Senior Data Center Design Engineer

EdgeConneX; Frankfurt; On-site; EUR 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

EdgeConneX in Frankfurt, Germany seeks a Senior Data Center Design Engineer for the EMEA region to act as the mechanical design authority across campuses. You will ensure HVAC, liquid cooling, and piping designs meet GD&E standards and support commissioning and FAT, while collaborating with the execution partner to maintain high-quality outcomes.

The ideal candidate will have 10+ years in data center or critical infrastructure projects, deep liquid-cooling experience, and a proven track record

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering required; master’s preferred.
• 20+ years of experience in mechanical engineering for data centers or critical infra.
• Credentials such as CDCP or ATD are valued.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the senior mechanical discipline authority across the portfolio in EMEA, ensuring conformance to GD&E standards.
• Lead design reviews, FATs, and commissioning-readiness assessments for critical mechanical scope.
• Validate mechanical readiness and support TPM/DM site teams during execution.
• Escalate deviations through the approved approval process and capture field lessons for standard improvements.
• Provide technical mentorship to regional SMEs and improve consistency of design reviews.
• Review equipment specs, design parameters, HVAC/piping designs, control narratives, and CFD analyses.
• Ensure customer-specific requirements align with EdgeConneX standards and resolve conflicts through formal processes.

Skills

HVAC systems

Liquid cooling

Mechanical design

Data center design

CFD analyses

Education

Bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering

Master's degree (preferred)

Tools

CFD software

P&ID tools

Job description

Led by an experienced management team and supported by a strong investor group, including large and experienced institutions and strategic partners, EdgeConneX offers a dynamic, fast-paced work environment where we are bringing flexibility, proximity, power, and connectivity to some of the world’s key businesses. With major offices in Herndon, Denver, Amsterdam, Singapore and Malaysia, we have a global footprint and a unified team of employees committed to providing a premier customer experience and delivering the full spectrum of data center solutions, from core to edge, like no other data center provider can do. Focused on driving innovation and helping our customers define and deliver their own unique vision for the Edge, at any scale, in any market worldwide, for any requirement, we are building tomorrow’s data center infrastructure, today for some of the world’s most demanding Network, Content, and Cloud customers. EdgeConneX is seeking a technically accomplished, delivery-oriented mechanical engineer to serve as Senior Data Center Design Engineer for EMEA within the Global Design & Engineering (GD&E) organization. This role is the senior regional mechanical authority, accountable for the integrity of mechanical design and equipment validation across a portfolio of assigned campuses. The role also serves as GD&E's designated mechanical engineering interface across the broader EdgeConneX organization. GD&E delivers safe, reliable, and cost-effective data center infrastructure by setting world-class design standards, driving disciplined program execution, and partnering seamlessly with internal teams and an external execution partner. Within GD&E, the Senior Mechanical Engineer sits within the EMEA regional pillar and is supported by the Principal Mechanical Engineer in Technical Strategy & Architecture, who owns the global mechanical architecture and standards. The Senior Data Center Design Engineer ensures that this architecture becomes validated, commissioned, critical infrastructure in the field. The ideal candidate is first and foremost a mechanical engineer with data center or critical-infrastructure experience and practical expertise in HVAC systems, including both air and liquid cooling technologies.

Key Responsibilities

• Serve as the senior mechanical discipline authority across the portfolio of assigned campuses in EMEA, ensuring that mechanical designs and installations conform to the standards, guidelines, and templates established by Global Technical Strategy & Architecture.
• Engage at the milestones where deep HVAC expertise matters most, including design reviews, submittal and RFI resolution for critical mechanical scope, factory acceptance tests (FAT), and commissioning-readiness assessments.
• Hold the technical position on mechanical readiness by validating that systems are ready before each phase proceeds, while supporting the TPM/DM site team rather than working in parallel with it.
• Identify where site-specific constraints or customer requirements require a departure from the global standard, and route deviations through the established Technical Strategy & Architecture approval process.
• Provide informal technical leadership and mentoring to regional SMEs, improving the consistency and rigor of design reviews across the EMEA portfolio.
• Review and challenge mechanical engineering deliverables produced by the execution partner, including equipment specifications, design parameters, HVAC and piping designs, control narratives, and CFD analyses, for conformance with GD&E standards and sound engineering practice.
• Validate that customer-specific mechanical requirements are correctly captured in the design and reconciled with the EdgeConneX standard, escalating conflicts through the deviation process rather than resolving them informally.
• Feed field and commissioning lessons learned back to the Principal Mechanical Engineer so that the global mechanical standard improves with every campus delivered.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering or similar required; master's degree preferred.
• Professional engineering credentials and relevant data center certifications, such as CDCP or ATD (Accredited Tier Designer), are valued.

Experience

• Minimum 10 years of progressive mechanical engineering experience in data centers or mission-critical infrastructure, spanning design, construction support, and commissioning, with a track record of owning mechanical outcomes on delivered facilities.
• Demonstrated experience on hyperscale or Tier III+ data center projects, including hands‑on involvement in design reviews, factory acceptance testing, commissioning, and readiness assessments.
• Meaningful experience with liquid‑cooling technologies and large‑scale chilled‑water cooling systems. Familiar with the typical electrical equipment in a data center like generators, MV‑transformers electrical distribution and UPS‑Systems.
• Experience working with or alongside execution-partner engineering teams, driving quality and standards of adherence through influence within an integrated team.
• Solid understanding of commissioning methodology for mechanical systems, from individual equipment startup and functional testing through Integrated Systems Testing (IST), including readiness criteria and failure‑mode validation.
• Clear, concise communication, with the credibility to make a ‘not ready’ call on a mechanical system or commissioning plan and support it with evidence and a recovery path.
• Sound field judgment, including knowing when to resolve an issue directly, when to engage the Principal Mechanical Engineer, and when to eliminate through the TPM/DM site team.

Travel

Significant travel required (25–40%) across assigned campuses in EMEA and vendor facilities for factory acceptance testing, concentrated around design reviews, equipment validation, and commissioning windows, sometimes on short notice.