Senior Manager or Director, Mechanical Engineering (Design)

NScale is a GPU cloud provider engineered for AI, offering high-performance infrastructure for AI-focused companies. The role involves leading mechanical design and engineering governance for data centers, ensuring optimal cooling and infrastructure for AI deployments.

Responsibilities:

• Lead concept, schematic, and detailed design reviews for new builds and expansions
• Establish and maintain design standards and reference architectures to enable repeatable, rapid deployment across the U.S
• Ensure designs meet availability, maintainability, and efficiency targets, and are suitable for high-density AI workloads
• Provide engineering support through LLE Equipment procurement, submittals, RFIs, field changes, and issue resolution during construction
• Vendor and consultant leadership: Select and manage architectural & engineering consultants throughout design process from schematic to construction documents. Enforce quality and documentation standards through document issuance reviews
• Lead review of internal and external third-party CFD studies to validate airflow management, temperature compliance, and thermal resilience throughout the site, both inside and outside of the facility
• Partner cross-functionally with construction, commissioning, operations, procurement, and product/platform stakeholders to ensure mechanical systems meet business and customer requirements
• Continuous improvement: Implement lessons learned from deployments, improve reliability and maintainability, and push innovation in cooling and energy efficiency
• Partner cross-functionally with construction, commissioning, operations, procurement, and product/platform stakeholders to ensure mechanical systems meet business and customer requirements
• Build and lead a high-performing team of engineers including hiring, mentoring, performance management, and career development
• Support mechanical technical due diligence for potential colocation sites, including assessment of cooling architecture, redundancy, capacity headroom, maintainability, and operational maturity
• Review and validate landlord/operator-provided documentation, including basis of design, one-lines/P&IDs (where available), sequences of operation, maintenance records, incident history, and commissioning reports
• Define and negotiate mechanical lease exhibits and technical schedules (capacity commitments, metering approach, operating envelopes, maintenance windows, response SLAs, and change control requirements)
• Evaluate fit for high-density AI workloads, including constraints on inlet temperatures, liquid cooling readiness (if applicable), heat rejection limitations, and expansion pathways
• Support early-stage site screening by defining mechanical utility and constructability requirements (cooling approach, water strategy, heat rejection constraints, climate considerations, expansion capacity)
• Lead mechanical due diligence for greenfield and brownfield acquisitions, including evaluation of existing infrastructure condition, remaining useful life, maintainability, and upgrade pathways
• Assess site constraints and risks that impact mechanical design and delivery including heat rejection feasibility (air-cooled vs evaporative vs hybrid) and Space planning for plant rooms, yards, and equipment setbacks

Requirements:

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering
• Professional Engineering License
• 5+ years of mechanical engineering experience in mission-critical facilities, with significant time in data center design
• 3+ years in engineering leadership (people leadership and/or leading large multi-site programs)
• Strong understanding of Cooling systems for high-density compute (air and liquid-cooled strategies, heat rejection options, redundancy models) as well as hydronic systems, piping design, equipment selection, and controls sequences
• Experience working with U.S. engineering firms, AHJs, and code environments (state/local variations)
• Strong presence and decision-making capability
• Pragmatic, risk-based leadership style suited to fast-paced construction environments
• High judgment in high-consequence scenarios
• Ability to challenge delivery teams while maintaining partnership