Senior Manager Datacenter Engineering
About The Position
DigitalOcean is seeking a Senior Manager of Physical Infrastructure Engineering to lead the multidisciplinary engineering function responsible for the standards, specifications, and technical decisions governing data center infrastructure across its global footprint. The team covers electrical, mechanical, controls and automation, and infrastructure engineering and construction. The role is the technical authority for data center infrastructure: Design & Deployment executes layouts and installations to the team's standards, while this position owns the standards, engineering decisions, and resulting reliability outcomes. The position focuses on AI/GPU data centers and infrastructure such as liquid cooling, power distribution, and controls. It provides final engineering escalation for infrastructure issues, conducts technical due diligence on prospective facilities, manages vendor and OEM engineering relationships, and leads incident root-cause analysis and verified corrective actions. The role also owns infrastructure specifications, documentation, change governance, compliance reviews, fleet audits, and reliability metrics, while partnering with operations, deployment, construction, design, Legal, and EHS. It reports to the VP of Data Center Operations & Engineering. Travel is expected to be 20–30% for new-site due diligence, commissioning support, and vendor/OEM engineering reviews.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in Electrical, Mechanical, Chemical, or a related Engineering discipline, or equivalent practical experience.
- 10+ years of experience in mission-critical engineering, including direct data center infrastructure experience.
- 5+ years leading engineering teams, including hiring, developing, and retaining senior technical talent.
- 5+ years of experience managing outsourced engineering teams.
- Deep hands-on experience with liquid cooling systems, including chillers, heat exchangers, pumps, CDUs, secondary loop design, and leak detection and mitigation; UPS; generators; switchgear; and controls/automation platforms.
- Experience running or directly supporting root-cause analysis with OEMs on infrastructure component failures and translating findings into engineering decisions.
- Working knowledge of relevant electrical, mechanical, and safety codes, including NFPA 70E and local electrical code, and experience partnering with Legal/EHS on compliance reviews.
- Experience conducting technical due diligence on data center facilities, including colocation or build-to-suit facilities, before lease or construction commitment.
- Track record of building engineering standards that scale across multiple sites and support rapid, concurrent expansion.
Responsibilities
- Lead and grow a multidisciplinary team spanning electrical, mechanical, controls/automation, and data center infrastructure engineering and construction.
- Develop and own engineering standards and specifications for AI/GPU data centers, including liquid cooling, power distribution, and controls/automation.
- Act as the technical authority and final engineering escalation point for infrastructure issues that Site Operations and Design & Deployment cannot resolve.
- Conduct engineering due diligence on prospective colocation and build-to-suit facilities, reviewing power capacity, cooling topology, electrical infrastructure condition, and expansion feasibility.
- Own vendor and OEM infrastructure engineering relationships and lead root-cause engagements when infrastructure fails, holding vendors accountable for design defects.
- Lead or sponsor root-cause analyses for infrastructure-driven incidents and ensure engineering corrective actions are completed and verified.
- Own infrastructure specifications, technical documentation, and change governance, requiring engineering sign-off for changes at the infrastructure layer.
- Partner with Site Operations, Deployment, Construction, and Design to ensure engineering standards are practical to build and operate.
- Track and report infrastructure reliability metrics across the fleet and prioritize engineering investment against high-risk and recurring failure modes.
- Review infrastructure standards for compliance with relevant codes and safety requirements in partnership with Legal and EHS.
- Build and maintain an audit process to review sites against current engineering standards and prioritize remediation of non-compliant assets.
- Manage outsourced engineering talent as needed to meet workload demands.
- Develop engineering and construction talent and build a succession plan for key technical authority roles.
- Travel 20–30% for new-site due diligence, commissioning support, and vendor/OEM engineering reviews.
Benefits
- Eligible participation in the annual bonus plan for non-sales roles; bonus amounts depend on company and individual performance.
- May be eligible for a new-hire equity grant, subject to plan terms and local eligibility.
- Reimbursement for relevant conferences, training, and education, subject to company policy.
- Flexible time off may be included in benefits, depending on location and eligibility.
- Local team meetups may be included in benefits, depending on location and eligibility.
- Mental health and well-being support may be included in benefits, depending on location and eligibility.
- In participating countries, eligible employees may have the opportunity to participate in the Employee Stock Purchase Program.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
