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Engineering Design Manager – Data Center

At I.C. Thomasson, a Salas O’Brien Company, we tell our clients that we’re engineered for impact. This passion for making a difference applies just as much to our team as it does to our projects. That’s why we’re committed to living our values every day: inspiring, achieving, and connecting as shared owners of our success with a focus on a sustainable future.

Building for the long-term means that all of our team members can expect to work on amazing projects with a people-first approach to problem solving. It also means that each member of our team has truly limitless potential to build a unique, meaningful, and high-impact career—and they’ll receive great total rewards along the way.

Summary

The Engineering Design Manager – Data Center is a member of the technical staff and fills a pivotal role as a design team leader who effectively manages schedule, budget, and technical scope to reduce risk and manage dynamic and changing projects. The ideal candidate would be a detail-oriented professional who also has problem-solving project manager experience on large data center and mission-critical infrastructure projects, with a focus on delivering high-reliability, energy-efficient facilities under tight timelines. Experience in optimizing data center designs for sustainability metrics, such as Power & Water Usage Effectiveness (PUE/WUE) and understanding the variety of available energy sources, is highly desirable.

General Duties:

• Receive and review project requirements and obtain clarification on any conflicting, missing, or vague items.
• Plan project activities, costs, and schedules based on team inputs and client scopes.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to ensure data center designs meet reliability standards, including redundancy in power, cooling, and IT systems to achieve constant uptime.
• Initiate newly awarded projects with team and client stakeholders and establish the performance baselines.
• Interface with clients, locations, and information that may be of sensitive or secure nature.
• Incorporate client requirements for project speed, such as fast-track construction and modular design approaches, to accelerate time-to-market for data center operations.
• Coordinates with the project coordinator to create meeting minutes.
• Manage internal cross discipline coordination.
• Ensure quality control meets company standards throughout the project.
• Control project scope when issues or changes surface and coordinate the changes with company management and clients.
• Closeout design projects ensuring all deliverables have been provided and project documentation is complete.
• Track lessons learned and communicate with management to support continuous improvements in company processes.

Skills:

• Proficient in managing projects with a focus on critical environment systems, including uninterruptible, redundant power systems, precision cooling, and fault-tolerant infrastructure.
• Knowledgeable in data center-specific standards and best practices, such as ASHRAE 90.4 for energy efficiency and Uptime Institute Tier certifications for operational reliability.
• Awareness of sustainable practices for energy efficiency and green building certifications like LEED, Green Globes or ENERGY STAR.
• Prefer familiarity with Bluebeam, SharePoint, SpecsIntact, RSMeans, CAD, Revit and Creo
• Knowledge of data center-specific tools like DCIM, EPMS, SCADA software, and CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) modeling is helpful
• Familiarity with industry certifications such as Certified Data Centre Management Professional (CDCMP), Accredited Tier Designer (ATD) from Uptime Institute, or ASHRAE data center guidelines.

Qualifications

• ABET accredited Bachelor’s degree required.
• 5-7 years technical experience in an engineering/construction environment
• Minimum of 3 years project management experience (Data center or mission-critical facility projects preferred)
• Proficient in project management skillsets like critical path, negotiation, cost control, cost estimating, risk management, contract management, and communication
• Understanding of cost, schedule, and scope management
• Project management certification preferred (such as IAPM or PMP)
• Proficient with Microsoft: Windows, Project, Excel, PowerPoint, and Word

Additional Eligibility Qualifications

• Current US Passport
• Valid/Unrestricted US driver license

Work Authorization/Security Clearance

• Must be a US Citizen
• Able to meet client background requirements

Work Location: Nashville, TN

This role is eligible for performance-based bonuses, and a comprehensive U.S. based benefits package, including:

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance
• 401(k) with company match
• Paid time off and company holidays
• Wellness programs and employee assistance resources
• Professional development support

For more information, visit our full benefits overview here - Salas O'Brien benefits

Work Environment

Work is performed primarily in an office environment with occasional visits to customer locations for observation and research. These may include visits to data center construction sites (unique air flow and cooling environments, mechanical rooms, electrical rooms, and high-density computing areas) to oversee construction and installation of power and cooling systems. Air travel and customer location work may be required.

Travel

Travel may include visits to data center facilities across the US to support client projects focused on scalability, reliability, and energy efficiency. International project sites may be required occasionally.
-20%

Physical Demands

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Performing inspections and providing construction support may require climbing ladders and stairs and accessing spaces such as roofs, basements, crawl spaces or utility tunnels.
• Industrial site investigations and field construction support may require extensive walking.
• Navigating data center sites may involve working in controlled environments with high noise levels from cooling equipment or accessing confined spaces for inspections of power equipment and HVAC systems.

About Us:

Founded in 1975, Salas O’Brien is an employee-owned engineering and professional services firm focused on achieving impact for our clients, our team, and the world. We know that tomorrow’s requirements are today’s opportunities, and we are here to design lasting solutions for pressing challenges.

We work across a variety of industries providing integrated engineering and consulting services. Our specialized experience includes design for data centers, healthcare, science and technology, high-rise buildings, clean energy, education, and other building types as well as structural and building sciences, infrastructure asset management, advanced robotics, and more.

Our technical expertise is paired with an exceptional team of business development, human resources, finance and accounting, information technology, and marketing professionals, all of whom play a key role in bringing our commitments to life every day.

Equal Opportunity Employment Statement:

Salas O’Brien provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state/provincial, or local laws. Salas O’Brien will accommodate the disability-related needs of applicants as required by law.

Third-Party Agency Notice
Salas O’Brien does not accept unsolicited resumes from external recruiters or agencies. We only work with approved partners engaged directly by our Talent Acquisition team for specific searches. Unsolicited submissions will not be eligible for placement fees.