Commissioning Manager - Mechanical

Highfield Professional Solutions Ltd; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Highfield Professional Solutions Ltd is seeking an experienced Mechanical Commissioning Manager to lead commissioning across a growing data centre portfolio in London. The role is hybrid, with UK and international travel as required, and sits in the central technical team to shape standards and governance.

You will oversee design, testing and handover from multiple sites, coordinating FAT/SAT/IST activities and ensuring operational readiness and resilience of critical systems.

Qualifications

• Experience in data centre commissioning across colocation, hyperscale or complex critical infrastructure.
• Strong understanding of commissioning processes from design through handover.
• Knowledge of FAT/SAT/IST processes and test scripting.
• Experience coordinating commissioning agents, contractors and vendors.

Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain commissioning strategies, standards and governance across the portfolio.
• Provide input during pre-construction, tender and design stages.
• Review designs for commissionability and operability.
• Lead integrated commissioning programmes from design to handover.
• Coordinate FAT, SAT and IST activities across critical systems.
• Oversee testing documentation and commissioning records.
• Manage commissioning teams and external vendors.
• Identify and manage commissioning risks, defects and punch lists.

Skills

Data centre commissioning

Stakeholder management

Strategic + technical

BMS and critical MEP systems

Communication skills

Education

Engineering degree (Mechanical or Electrical)

Job description

Mechanical Commissioning Manager - Data Centres

Location: London / Hybrid

Travel: UK & International as required

We are working with a growing data centre operator to appoint a Mechanical Commissioning Manager into its central technical team.

This is a portfolio-level role with responsibility for shaping and overseeing commissioning across both new data centre developments and live operational facilities.

Rather than sitting solely within an individual construction project, you will work across multiple sites, helping to define commissioning strategy, standards and governance while supporting project teams through design, construction, testing and final handover.

The Role

The Commissioning Manager will provide technical leadership across the full commissioning lifecycle, working closely with Design, Construction, Project Management, Operations, commercial teams, contractors, vendors and external commissioning specialists.

Key responsibilities will include:

• Developing and maintaining commissioning strategies, standards and governance across the portfolio.
• Providing commissioning input during pre-construction, tender and design stages.
• Reviewing designs from a commissioning, maintainability and operational-readiness perspective.
• Managing integrated commissioning programmes from design review through to handover.
• Leading and coordinating FAT, SAT and ISTactivities across critical systems.
• Developing and overseeing L1-L5 testing, L6 checklists, test scripts and commissioning documentation.
• Managing commissioning agents, contractors and specialist vendors against agreed programmes and deliverables.
• Identifying and managing commissioning risks, defects, punch lists and close-out activities.
• Working closely with Operations to ensure facilities are ready for handover, including training and O&M documentation.
• Providing technical input into existing operational facilities, particularly around resilience, availability and system performance.
• Capturing lessons learned and driving continuous improvement across commissioning processes and standards.

What We're Looking For

We are looking for an experienced commissioning professional with a strong Mechanical and/or Electrical building services background and significant exposure to mission-critical environments.

Ideally, you will bring:

• Strong data centre commissioning experience across colocation, hyperscale or similarly complex critical infrastructure.
• A thorough understanding of the construction lifecycle from pre-construction and design through testing, commissioning and handover.
• Experience planning and delivering integrated systems testing.
• Strong knowledge of FAT and SAT processes.
• Experience reviewing designs from a commissionability and operational-readiness perspective.
• Knowledge of relevant international standards, including ASHRAE.
• Good understanding of BMS, controls and critical MEP systems.
• Experience coordinating contractors, vendors and third-party Commissioning Agents.
• The ability to operate at both a strategic and detailed technical level.
• Strong stakeholder management and communication skills.

Experience within data centres is strongly preferred, although candidates from similarly complex mission-critical environments such as pharmaceutical facilities, hospitals or large-scale logistics facilities may also be relevant.

A Mechanical or Electrical Engineering qualification would be advantageous, alongside membership of an appropriate professional body.

The Opportunity

This is an opportunity to move beyond commissioning a single project and take a broader role across a growing data centre portfolio.

You will have visibility across projects from the earliest design stages through to live operations, with the ability to influence how commissioning is approached, standardised and continuously improved across the organisation.

For someone who understands both the technical detail of commissioning and the bigger picture of delivering resilient, operationally ready data centres, this offers a genuinely broad remit.