Senior Controls Specialist

Zerra DC; Brisbane; On-site; AUD 140,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Zerra DC in Brisbane is seeking a Senior Controls Specialist to lead the controls architecture for the Western Downs Digital Park cooling systems. You will oversee sequences of operation, integration and commissioning of chilled-water systems, pumps, cooling towers and related BMS interfaces across design, procurement, construction and operations.

Based in Brisbane with regular travel to Dalby, you will coordinate with electrical controls, EPMS and SCADA teams, set standards, review designs,

Qualifications

• Deep expertise in building management systems (BMS) and HVAC controls.
• Experience with data centre environments and large central cooling plants.
• Ability to coordinate interfaces with electrical controls, EPMS, PLC and SCADA systems.
• Strong understanding of chiller and chilled-water plant sequencing and redundancy.
• Experience leading controls projects through design, programming, testing and handover.

Responsibilities

• Define controls philosophy, architecture, and technical standards for campus cooling systems.
• Develop and review cooling-plant sequences, functional descriptions, control schematics, alarm strategies.
• Lead integration of chillers, pumps, cooling towers, heat exchangers into the BMS.
• Define plant operating modes, equipment staging, redundancy, and safe-state requirements; coordinate interfaces.
• Review designs and submissions from consultants, contractors, and BMS integrators.
• Support procurement and technical evaluation of cooling equipment and controls packages.
• Lead controls input into FAT, SAT, functional testing and commissioning.
• Diagnose and resolve cooling-control and interface issues to protect reliability.

Skills

BMS

HVAC-controls

Coordination

BACnet

Modbus

Job description

Lead the controls architecture for the critical cooling systems supporting one of Australia’s most significant new data centre developments.

Location

Brisbane, Queensland, with regular travel to Dalby

Reports to

Technical Director

About Zerra DC

Zerra DC develops and operates hyperscale data centre campuses across Australia, Japan and India, delivering capacity at scale into markets driven by the growth of cloud computing and artificial intelligence.

Zerra DC is part of AGP, an independently owned investor and asset manager that develops and operates real assets across the energy, digital and real estate sectors.

Western Downs Digital Park is a master-planned digital and energy precinct being developed in regional Queensland. Located close to major power infrastructure near Dalby, the campus will bring together AI-ready data centres, energy infrastructure and a purpose-built operating environment across multiple phases of development.

The role

Zerra DC is seeking a Senior Controls Specialist to provide technical leadership across the building management and mechanical cooling-control systems required for Western Downs Digital Park.

The role will focus primarily on the controls architecture, sequences of operation, integration and commissioning of the campus cooling environment - including chilled-water systems, chillers, pumps, cooling towers or dry coolers, heat exchangers, air-handling equipment and associated packaged controls.

Working across design, procurement, construction, commissioning and operations, you will ensure the cooling-control systems are resilient, efficient and fully integrated into the wider BMS and campus controls architecture. You will also coordinate the relevant interfaces with electrical controls, EPMS and SCADA systems.

What you will lead

• Define the controls philosophy, architecture and technical standards for the campus mechanical cooling systems.
• Develop and review cooling-plant sequences of operation, functional descriptions, control schematics, points lists, alarm strategies and cause-and-effect matrices.
• Lead the integration of chillers, chilled-water systems, pumps, cooling towers, dry coolers, heat exchangers, AHUs, CRAHs, valves, variable-speed drives and packaged equipment controllers into the BMS.
• Define plant operating modes, equipment staging, redundancy, failover and safe-state requirements, while coordinating interfaces with electrical controls, EPMS, PLC and SCADA systems.
• Review consultant, contractor, equipment-manufacturer and BMS-integrator designs and submissions.
• Support procurement and technical evaluation of cooling equipment, BMS packages and controls integrators.
• Lead controls input into FAT, SAT, functional performance testing, integrated systems testing and commissioning.
• Diagnose and resolve cooling-control, integration and plant-performance issues before they affect programme, reliability or operability.
• Support construction, commissioning, training, documentation, system optimisation and operational handover.
• Drive standardisation and continuous improvement across cooling-controls design and system configuration.

What you will bring

• Approximately 10 years or more of BMS, building-automation, HVAC-controls or mechanical-controls experience.
• Experience gained in data centres, mission-critical facilities or other complex building environments with substantial central cooling plants.
• Deep technical knowledge of mechanical cooling controls and BMS architecture, supported by the ability to coordinate interfaces with electrical controls, EPMS, PLC and SCADA systems.
• Experience carrying cooling-control systems through design, programming, integration, functional testing, commissioning and operational handover.
• Strong understanding of chiller and chilled-water plant sequencing, equipment staging, redundancy, failover, optimisation and communications protocols such as BACnet and Modbus.
• The ability to technically challenge and coordinate mechanical designers, equipment manufacturers, BMS integrators, programmers and commissioning specialists.
• Strong technical judgement, disciplined documentation and the ability to drive complex multidisciplinary issues to resolution.

The opportunity

This is an opportunity to establish the cooling-controls architecture for a major new hyperscale data centre campus from the ground up.

You will influence how the campus’s critical cooling systems are designed, integrated, tested, optimised and operated across multiple phases of development.