Controls Expert-Washington D.C.

Alibaba Cloud; Washington (District of Columbia); On-site; USD 142,000 - 234,000; Full time

Job summary

Alibaba Cloud’s Infrastructure Operations Team seeks engineers to help standardize BMS/EPMS/EMS integration, build automation, and robust monitoring across regional data centers. You will bridge global HQ engineering with regional deployment, driving reliability through governance, data quality, and scalable platform development.

Strong coding skills and cloud experience are essential for success. Applicants should be prepared to collaborate across cultures, document complex systems, and travel

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or higher in a technical field; 8+ years in infrastructure operations with leadership experience.
• Deep understanding of BMS/EPMS platform architectures and industrial protocols (Modbus, BACnet, SNMP, MQTT).
• Experience with monitoring configuration, data mapping, and protocol troubleshooting across multi-vendor environments.
• Cloud service delivery, automation, or reliability engineering experience including observability stacks, CI/CD, and incident response.

Responsibilities

• Own regional technical standards for BMS/EPMS/EMS integration and monitoring coverage.
• Lead EMS integration projects with regional colo providers and cross-functional teams to ensure telemetry access and data quality.
• Develop integration tools, data validation scripts, and automation pipelines to improve deployment efficiency and reduce errors.

Skills

Python

Go

Java

Observability

CI/CD

Data validation

API development

Education

Bachelor's degree or higher in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Automation, Computer Science, or related field

Tools

Modbus

BACnet

SNMP

MQTT

Job description

We are the Alibaba Infrastructure Operations Team, a critical component of a leading global technology enterprise's infrastructure strategy. Our mission is to ensure the highly efficient, stable, and secure operation of Infra infrastructure across the globe. We are dedicated to delivering "last mile customer value" from our operational facilities, providing a seamless, reliable, and highly efficient service experience.

The Controls team serves as the regional technical capability center for infrastructure automation and monitoring systems. We bridge global headquarters engineering with regional deployment operations, owning the technical standards, platform development, and integration architecture for Building Management Systems (BMS), Electrical Power Monitoring Systems (EPMS), and Environmental Monitoring Systems (EMS). Our mission is to ensure that every Infra's automation and monitoring infrastructure meets Alibaba's global reliability standards through rigorous technical governance, code-level quality assurance, and systematic knowledge transfer to regional deployment teams.

We operate as a matrix organization combining both infra operations engineers and platform development engineers, enabling us to address complex technical challenges that span infrastructure systems, software platforms, and regional deployment contexts. We actively seek engineers who can bring proven practices in observability, automation, and incident management to the infra controls domain — accelerating the evolution of our monitoring and automation capabilities through cross-domain knowledge migration.

We serve as the technical foundation for the enterprise's infrastructure stability, providing authoritative engineering guidance and platform capabilities through professionalism, innovation, and cross-regional collaboration.

Job Responsibilities:

• Own regional technical standards for BMS/EPMS/EMS integration, defining monitoring specifications, communication protocol requirements, and data quality benchmarks. Ensure all regional data centers achieve standardized, reliable monitoring coverage.
• Lead EMS integration projects across regional colocation providers through structured program management. Coordinate cross-functional resources (internal engineering teams, colo provider technical staff, platform vendors) to ensure standardized telemetry access, data quality, and alarm management aligned with Alibaba global EMS standards.
• Develop integration tools, data validation scripts, and platform components to automate monitoring system deployment, configuration, and ongoing quality assurance. Apply cloud-native engineering practices (Infrastructure as Code, CI/CD pipelines, observability frameworks) to build and maintain the regional integration toolchain, improving delivery efficiency and reducing manual errors.
• Serve as regional technical escalation point for complex BMS/EPMS/EMS integration faults. Lead root cause analysis using structured methodologies (post-incident review, blameless retrospectives), develop permanent corrective actions, and establish knowledge base entries to prevent recurrence across the regional fleet.
• Review and validate electrical and HVAC automation control logic implemented by colocation providers. Orchestrate technical experts and vendor resources to ensure control strategies meet reliability, efficiency, and safety standards before production deployment.
• Conduct systematic technical risk assessment of regional automation infrastructure, including single points of failure analysis, redundancy validation, and mitigation roadmap development. Drive closure of identified risks through structured follow-up with colo providers and internal stakeholders.
• Establish regional technical training programs for controls deployment engineers and local FM/FE teams. Transfer integration methodologies, debugging techniques, and operational best practices to build sustainable regional technical capability.

Job Requirements (General):

• Collaborate with global headquarters on platform roadmap, standards evolution, and tool development. Represent regional technical perspectives in global architecture reviews and ensure global policies are adapted to local infrastructure contexts. Drive continuous improvement by introducing cloud reliability engineering practices (SLO/SLI management, error budgets, chaos engineering principles) into infra operations where applicable.

Job Requirements:

• Bachelor's degree or higher in a technical discipline (Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Automation, Computer Science, or related field). Over 8 years of experience in infrastructure operations, with demonstrated technical leadership. Acceptable backgrounds include Infra automation/building management systems, cloud computing engineering, cloud service delivery, site reliability engineering (SRE), or infrastructure platform engineering.
• For candidates from infra/facilities backgrounds: Deep understanding of BMS/EPMS platform architectures and industrial communication protocols including Modbus (TCP/RTU), BACnet (IP/MSTP), SNMP, and MQTT. Hands-on experience with monitoring point configuration, data mapping, and protocol troubleshooting across multi-vendor environments.
• For candidates from cloud/infrastructure backgrounds: Solid experience in cloud service delivery, infrastructure automation, or reliability engineering — including observability stack (metrics, logging, alerting), deployment automation (CI/CD, configuration management), and incident response frameworks. Demonstrated ability to adapt these practices to new domains and learn domain-specific technical requirements quickly.
• Proficient in at least one programming language (Python, Go, or Java) with proven ability to develop production-grade tools for system integration, data validation, or platform development. Experience building APIs, data pipelines, or configuration management tools is highly valued.
• Demonstrated experience in technical standards development or technical governance across multi-site environments. Ability to translate abstract reliability requirements into concrete technical specifications, integration procedures, and acceptance criteria.
• Strong analytical and debugging skills for complex integration issues spanning network infrastructure, communication protocols, and software platforms. Ability to systematically isolate faults across multi-layer system boundaries.
• Proven ability to lead technical projects across cross-functional and cross-cultural teams. Experience coordinating with colocation providers, equipment vendors, and internal engineering teams to deliver complex integration initiatives on schedule.
• Excellent communication and technical documentation skills, with ability to convey complex technical concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences across diverse cultural contexts. Mandarin proficiency is a plus. Willingness to travel internationally (up to 30% of time).

The pay range for this position at commencement of employment is expected to be between $142,000/year and $234,000/year. However, base pay offered may vary depending on multiple individualized factors, including market location, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience.

If hired, employee will be in an “at-will position” and the Company reserves the right to modify base salary (as well as any other discretionary payment or compensation program) at any time, including for reasons related to individual performance, Company or individual department/team performance, and market factors.