Director, Data Center Design & Engineering – Digital Infrastructure

Chicago, IL

Full time

R11520

Invenergy is North America’s largest privately held developer, owner, and operator of power infrastructure. With 25 years of trusted execution, we deliver reliable, affordable energy through a diverse portfolio that includes natural gas, solar, land-based wind, energy storage, transmission, and domestic manufacturing. Headquartered in Chicago, we develop, own, and operate large scale projects that power communities and support the energy future.

Invenergy follows a hybrid schedule, working in office Monday through Thursday and remotely on Fridays if work permits.

This position will be open for application for at least 3 calendar days from the posting date. This position will remain open for application based on business need, which may be before or after the 3-day posting window.

Job Description

Position Overview

Invenergy is seeking a Director, Data Center Design & Engineering to join its Digital Infrastructure business line. This individual will serve as a senior owner-side design and engineering leader for data center projects from early development and conceptual design through detailed engineering, construction support, commissioning, and turnover. Invenergy will primarily execute design and construction through external architects and engineers, general contractors, commissioning providers, equipment manufacturers, and specialty consultants. This is not a self-perform design role. The Director will establish Invenergy's technical requirements, direct and challenge external engineering partners, lead key technical decisions, and ensure projects meet required standards for reliability, scalability, constructability, cost, schedule, efficiency, and long-term operability.

The role will support projects ranging from individual data center facilities to multi-building campuses, including greenfield and adaptive-reuse developments. Projects may range from tens of megawatts to campuses representing hundreds of megawatts of capacity.

The successful candidate will bring deep technical expertise in either electrical or mechanical mission-critical systems, with demonstrated ability to lead integrated MEP design across both disciplines. This individual must be able to challenge engineering assumptions, identify system-level risks and interfaces, translate customer requirements into executable design criteria, and drive clear owner-side technical decisions.

This is an opportunity to help build the technical foundation of Invenergy's data center platform at an early stage—shaping design standards, Basis of Design requirements, engineering governance, reference architectures, and repeatable technical products as the Digital Infrastructure portfolio scales.

Key Responsibilities:

• Serve as Invenergy's senior owner-side design and engineering leader for assigned data center projects, providing technical leadership from site evaluation and concept development through detailed design, construction support, commissioning, and turnover.

• Lead and direct external AEC firms, MEP engineers, specialty consultants, commissioning providers, and equipment manufacturers, establishing clear technical requirements, deliverables, accountability, and decision pathways.

• Establish and maintain Basis of Design documents, owner's project requirements, design criteria, technical specifications, engineering standards, reference architectures, and design-review processes.

• Lead owner-side technical integration across electrical, mechanical, controls, plumbing, fire/life-safety, and other mission-critical systems, while coordinating closely with architecture, civil, structural, telecommunications, security, utilities, construction, and operations.

• Lead key design decisions involving power architecture, cooling architecture, redundancy, reliability, maintainability, controls, scalability, efficiency, constructability, equipment strategy, and lifecycle performance.

• Translate customer and tenant technical requirements into project-specific design criteria while protecting appropriate standardization, repeatability, portfolio scalability, and commercial discipline.

• Develop scalable reference designs and technical product standards that balance customer flexibility with repeatability, speed-to-market, cost discipline, reliability, and constructability.

• Apply deep technical knowledge of mission-critical infrastructure to challenge design assumptions, identify critical system interfaces, evaluate technical risks, and determine when specialized engineering analysis or additional subject-matter expertise is required.

• Lead structured technical reviews through key project stages and ensure material design issues are identified and resolved before they affect procurement, construction, commissioning, or customer commitments.

• Partner with Development during early-stage project evaluation to assess technical feasibility, utility interfaces, cooling and water strategies, site constraints, phasing, scalability, constructability, and major technical risks.

• Partner with Construction and the Senior Technical Program Manager to ensure approved designs are executable, coordinated, aligned with procurement and schedule requirements, and responsive to field conditions.

• Evaluate technical alternatives considering reliability, CAPEX, schedule, equipment availability, constructability, energy and water performance, operational complexity, maintainability, and lifecycle value.

• Establish the technical framework for commissioning and integrated systems testing, ensuring design intent, performance requirements, controls sequences, failure-mode expectations, and acceptance criteria are clearly defined and validated before turnover.

• Monitor evolving customer requirements and data center technologies, including AI/HPC, high-density compute, liquid cooling, advanced power architectures, modularization, prefabrication, and changing rack densities, and incorporate relevant developments into Invenergy's standards and product strategy.

• Provide concise, decision-oriented recommendations to senior leadership, translating complex technical issues into the issue, business impact, alternatives, recommended path, and decision required.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a closely related engineering discipline.

• 12+ years of progressive engineering experience, including at least 5 years of direct data center design and engineering experience.

• Demonstrated experience leading multidisciplinary MEP design for large, technically complex data center projects.

• Deep technical expertise in either electrical or mechanical mission-critical systems, with demonstrated ability to lead integrated MEP design across both disciplines.

• Demonstrated experience developing, reviewing, or managing Basis of Design documents, owner's project requirements, design criteria, technical specifications, engineering standards, and multidisciplinary design packages.

• Strong understanding of data center reliability and redundancy architectures, including N, N+1, distributed redundant, and 2N, and the associated tradeoffs among availability, maintainability, cost, efficiency, and operational complexity.

• Experience directing and challenging external architects, engineering firms, specialty consultants, commissioning providers, and equipment manufacturers in an owner, developer, operator, hyperscaler, or comparable environment.

• Demonstrated ability to evaluate technical alternatives considering reliability, cost, schedule, constructability, equipment lead times, efficiency, maintainability, and lifecycle performance.

• Strong leadership, judgment, and communication skills, including the ability to influence multidisciplinary teams and present complex technical recommendations clearly to senior and executive leadership.

• Ability and willingness to travel to project sites, engineering partners, manufacturers, and other locations as required.

• Eligible to work in the United States without the need for employer visa sponsorship now or in the future.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Professional Engineer (PE) license.

• Experience working for or with a hyperscale cloud provider, colocation provider, data center developer/operator, major mission-critical AEC firm, EPC organization, or technology company.

• Experience with large-scale hyperscale, wholesale colocation, AI/HPC, or multi-building data center campus projects.

• Experience with advanced cooling technologies, including direct-to-chip liquid cooling, CDUs, high-density thermal-management systems, and evolving heat-rejection strategies.

• Experience with high-voltage and medium-voltage utility interfaces, campus substations, and large-scale electrical infrastructure.

• Experience developing standardized data center designs, modular systems, reference architectures, or portfolio-level engineering standards.

• Working knowledge of applicable data center codes, standards, and industry guidance, including NFPA, NEC, ASHRAE, IEEE, applicable building and mechanical codes, and relevant data center reliability practices.

What Success Looks Like

The successful Director will establish a disciplined, scalable technical foundation for Invenergy's Digital Infrastructure business. Success will be measured by the quality and repeatability of Invenergy's data center engineering approach, the effectiveness of external design partners, the ability to translate customer requirements into scalable technical solutions, the early identification and resolution of technical risks, and the delivery of designs that are reliable, constructible, commercially competitive, and ready for successful construction, commissioning, and operation.

Base Pay

$215,000.00 - $255,000.00 USD Annual

30-40% Bonus

The base pay range reflects the minimum and maximum target salary for the position. Invenergy considers a number of factors when determining base pay offers such as the scope and responsibilities of the position and the candidate's experience, education and skills. In addition to base pay, the total annual compensation package may also include eligibility to participate in our bonus program(s) which are designed to reward individual and company performance. Your recruiter can share more about bonus eligibility for this position during the hiring process. Invenergy offers a variety of other benefits including medical, dental and vision insurance, 401k, paid time off, etc.

Invenergy LLC is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to, among other things, race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, status as a protected veteran, or disability.

Invenergy is North America’s largest privately held developer, owner, and operator of power infrastructure. With 25 years of trusted execution, we deliver reliable, affordable energy through a diverse portfolio that includes natural gas, solar, land-based wind, energy storage, transmission, and domestic manufacturing. Headquartered in Chicago, we develop, own, and operate large scale projects that power communities and support the energy future.