Senior Manager, Data Hall Design (AMERS)

Nscale is a vertically integrated AI cloud company delivering high-performance infrastructure through energy, data centers, GPU superclusters, orchestration, and AI services. The Senior Manager, Data Hall Design will lead the Americas data hall design function, managing teams, establishing design standards, and overseeing accurate, timely documentation for construction, procurement, installation, and operations across multiple programs.

Responsibilities:

• Lead, mentor, and develop a team of Data Hall Design Leads and Designers, setting clear expectations and growth paths, running regular performance reviews, and giving direct, constructive feedback on drawing quality and delivery
• Plan team capacity across all active programs, assigning Designers and balancing workload against construction schedules
• Hire and onboard new team members as the portfolio grows, and manage external design partners or contractors where needed
• Own Nscale's data hall design standards, including layout templates, rack elevation standards, cabling and fiber conventions, labeling and color coding, and drawing formats
• Develop reference designs for GPU cluster deployments (e.g. NVIDIA DGX/HGX and SuperPOD-scale builds) that can be adapted to site-specific conditions, and feed lessons learned from each program back into the standards library
• Maintain approved vendor lists and equipment catalogs in partnership with procurement and network engineering
• Set the design approach for each program, including rack placement strategy, row orientation, aisle containment, cooling zone boundaries, and density planning for liquid-cooled racks
• Review and approve data hall layouts, rack elevations, cabling plans, fiber tray layouts, and patch matrices before issued-for-construction, and own design change control through construction
• Coordinate with MEP engineering so layouts reflect power feed locations, cooling supply and return, and structural load limits
• Oversee structured cabling and fiber design standards, including fiber and connector types, run lengths, slack management, bend radius, and tray capacity
• Partner with network engineering to translate logical designs into physical GPU fabric layouts, including InfiniBand rail topologies, spine-leaf Ethernet, and storage networks, and resolve complex cabling and topology conflicts escalated by the team
• Own BOM quality across all programs, approve equipment substitutions, and track long-lead items such as optical transceivers, high-speed cables, and GPU server components, escalating procurement risks early
• Set DCIM documentation standards and ensure records are complete, validated, and ready for import into operational systems at turnover, working with Operations to close gaps between as-designed and as-built documentation
• Act as the senior data hall design point of contact for program managers, construction partners, customers, and senior leadership, reporting design status, risks, and resourcing across programs
• Set and monitor RFI response standards, and step in on critical field issues during construction and commissioning

Requirements:

• 10+ years of experience in data center design, IT infrastructure planning, or structured cabling design, including 3+ years leading a design team
• Proven delivery of multiple data halls from concept through construction and handoff to Operations, ideally across several programs at once
• Deep understanding of data center rack layouts (GPU servers, network switches, storage, and supporting hardware) and how layout decisions affect cooling, power, cabling, and operations
• Strong structured cabling and high-density fiber design expertise, with the ability to review cabling plans and patch matrices in detail
• Solid knowledge of network topology concepts, including spine-leaf, ToR switching, InfiniBand, and Ethernet-based data center networks, and their physical implementation
• Experience creating and governing design standards, templates, and review processes
• Expert with AutoCAD, Visio, or equivalent tools, and comfortable reviewing BIM/Revit models
• Experience owning BOMs for data center hardware and cabling, and working closely with procurement on long-lead items
• A strong people leader who hires well, develops talent, and holds a high bar for accuracy
• A clear communicator who can represent design to senior leadership, customers, and construction partners
• Experience designing and delivering large-scale GPU environments such as NVIDIA DGX/HGX, SuperPOD, or equivalent AI compute infrastructure
• Deep familiarity with InfiniBand physical design and GPU rail topologies
• Experience with DCIM platforms such as NetBox, Nlyte, or Sunbird, including setting documentation standards
• Knowledge of direct liquid cooling or immersion cooling physical integration at high rack densities
• Experience at a hyperscale data center operator or AI cloud provider, ideally across multiple regions
• BICSI RCDD, BICSI DCDC, or equivalent cabling or data center certification
• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Network Engineering, Information Technology, or a related technical discipline
• Equivalent experience with a strong track record of leading data hall design delivery will also be considered