Data Center Design Manager
Coordinates multidisciplinary design and delivery of data center infrastructure for OpenAI's large-scale AI compute deployments — managing design scope and milestones, resolving cross-discipline interfaces (power, cooling, controls, structures, physical networks), and aligning external design partners from planning through construction and turnover.
- Compensation
- $225K–$285K / yr
- Location
- US - Remote
- Work setup
- Remote
- Seniority
- Not specified
- Employment
- Not specified
- Experience
- Not specified
- Category
- Design
- Posted
Skills
Must have
- Bachelor's degree in engineering, architecture, or related discipline, or equivalent practical experience
- Experience managing multidisciplinary design for data centers, mission-critical facilities, or comparable complex infrastructure
- Technical understanding of data center infrastructure and interfaces among power, cooling, controls, structures, and physical networks
- Experience taking coordinated design packages from early planning through detailed design and construction support
- Experience coordinating external design consultants, engineering specialists, and construction partners
- Ability to read technical drawings and specifications, identify interface gaps, and resolve them with discipline experts
- Strong written and verbal communication, disciplined issue tracking, and sound judgment balancing technical requirements with delivery constraints
Nice to have
- Experience with hyperscale data centers, high-density AI or HPC infrastructure, or other rapidly evolving mission-critical environments
- Familiarity with liquid cooling, high-density power distribution, and integrating changing compute hardware requirements into facility designs
- Experience managing design reviews, quality checks, and technical change control across concurrent projects
- Experience with modular or prefabricated infrastructure and design approaches that improve constructability and deployment speed
- Familiarity with BIM, model coordination, clash detection, and engineering document-control tools
- Experience supporting commissioning readiness, as-built documentation, and handoff to operations
- Experience adapting reference designs and engineering standards to site-specific constraints across a portfolio
- Professional engineering or architecture licensure, or relevant design and project management credentials
Full description
About the Team
OpenAI's Compute organization builds and operates the infrastructure that powers frontier AI training and inference. Our data center engineering teams develop the technical standards and infrastructure required to deploy compute at unprecedented scale across both self-built and partner-operated environments.
We work across civil, structural, mechanical, electrical, construction, and infrastructure delivery to develop data center designs that are reliable, scalable, and optimized for speed.
About the Role
We are seeking a Data Center Design Manager to coordinate the design and delivery of infrastructure for large-scale AI deployments.
You will bring engineering disciplines and external design partners together to translate infrastructure requirements into coordinated, buildable design packages. You will manage design milestones, resolve cross-discipline interfaces, and keep technical decisions aligned with project requirements.
Working with engineering, construction, commissioning, operations, and hardware teams, you will help preserve design intent from early planning through construction and turnover. The focus is design execution, technical coordination, and clear ownership of design decisions.
Key Responsibilities
- Manage design scope, deliverables, milestones, and dependencies from concept development through detailed design and construction support.
- Coordinate civil, structural, architectural, mechanical, electrical, controls, and physical network interfaces across data center buildings and campuses.
- Translate owner and hardware requirements into coordinated design criteria, working with discipline leads to resolve gaps and competing requirements.
- Lead multidisciplinary design reviews; track comments, decisions, technical risks, and actions through resolution before design release.
- Evaluate design changes with engineering and delivery partners, making impacts on reliability, safety, cost, schedule, and maintainability clear.
- Coordinate external architects, engineering consultants, developers, and equipment suppliers to maintain design quality and meet agreed deliverables.
- Partner with construction and commissioning teams on constructability, sequencing, RFIs, submittals, field issues, and design changes.
- Maintain design documentation and handoff requirements, and incorporate field and operational lessons into reusable standards and reference designs.
Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in engineering, architecture, or a related discipline, or equivalent practical experience.
- Experience managing multidisciplinary design for data centers, mission-critical facilities, or comparable complex infrastructure.