Principal Manager, Design, Special Projects, AMERS

Nscale is hiring a Principal Design Manager, Special Projects to lead the design of non-standard projects across its data center portfolio, including pilots, lab facilities, value engineering initiatives, and urgent site resolutions. The role defines project scope and teams, coordinates consultants and internal stakeholders, oversees design quality and construction administration, and captures outcomes to inform portfolio standards.

Responsibilities:

• Serve as the single point of accountability for design on a changing portfolio of special projects, including innovation and pilot projects, lab and test facilities, value engineering initiatives, and critical site issue resolutions
• Define each project from the ground up when needed: problem statement, objectives, success criteria, scope, budget, schedule, risks, and the team required to deliver it
• Build and own the design schedule for each project, sequencing deliverables to support procurement, construction, and testing milestones
• Manage several concurrent special projects of very different type, scale, and urgency without losing visibility or control on any of them
• Drive design decisions with a clear hierarchy of priorities: safety first, then schedule, quality, cost, and sustainability
• Partner with Design Innovation to translate concepts and research questions into deliverable projects with a defined test plan and measurable outcomes
• Lead the design of lab, test, and validation facilities, including the unusual power, cooling, structural, instrumentation, and safety requirements they carry
• Lead first-of-a-kind pilots of modular and prefabricated systems, alternative cooling and power approaches, and new building form factors, working directly with fabricators and vendors
• Design pilots to produce usable data, with instrumentation, access, and flexibility built in from the start, and document results, performance, and cost so Nscale can make a clear scale-or-stop decision
• Scope and lead value engineering studies across the portfolio, targeting the systems, assemblies, details, and specifications with the highest cost or schedule leverage
• Run structured VE analysis with AE partners, cost consultants, vendors, and Construction, evaluating alternatives for cost, schedule, constructability, maintainability, and risk
• Validate VE proposals against Nscale's design standards, code requirements, and operational needs, then drive adopted outcomes into our standards, AE bench, and live projects and track the realized savings
• Respond rapidly to critical design-related issues on live sites, such as utility constraints, unexpected site conditions, code and inspection problems, equipment or system failures, and operational constraints
• Mobilize the right AE, specialist consultants, and vendors quickly, define the problem precisely, and develop options with clear cost, schedule, and risk trade-offs
• Deliver coordinated, buildable design solutions on the timeline the site needs, including temporary and interim measures where appropriate, coordinating with Construction, Operations, and the site's Principal Design Manager so fixes integrate cleanly with production design
• Define scopes of services, deliverables, and schedules for AE firms, specialist consultants, research partners, and vendors, including novel scopes with no template
• Identify and qualify specialists outside Nscale's standard AE bench when a project needs expertise the bench doesn't have
• Prepare and issue RFPs, evaluate proposals, lead fee negotiations, and recommend award, then administer contracts and hold partners accountable to schedule, quality, and responsiveness
• Run a disciplined requirements capture and freeze process with every internal stakeholder, including Design Innovation, Design Technology, Construction, Operations, Commissioning, Security, Network, Procurement, EHS, and Finance
• Coordinate external partners, including equipment vendors, modular and prefab fabricators, utilities, research and academic partners, and commissioning agents, and integrate their inputs into the AE's coordinated documents
• Chair coordination meetings with clear agendas, documented decisions, and tracked actions, and manage change discipline by securing a decision on late requests before the AE proceeds
• Drive structured design reviews at defined milestones, holding internal SMEs accountable for completing reviews and closing out comments, scaled to the project but never skipped
• Require the AE to run and document model-based coordination and clash detection so architectural, structural, MEP, fire protection, and civil designs are genuinely coordinated before issue
• Review constructability, maintainability, testability, and operational access with Construction and Operations, and deliver complete, coordinated construction document sets for every project
• Lead Construction Administration for each special project as the design authority to the construction team and the owner's interface to the AE
• Hold the AE accountable for RFI and submittal turnaround, prioritizing critical-path and long-lead items, and drive field design issues to fast, documented resolution
• Conduct regular site visits and support commissioning, start-up, and testing, including the test programs that pilots and labs exist to run
• Close out the design side of every project, delivering as-builts, record models, O&M documentation, and test results to Operations and Design Innovation
• Capture lessons learned, performance data, costs, and design details from every special project in a form the production program can use
• Partner with Engineering and Design Innovation to update Nscale's design standards, details, and global form factor catalog, and brief Design Managers and the AE bench on adopted innovations and VE outcomes
• Report special project status, results, risks, and decisions clearly to the Vice President, Design Management and senior leadership

Requirements:

• 12+ years of experience in the design and construction industry, in design management, technical program management, architecture, engineering, or construction
• Experience as the design lead on projects delivered from problem definition or concept through construction documents and Construction Administration
• Experience delivering at least one of the following: a lab, test, or research facility; a first-of-a-kind pilot or prototype building system; a significant value engineering program; or a rapid-response design fix on a live site
• Direct experience scoping, procuring, negotiating, and administering AE, specialist consultant, and vendor contracts, including for non-standard scopes
• Enough technical grounding across architectural, structural, mechanical, electrical, and civil disciplines to ask the right questions, recognize when a specialist is needed, and hold consultants accountable for the answer
• Proven Construction Administration experience, including RFIs, submittals, field issue resolution, and close-out, on a fast-paced construction program
• Strong design technology literacy, and comfort working directly in BIM environments, coordination tools, and document management platforms
• A track record of defining a problem from a vague starting point, building a plan, assembling a team, and delivering
• A disciplined organizer and communicator who can run meetings, document decisions, track actions, and keep many parties aligned on a tight schedule
• A strong cross-functional collaborator who works well with Design Innovation, Construction, Operations, vendors, and research partners without needing to control every decision
• Bachelor's degree in Architecture, Civil, Structural, Mechanical, or Electrical Engineering, Construction Management, or a related discipline
• Direct experience in data center or hyperscale AI infrastructure design and delivery, including data center electrical, mechanical, and fire protection systems
• Hands-on experience with modular, prefabricated, or offsite construction on a completed project
• Experience with liquid cooling, alternative or on-site power systems, or other emerging data center technologies
• Experience working with research, academic, or vendor R&D partners on built pilots or test programs
• Formal value engineering or cost engineering experience
• Familiarity with commissioning and test protocols for mission-critical facilities
• Existing relationships with specialist consultants and vendors in the US data center and advanced-facility market
• Master's degree in Architecture, Engineering, Construction Management, or a related field