Senior Director, Design Engineering

The Director/Sr Director - Data Center Design Engineering is a strategic and technical leader responsible for the end-to-end design, upgrade, and delivery of global data center technical capacity, with an emphasis on cost-effective engineering, strategic asset repositioning, and lifecycle optimization. This role leads multidisciplinary teams across electrical, mechanical, and controls engineering to deliver highly available, energy-efficient, and scalable infrastructure supporting hyperscale, AI, and enterprise workloads. The ideal candidate brings deep electrical engineering expertise, mechanical engineering, broad MEP implementation experience, and a proven track record managing both greenfield builds and complex brownfield upgrades with a focus on capex efficiency, timeliness, and continued optimization of the process. This role collaborates closely with operations, construction, M&A, finance, and customer-facing teams to align future and planned infrastructure delivery with business growth and capital planning. This role leads a team of world class engineering experts with specific skillsets and capabilities that also support the broader business.

• RESPONSIBILITIES AND ACCOUNTABILITIES

Design and Engineering Leadership

• Serve as the senior engineering authority across the full data center lifecycle-from concept and design through construction, commissioning, upgrades, and operational transitions.
• Lead internal and external electrical engineering teams in the delivery of robust power and cooling infrastructure including power distribution, UPS systems, liquid cooling, air cooling, backup generation, and switchgear design optimized for high reliability and cost efficiency.
• Ensure all electrical systems align with high-availability design philosophies (e.g., N+1, 2N, distributed redundant) and comply with applicable codes, safety standards, and operational risk mitigation practices.
• Develop and maintain standardized electrical and mechanical design templates, technical specifications, and playbooks to ensure consistency, quality, and speed-to-market globally.

Strategic Planning and Optimization

• Drive strategic planning and execution of infrastructure upgrades, system replacements, and capacity expansions across the portfolio to meet evolving customer demand, power and cooling requirements.
• Provide forward-looking guidance on asset repositioning, including conversion of underutilized capacity, repurposing legacy facilities, and implementing sustainability retrofits.
• Evaluate emerging technologies (e.g., solid-state switchgear, AI-based predictive monitoring, energy storage) for potential performance, reliability, and cost benefits.

Cost and Value Engineering

• Oversee value engineering efforts, proactively identifying opportunities to reduce CapEx and OpEx through system innovation, equipment selection, modular deployment strategies, and vendor negotiations.
• Collaborate with real estate and finance teams to evaluate TCO, assess build-vs-buy trade-offs, and support site selection and master planning with infrastructure input.
• Strong command of data center cost drivers and economics; experience in value engineering, capital planning, and life-cycle performance analysis.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Consult on pre-sales opportunities acting as the defacto standard to ensure quality process across sales to delivery. Provide quality of delivery assessments as required, supporting broad internal and external customers.
• Support go-to-market efforts by advising on customer-specific electrical requirements, participating in RFPs, and translating commercial needs into technical deliverables.
• Partner with construction, operations, and commissioning teams to ensure designs are constructible, maintainable, and optimized for long-term efficiency and reliability.

Performance Monitoring and Reporting

• Establish KPIs for infrastructure delivery, drive continuous improvement efforts, and report on project health, risk posture, and budget performance to executive stakeholders.

Leadership and Team Building

• Lead a team of world-class engineering experts, including hiring, mentoring, and talent development.
• Foster a culture of innovation, accountability, and high performance across engineering disciplines.

III. MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS Education

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering required; PE license or advanced degree strongly preferred.
• Dallas Market Preferred, Texas License.

Experience

• 10+ years of experience in data center electrical engineering or MEP leadership roles, including large-scale buildouts, retrofits, and multi-region infrastructure programs.
• 5+ years of direct/people management.
• Demonstrated success managing complex infrastructure upgrades and brownfield environments with minimal disruption to live operations.
• Familiarity with global design and construction standards (e.g., NEC, IEEE, ASHRAE, Uptime Institute) and permitting requirements.

Skills

• Deep expertise in medium and low-voltage systems, including UPS topologies, switchgear design, generator integration, grounding, and power quality management.
• Deep expertise in mechanical engineering, including liquid cooling, chilled water delivery, and chiller plant mechanics.
• Excellent communication and leadership abilities; capable of aligning technical execution with business objectives.
• TRAVEL Travel to data center sites, client meetings or conferences as requested and required.

The above-referenced position summary is a guideline designed to present an overview of job duties and is not intended to be a comprehensive list of responsibilities and requirements. This management position will be required to execute a Confidentiality, Non-Disclosure and Non-Compete Agreement.

Centersquare is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, protected veteran status, or disability status.