Senior Technical Data Center Manager

Description

Role Overview

Fermi America is seeking a Senior Data Center Technical Manager to serve as the technical authority for all data center engineering and infrastructure systems across Fermi’s hyperscale program. This role owns the full spectrum of technical engineering within the DC space—electrical, mechanical, controls, fire protection, and building management systems—ensuring that design standards, equipment specifications, and vendor commitments produce constructable, maintainable, and reliable infrastructure.

The DC Sr Technical Manager will serve as Fermi’s design liaison, bridging the gap between Fermi’s technical standards and external design consultants, integrators, and engineering partners. This role reviews design deliverables for conformance with Fermi’s basis of design, drives technical standardization across all building packages, and ensures that engineering decisions translate into field-ready solutions. When the tenant encounters design or engineering challenges, this role leads the technical resolution while upholding and protecting Fermi’s design integrity.

The DC Sr Technical Manager will lead a team of discipline-specific subject matter experts—electrical, mechanical, and controls—providing technical governance across all data center packages. This role also owns vendor management strategy for critical data center equipment, ensuring technical specifications and vendor capacity commitments are aligned with construction delivery schedules and customer requirements.

This role reports directly to the Head of DC Service & Delivery and works closely with procurement, design integration, preconstruction, construction, safety, quality, and project controls functions. This is a matrix environment where success depends on influence and partnership as much as direct authority. The right leader builds strong, collaborative relationships across every function and fosters a culture of transparency, shared accountability, and mutual respect.

Key Responsibilities

• Serve as Fermi’s technical authority across all data center MEP disciplines—electrical distribution, mechanical cooling, controls and automation, fire protection, and building management systems—ensuring design and construction decisions meet Fermi’s performance, reliability, and redundancy standards

• Act as the design liaison between Fermi and external design consultants, integrators, and engineering firms—reviewing design deliverables for conformance with Fermi’s basis of design (BOD), technical standards, and applicable industry codes (Uptime Institute, ASHRAE, NFPA, NETA, TIA-942)

• Own and maintain Fermi’s data center basis of design and technical standards documentation, driving consistency across all building packages and ensuring standards evolve as the program scales and technology advances

• Interface with the tenant’s technical representatives on design and engineering challenges—providing technical support, evaluating proposed modifications for impact on facility systems, and ensuring resolutions uphold Fermi’s design integrity and do not compromise redundancy, reliability, or other tenants’ infrastructure

• Own the technical specification and vendor qualification process for all critical data center equipment—including medium-voltage switchgear, UPS systems, PDUs, generators, cooling distribution units, chillers, and building management systems

• Lead and mentor a team of DC subject matter experts (Electrical SME, Mechanical SME, Controls SME) to provide technical oversight across all active and upcoming building packages

• Establish and maintain vendor capacity tracking systems, monitoring supplier production schedules, factory acceptance testing, and delivery commitments

• Drive technical standardization across the data center program—defining preferred equipment platforms, approved vendor lists, and standard specification packages to reduce design variability and accelerate procurement

• Partner with the QA/QC Commissioning Manager on commissioning and technical readiness—providing technical input on performance goals, redundancy validation protocols, and testing sequences to ensure every building is energized safely and meets design intent prior to tenant load

• Serve as the technical escalation point for equipment-related RFIs, substitution requests, design conflicts, and field issues during construction and commissioning

• Partner with procurement to negotiate technical terms, evaluate vendor proposals, and conduct factory visits and production readiness assessments

• Coordinate with the Sr DC Design Integration Manager to ensure equipment specifications are properly reflected in design documents and that vendor data is incorporated into construction-ready packages

• Track industry trends in data center technology—including high-density cooling, liquid cooling architectures, advanced power distribution, and energy storage—to inform Fermi’s technical roadmap and design standards evolution

• Build and sustain a strong, collaborative culture across the technical management function—fostering open communication, mutual accountability, and trust with procurement, construction, design, and project controls partners

AI-Enabled Execution Philosophy

Fermi America integrates artificial intelligence and advanced analytics into its core project delivery workflows. The DC Sr Technical Manager will be expected to embrace and champion this philosophy, including:

• Deploying AI-driven vendor risk assessment models to monitor 

supplier financial health, production capacity, and delivery reliability across the equipment supply chain

• Utilizing predictive analytics to identify equipment procurement and delivery risks before they impact construction milestones, enabling proactive resolution

• Leveraging AI-powered specification analysis and design review tools to accelerate equipment evaluation, validate design conformance with Fermi’s BOD, and ensure technical compliance across concurrent packages

• Supporting the development of automated equipment tracking dashboards that integrate vendor production data with project schedule and logistics systems

• Championing the use of AI-assisted technical document review for submittals, O&M manuals, design deliverables, and factory test reports to reduce review cycle times and improve quality

• Collaborating with project controls to integrate equipment cost and schedule data into AI-driven forecasting models for portfolio-level visibility

Requirements

Relevant Experience

• 15+ years of experience in data center engineering, technical program management, or critical infrastructure delivery, with at least 8 years in hyperscale or mission-critical environments

• Deep technical knowledge across all data center MEP disciplines—including critical power distribution architectures (2N, N+1, catcher), cooling system design (air-cooled, liquid-cooled, hybrid), fire protection, controls and automation, and building management systems

• Demonstrated experience serving as a technical authority or design liaison on multi-billion-dollar data center or mission-critical infrastructure programs, with direct responsibility for reviewing and approving design deliverables against owner standards

• Strong understanding of data center basis of design (BOD) development, technical standards governance, and the translation of customer technical requirements into constructable specifications

• Experience managing vendor relationships and critical equipment procurement, including specification development, factory acceptance testing (FAT), and commissioning oversight

• Track record of leading technical teams (engineers, SMEs) across multiple concurrent projects or building phases

• Demonstrated experience interfacing with tenant technical representatives to resolve design and engineering challenges while maintaining design integrity and facility reliability

• Experience partnering with commissioning teams on hyperscale or mission-critical facilities, including technical input on performance testing, redundancy validation, and integrated systems testing

• Excellent communication skills with the ability to translate complex technical concepts for commercial, construction, and executive stakeholders. Proven ability to operate effectively in a matrix organization where influence, alignment, and partnership are as important as direct authority

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or related technical discipline; advanced degree preferred

Preferred Qualifications

• Direct experience with hyperscale data center programs for major technology companies (e.g., Google, Meta, Microsoft, AWS, Oracle) or leading data center developers (Equinix, Digital Realty, QTS, Compass, EdgeCore)

• Professional Engineer (PE) licensure in Electrical or Mechanical Engineering

• BICSI Data Center Design Consultant (DCDC) certification or equivalent design standards expertise

• Familiarity with emerging data center technologies including liquid cooling (direct-to-chip, rear-door heat exchangers), high-density power distribution, and advanced BMS/EPMS platforms

• Experience with Uptime Institute Tier III/IV certification processes and concurrent maintainability requirements

• Working knowledge of NETA acceptance testing standards, arc flash analysis, and critical power commissioning sequences

• Comfort operating in a high-growth organization where the role will help define technical standards and vendor strategies as the platform scales

Work Requirements

• This is a 100% onsite role based at Fermi’s campus location in Amarillo, TX, with periodic travel to vendor facilities, fabrication shops, and partner offices as needed

• Ability to work on active construction sites, including walking job sites, climbing ladders, and navigating unfinished structures in varying weather conditions

• Willingness to wear required personal protective equipment (PPE) including hard hat, safety glasses, high-visibility vest, steel-toe boots, and hearing protection when on-site

• Flexibility to work extended hours during critical construction milestones, commissioning events, or schedule recovery efforts as needed