide thermal and cooling strategies, chemistry programs, operating limits, monitoring requirements, failure analysis, and technical input to lifecycle, risk, and investment decisions. The position also supports campus readiness by reviewing designs and commissioning deliverables, defining acceptance criteria, and confirming strategies, spares, and limits are ready before handover. Regular travel to the Childress campus and other IREN sites is required, including extended on-site periods during commissioning and start-up, and the role may need to support cooling incidents outside normal working hours.

Requirements

Degree in mechanical or process engineering; professional registration is an asset.
10+ years in reliability or plant engineering on mission-critical or industrial cooling and utility plant.
Liquid-cooling experience, or the ability to transfer similar knowledge and become proficient quickly.
Experience with cooling-water and coolant chemistry, including treatment programs, water-quality limits, and monitoring.
Process and thermal engineering knowledge, including heat and mass balance, plant optimization, redundancy philosophies, and the consequences of cooling failure for IT load.
Reliability-method experience, including RCM/FMECA, criticality-based maintenance strategies, operating limits, failure analysis, and root-cause analysis; experience loading strategies into a CMMS.
Working literacy in BMS/SCADA controls and electrical systems sufficient to coordinate with controls and electrical engineers.
Condition-monitoring knowledge for rotating and thermal equipment.
Ability to provide non-authoritative technical leadership and establish and defend standards with site engineers and operations managers through functional direction.
Clear technical writing skills and comfort working both on the plant floor and in design reviews.
Available for regular travel to the Childress campus and other IREN sites, extended on-site periods during commissioning and start-up, and support of cooling incidents outside normal hours as needed.
May be required to complete pre-employment screening, including background checks and substance testing, according to company policies.

Nice To Haves

Mechanical engineering background combined with mission-critical chiller-plant experience.
Chemical or process engineering background combined with industrial utilities and water-treatment experience.
CMRP/CRL, CEM, or refrigeration credentials.
Professional registration.

Responsibilities

Own asset strategies for thermal and cooling asset classes across the portfolio, including criticality-based maintenance strategies, spares criticality, and OEM service requirements; load strategies into the CMMS and support adoption at every operating campus.
Set thermal-system operating envelopes and limits and cooling-water and coolant quality limits; hold technical accountability (TA1) for deviations and escalate enterprise-level deviations to the Senior Manager and Global Director.
Own the cooling-water and coolant chemistry program, including treatment specifications, vendor performance requirements, monitoring, audits, and responses to exceeded limits.
Provide functional direction for campus mechanical and HVAC reliability engineers (TA2), including profile definition, hiring-panel participation, onboarding, technical objectives, appraisal input, mentoring, and development.
Lead failure analysis for thermal and cooling events, including root-cause analysis for severity 1 and repeat failures; convert findings into strategy and limit changes and communicate design lessons to Engineering.
Specify monitoring requirements, thresholds, and asset-health analytics for each thermal asset class.
Support operational readiness for new campuses by reviewing cooling-plant design and commissioning deliverables for operability and maintainability, defining thermal acceptance criteria at each readiness level, and confirming strategies, spares, and limits are in place before handover.
Provide thermal and cooling input to lifecycle, risk, and investment decisions, and establish the technical basis for OEM service decisions.
Travel regularly to the Childress campus and other IREN sites, including extended periods on site during commissioning and start-up; support cooling incidents outside normal hours as needed.

Benefits

100% company-paid employee medical, dental, and vision insurance premiums; 75% company-paid dependent coverage.
Company-paid short-term and long-term disability insurance.
Voluntary life, critical illness, and accident coverage.
Health Savings Accounts when combined with the High-Deductible Health Plan.
Employee Assistance Program and wellness resources.
401(k) retirement plan with company match.
Paid professional development and access to financial planning and legal services.
Paid Time Off and paid holidays.
Professional development supporting certifications, continuing education, or role-related training.
Company events and team-building activities.
Relocation, as applicable and based on successful-candidate circumstances.
Total compensation may include short-term and long-term incentives.