Staff Engineer, Data Center

LinkedIn • Manassas, VA

2d • Hybrid

About The Position

LinkedIn is hiring a Staff Engineer to support data center infrastructure in Manassas, Virginia. The position follows a hybrid work arrangement, with work performed from home and from a LinkedIn office on select days as determined by team business needs.

The role owns technical review and validation of data center electrical and mechanical infrastructure, including power distribution, backup power, cooling, and liquid-cooling systems. It supports design standardization, equipment qualification, site and project evaluations, colocation technical due diligence and lease requirements, construction oversight, commissioning, and operational readiness. The engineer also contributes to LinkedIn’s liquid-cooling deployment strategy and ensures infrastructure meets resilience, redundancy, performance, and availability standards.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical, Mechanical, Industrial, Process, or a related engineering discipline, or equivalent practical experience.
• At least 5 years of experience designing, constructing, commissioning, operating, or maintaining mission-critical infrastructure.
• At least 5 years of direct experience with data center design, construction, field engineering, commissioning, or major infrastructure retrofit programs.
• Experience with data center electrical power systems from medium-voltage distribution through backup power and rack-level distribution.
• Familiarity with data center mechanical and cooling systems, including liquid-cooling infrastructure.
• Experience evaluating electrical and mechanical infrastructure interdependencies, system redundancy, and failure scenarios in mission-critical environments.
• Experience supporting maintenance, reliability, and operational-readiness programs for critical infrastructure.
• Experience working with colocation providers, engineering consultants, contractors, commissioning agents, equipment manufacturers, and internal operations teams.
• Ability to develop clear, actionable technical documentation for engineering, operations, and capacity-planning teams.
• Ability to manage multiple concurrent mission-critical initiatives and communicate technical risks, tradeoffs, and recommendations to engineering and leadership audiences.

Nice To Haves

• Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering or a related field.
• At least 10 years of direct data center design, construction, and commissioning experience with a hyperscaler, colocation provider, or contractor.
• Professional Engineer (PE), Certified Reliability Engineer (CRE), Certified Maintenance & Reliability Professional (CMRP), Chartered Engineer (CEng), or Project Management Professional (PMP) certification.
• Experience performing or reviewing load flow, short-circuit, protective coordination, and arc-flash electrical studies.
• Working knowledge of electrical safety standards and codes, including NFPA 70E and NEC.
• Experience leading technical due diligence, site evaluations, colocation infrastructure negotiations, or development and enforcement of technical lease requirements and SLAs.
• Experience with high-density data center infrastructure and liquid-cooling technologies, including controls, monitoring, and operational-readiness requirements.
• Experience with mechanical analyses such as CFD modeling, hydraulic analysis, and cooling capacity and redundancy assessments.

Responsibilities

• Own electrical design review and validation of data center power systems from utility and medium-voltage distribution through backup power and rack-level distribution.
• Review mechanical, cooling, and liquid-cooling system designs, including their interdependencies with electrical systems in normal and failure conditions.
• Perform and review electrical studies, including load flow, short-circuit, protective coordination, and arc-flash analyses; develop resiliency and redundancy models against Tier-level and N+X criteria.
• Drive updates to electrical sections of LinkedIn’s global Basis of Design, including owner’s requirements, design drawings, technical specifications, bills of materials, and performance benchmarks.
• Evaluate and qualify electrical and mechanical equipment and components, including vendor qualification and product testing.
• Lead technical evaluation of new sites, expansions, and data hall fit-outs, reviewing electrical one-line diagrams, mechanical designs, and infrastructure layouts.
• Lead technical due diligence and support infrastructure negotiations for colocation leases, amendments, and expansions; translate capacity needs into technical provisions covering capacity delivery, performance, responsibilities, commissioning, maintenance, reporting, and SLAs.
• Partner with data center providers to define, measure, and enforce lease SLAs; assess power and cooling capacity and ensure compliance with redundancy, resiliency, and availability standards.
• Oversee design and construction of new data centers, expansions, and retrofits, ensuring systems meet design intent, testing protocols, commissioning standards, and project timelines.
• Define commissioning and Integrated Systems Testing requirements for new spaces, retrofits, and upgrades, and validate results against design intent and operational requirements.
• Contribute to liquid-cooling deployment strategy by evaluating direct-to-chip technologies, power and cooling interdependencies, and operational impacts, and support monitoring and maintenance metrics and tools.

Benefits

• Annual performance bonus may be included in the total compensation package.
• Stock may be included in the total compensation package.
• Benefits may be included in the total compensation package.
• Other applicable incentive compensation plans may be included in the total compensation package.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior