Positions: Design & Engineering
Data Center Headhunters recruits critical facilities, data center operations, construction and delivery, commissioning, power and cooling, and executive talent for colocation, hyperscale and enterprise sites. We research the market, contact working people and qualify a shortlist for your opening. No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire.
19 titles in Design & Engineering, each with its own page.
This is what we do all day: recruit data center professionals.
No postings. No stacks of resumes. No chasing. You interview a short list.
No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire.
No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire.
We offer a candidate replacement guarantee on standard search agreements. The applicable period and exact terms are set out in the signed client recruiting agreement.
- No upfront fee
- Pay only if you hire
- Data centers only, construction to operations
- Local and 100% travel candidates
- Replacement guarantee on standard searches
Showing all 19 positions.
Design & Engineering 19 titles
- Electrical Design Engineer, Mission CriticalA design that looks fine on drawings can be hard to maintain, and the engineer you hire decides how much of that you inherit.
- Senior Electrical Engineer / Electrical Engineer of Record (PE)You need an engineer whose stamp goes on the electrical drawings and who can defend them to an owner, an inspector and a contractor.
- Mechanical Design Engineer, Mission CriticalYou need a mechanical design engineer who has sized real cooling plants for real loads, and a résumé full of HVAC drawings will not tell you who did that.
- Senior Mechanical Engineer (PE)You need a mechanical engineer who can size and defend a cooling plant for a building that cannot be allowed to overheat.
- Power Systems Study EngineerYou need a power systems study engineer whose short circuit, coordination, and arc flash results hold up when someone checks them in the field.
- Structural Engineer, Data CenterYou need a structural engineer who understands why a data center slab, roof and equipment yard are not an ordinary warehouse.
- Civil / Site Engineer, Data CenterYou need a civil engineer who can make a campus work on the ground: grading, drainage, utilities and permits.
- Project Architect, Data CenterYou need a project architect who understands why a data center building is organized around equipment rooms, not people, and who can keep the code and the layout in agreement.
- Plumbing / Fire Protection EngineerYou need someone who can design water and fire protection for a building where a leak or a discharge is a business event.
- BIM ManagerYou need a BIM manager who can keep a dense mechanical and electrical model honest, because clashes found in the field cost far more than clashes found on screen.
- BIM Coordinator / Revit ModelerYou need someone who keeps the model honest so trades stop colliding on site.
- Electrical Designer (Revit)You need a designer who can turn an engineer's one-line into buildable electrical drawings in Revit.
- Mechanical Designer (Revit)You need a designer who can draw a cooling plant that can actually be built and maintained.
- Design Manager, Data CenterYou need a design manager who can keep architects and engineers producing what the build needs, on a design-build project where the owner has opinions at every stage.
- Design Standards Manager (Reference Design)You are hiring the person who decides what every future site inherits, so the question is whether they can write a reference design that project teams follow and operators can live with.
- CFD / Thermal EngineerYou want someone whose airflow and heat models match what the hall does after it is energized, not only what a simulation screen shows.
- Liquid Cooling EngineerYou need a liquid cooling engineer who has worked on real loops at real density, and a thermal background in general does not guarantee that.
- Senior Liquid Cooling EngineerYou are choosing the engineer who will own loop design, CDU selection and the acceptance criteria for an AI hall, so you need someone who has carried those decisions rather than supported them.
- MEP Principal / Engineering DirectorYou need a leader who can hold the technical line across many projects and also run the people who deliver them, which is rarer than either skill alone.
Engineer of record, design engineer or designer?
An engineer of record holds a professional license and signs the design. A design engineer performs calculations and develops systems under that authority. A designer or Revit modeler produces drawings and models. Mixing these titles leads to licensed candidates ignoring junior-sounding roles and modelers applying for roles that require a stamp.
Electrical and mechanical are the core disciplines, but data center design adds specialists. Power systems study engineers perform short circuit, coordination and arc flash studies. CFD and thermal engineers model airflow and heat. Liquid cooling engineers design secondary loops and coolant distribution for dense compute. Each is a real specialty with its own small pool.
Structural, civil, architecture and plumbing or fire protection roles complete the team. On data centers they face specific loads, site constraints and life safety rules, so prior mission critical experience shortens the learning curve.
When do you need a design manager or a standards manager?
A design manager coordinates consultants and disciplines on one project, protecting schedule and owner requirements. A design standards manager owns the reference design across many projects and decides what changes. An MEP principal or engineering director leads a design practice. These are leadership roles, and the brief should say so.
Owners building many sites often need the standards manager more than another project designer. The right person balances consistency with lessons learned and has the authority to say no to local variations that add risk.
BIM managers and coordinators sit alongside design. A BIM manager sets modeling standards and coordination processes; a coordinator runs clash detection and model updates. Both matter on dense mechanical and electrical rooms.
How do owner-side and consultant-side design roles differ?
Consultant engineers design projects for clients and are measured on delivery and quality. Owner-side engineers review consultant work, protect standards and make trade-offs across a portfolio. Candidates usually prefer one side, and the switch involves giving up either hands-on design or broad influence. State clearly which side the opening sits on.
Owner-side roles also involve more negotiation. A design manager working for the owner must push back on consultants and contractors while keeping relationships intact.
If you want someone who can do both, look for engineers who have spent real time on each side rather than assuming the skills transfer.
Questions
Do I need a PE for this role?
If the person will sign drawings in your jurisdiction, yes. If they will design under someone else's stamp, a license may be preferred but not required.
Should I hire a liquid cooling engineer or a senior mechanical engineer?
Choose a liquid cooling engineer when secondary loops and CDUs are the main design challenge. A senior mechanical engineer covers the broader plant.
What does a Design and Engineering search cost?
No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire. The fee basis is written in the agreement before outreach starts.
How long does a Design and Engineering search take?
It depends on the title, level, location and your interview process. We agree a realistic plan at calibration and do not promise a date.
How do you handle counteroffers for Design and Engineering candidates?
We discuss motivation and likely counteroffers during live qualification and again before you make an offer.
What guarantee applies to Design and Engineering hires?
We offer a candidate replacement guarantee on standard search agreements. The applicable period and exact terms are set out in the signed client recruiting agreement.
What do you not do in a Design and Engineering search?
We do not post your role on job boards, send unscreened resumes or approach candidates before the brief is agreed.
How long did your last search take? How much did the empty seat cost while you waited?
An open data center seat holds up commissioning dates, stretches the people covering it and adds cost every week it stays empty. Put your own numbers into the cost-of-vacancy calculator, then compare that figure with a contingency search where you pay only if you hire.
Work out your cost of vacancyHow a search runs
How does The Six-Step Search work?
Every search runs the same six steps. We agree the brief with you, map where the people work, find direct contact routes, reach out personally and repeatedly, then qualify each candidate live. You only see a short list of people who fit, with notes on each, and we stay with you through offer and start.
- 01
Search Calibration
You get: A written brief you sign off on: scope, must-haves, pay band and who not to approach.
- 02
Market Mapping
You get: A map of the companies and projects where your future hire is working today.
- 03
Professional Contact Intelligence
You get: Verified direct contact routes to the people on that map, not job board replies.
- 04
Persistent Personalized Outreach
You get: Repeated, role-specific outreach to people who are not looking, in your words.
- 05
Live Candidate Qualification
You get: Each candidate is screened live against your brief before you hear their name.
- 06
Candidate Intelligence and Process Support
You get: A short list with candidate briefs, then support through interviews, offer and start.
Need this person?
No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire.
We offer a candidate replacement guarantee on standard search agreements. The applicable period and exact terms are set out in the signed client recruiting agreement.