Data Center Design Execution Lead

Anthropic; Friendly (MD); Hybrid; USD 320,000 - 405,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive compensation and benefits

Generous vacation and parental leave

Flexible working hours

Job summary

Anthropic is seeking a Design Exec Manager in Friendly, Maryland to lead the connection between technical requirements and third-party partners in building datacenters. You'll drive execution with a focus on design accuracy and accountability. The candidate should have over 10 years of experience in infrastructure management, particularly in datacenter environments, ensuring that design intent translates throughout the project lifecycle.

Key responsibilities include defining frameworks for partner engagement and managing change processes. A Bachelor's degree in a relevant field is essential, and familiarity with mechanical and electrical systems is preferred.

Qualifications

• 10+ years managing complex capital/infrastructure programs.
• Experience managing design exec or technical programs with external firms.
• Working familiarity with mechanical, electrical, and cooling systems.
• Experience with design change processes and construction documentation workflows.
• Track record of coordination on complex infrastructure projects.

Responsibilities

• Drive execution of Anthropic's technical requirements for datacenter delivery.
• Define the design execution framework for partner engagement.
• Own the design change management process across projects.
• Facilitate constructability reviews between design and construction teams.
• Interface with internal stakeholders to align design solutions with business objectives.

Skills

Project Management

Technical Program Coordination

Communication

Risk Management

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Architecture or related field

Tools

Revit/BIM

Job description

About Anthropic

Anthropic’s mission is to create reliable, interpretable and steerable AI systems. We want AI to be safe and beneficial for our users and for society as a whole. Our team is a quickly growing group of committed researchers, engineers, policy experts, and business leaders working together to build beneficial AI systems.

About the Team

Anthropic’s Infrastructure team is responsible for design, deliver, and scaling the physical compute environments that power our AI research and products. The team sit at the intersection of internal customers and an ecosystem of external engineering, construction, and development partners. From site selection through design, construction, commissioning, and ongoing operations, Infrastructure ensure that Anthropic’s datacenter footprint keep pace with our research ambitions.

About the Role

We are looking for a Design Exec Manager to own the bridge between Anthropic’s technical requirements and the third‑party partners who bring our datacenters to life. This is not a pure design role or a pure project management role—it lives in the critical space between the two, ensuring that design follows the requirements, and that technical intent survives every handoff from concept through turnover.

Scope span the full design lifecycle: concept, schematic, permitting, development, construction administration, commissioning, and operations. The right candidate thrives in environments where nimble but structured processes need to be built, not just followed, and is energized by the challenge of standing up execution frameworks across a rapidly growing portfolio of mission‑critical facilities.

Responsibilities

Design Exec & Partner Oversight

• Drive execution of Anthropic’s technical requirements for third‑party datacenter delivery partners, ensuring design intent is consistently translated from BOD through construction documents.
• Define the design execution framework—deliverable requirements, review gates, and quality standards—for each partner engagement.
• Drive accountability for partner deliverable quality across milestones, evaluating deliverables for cross‑discipline consistency and alignment to Anthropic’s requirements.
• Partner with external design teams and stakeholders to execute design document development and issuance across all project phases.

Change Management & Technical Continuity

• Own the design change management process across projects, ensuring technical decisions are documented, resolved, and implemented through construction.
• Review and develop responses to contractor RFIs, maintaining design intent while accommodating field conditions.
• Own technical continuity across design, construction, commissioning, and turnover, driving alignment between internal leads on phase transition standards and acceptance criteria.
• Support project closeout and as‑built documentation processes.

Constructability & Risk Management

• Facilitate constructability review processes between design and construction teams, surfacing integration risks raised by discipline leads for resolution, maintaining alignment between design intent and field execution as conditions evolve.
• Drive risk identification and mitigation through partner QA/QC processes, across the design and construction lifecycle.
• Direct and supervise external partners and owners reps conducting site reviews, ensuring technical reports adequately capture design compliance and construction progress.

Cross‑Functional Coordination

• Interface with internal stakeholders—construction execution, supply chain, facilities operations, and security—to align design solutions with technical and business objectives.
• Partner with internal teams to define infrastructure requirements and translate them into actionable design criteria for external partners.
• Identify and implement opportunities for the process improvements, design optimization, and schedule/performance/cost trade‑offs.
• Oversee partner‑led commissioning review, ensuring outcomes are documented against Anthropic's standards.

Qualifications

Required

• 10+ years managing complex capital/infrastructure programs, including datacenters, spanning design and delivery phases.
• Experience managing design exec or technical programs in partnership with external design/construction firms — design management, owner’s engineering, or program management backgrounds all fit.
• Working familiarity with mechanical, electrical, and cooling systems sufficient to manage technical discussions and hold discipline experts accountable.
• Experience managing design change processes, RFIs, and construction documentation workflows.
• Track record of coordination across multiple disciplines and organizations on complex infrastructure projects.
• Familiarity with industry standards, building codes, and safety standards applicable to mission‑critical facilities.
• Comfortable operating with authority in ambiguous environments where processes need to be built, not just followed.
• BS in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Architecture, or related field.

Preferred

• Professional Engineer (PE) or Registered Architect (RA) license.
• Proficiency with Revit/BIM, Autodesk, or similar design software applications.
• Experience integrating sustainability, energy efficiency, and resiliency goals into datacenter system designs.
• Direct experience with large‑scale AI/HPC infrastructure, including high‑density cooling systems and power distribution at 50+ MW scale.

Compensation

Annual salary: $320,000 — $405,000 USD.

Logistics

Minimum education: Bachelor’s degree or an equivalent combination of education, training, and/or experience.

Required field of study: A field relevant to the role as demonstrated through coursework, training, or professional experience.

Minimum years of experience: Years of experience required will correlate with the internal job level requirements for the position.

Location‑based hybrid policy: Currently, we expect all staff to be in one of our offices at least 25% of the time. However, some roles may require more time in our offices.

Visa sponsorship: We do sponsor visas. However, we aren't able to successfully sponsor visas for every role and every candidate. If we make you an offer, we will make every reasonable effort to get you a visa, and we retain an immigration lawyer to help with this.

Benefits

Competitive compensation and benefits, optional equity donation matching, generous vacation and parental leave, flexible working hours, and a lovely office space in which to collaborate with colleagues.