Design Director, Data Centres — Hyperscale & AI-Ready

NES Fircroft; Madrid; Presencial; EUR 120.000 - 180.000; Jornada completa

Descripción de la vacante

NES Fircroft is seeking a Design Director to lead end-to-end technical design for large-scale data-centre developments in Spain, based in Madrid. The role covers feasibility, masterplanning, permitting, detailed design, construction support and commissioning, ensuring robust, scalable designs aligned with hyperscale and AI/HPC requirements.

Reporting into the Data Centre Development & Delivery team, you will drive design criteria, standards and EPC coordination, manage international consultants,

Formación

• Degree in Electrical, Mechanical or related engineering discipline.
• 12–15+ years’ design/design-management experience.
• Strong mission-critical and data-centre background.
• Experience delivering large-scale DCs from concept to commissioning.
• Strong understanding of critical electrical and mechanical systems.
• Hyperscale, colocation or AI/HPC experience preferred.
• Experience managing multidisciplinary international consultants.
• Knowledge of Spanish/EU permitting desirable.
• Fluent English; Spanish advantageous.

Responsabilidades

• Lead design management across the full Spanish data-centre portfolio.
• Set design criteria, technical standards and Employer’s Requirements.
• Drive consistency across campus masterplans and phased developments.
• Challenge consultants and contractors to ensure buildable, cost-efficient solutions.
• Oversee architectural, civil, structural, MEP, controls, security and ICT design.
• Lead electrical topology, redundancy philosophy and power distribution strategy.
• Review cooling solutions (air, liquid, hybrid) for high-density AI/HPC workloads.
• Ensure resilience, Tier alignment and future scalability.
• Maintain awareness of hyperscaler, cloud and AI infrastructure trends.
• Develop flexible base designs that can adapt to tenant requirements.
• Review high-density rack layouts, liquid cooling and CDU needs.
• Support technical discussions with potential customers.
• Coordinate with grid, substation and utility specialists.
• Review HV/MV concepts and campus power distribution.
• Manage water, telecoms, drainage and other utility interfaces.
• Align utility strategies with campus phasing and expansion.
• Ensure compliance with Spanish/EU regulations and codes.
• Coordinate planning, environmental and construction permitting.
• Work with local consultants to deliver complete, aligned submissions.
• Drive energy-efficient and water-efficient design solutions.
• Set and monitor PUE, WUE and sustainability targets.
• Integrate renewable-energy strategies where applicable.
• Establish design programmes and deliverables schedules.
• Monitor consultant progress and identify risks early.
• Maintain decision logs, technical queries and interface registers.
• Prepare scopes of work and support consultant/contractor selection.
• Review EPC/design-build proposals and value-engineering options.
• Support selection of critical and long-lead equipment.
• Provide design oversight during construction.
• Resolve technical queries and assess proposed changes.
• Support commissioning and ensure as-built documentation meets operational needs.

Conocimientos

Design leadership

DC design experience

Electrical systems

Mechanical systems

Project management

Stakeholder management

International coordination

English fluency

Educación

Degree in Electrical/Mechanical engineering

Descripción del empleo

NES Fircroft is seeking a Design Director to lead end-to-end technical design for large-scale data-centre developments in Spain, based in Madrid. The role covers feasibility, masterplanning, permitting, detailed design, construction support and commissioning, ensuring robust, scalable designs aligned with hyperscale and AI/HPC requirements.

Reporting into the Data Centre Development & Delivery team, you will drive design criteria, standards and EPC coordination, manage international consultants,