Data Center Engineer

Computacenter AG & Co. oHG; Buffalo Grove (IL); On-site; USD 90,000 - 135,000; Full time

Job summary

Computacenter AG & Co. oHG seeks a Project Engineer to provide end-to-end technical leadership for customer deployments, from discovery through closure.

You will translate requirements into executable designs and act as the primary technical liaison among customers, project leadership, and engineering teams. You will lead discovery, design, validation, and on-site execution, ensuring design integrity and timely delivery.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in engineering or related field or equivalent professional experience.
• Five+ years designing, configuring, implementing, or supporting enterprise technology environments.
• Experience translating customer requirements into detailed technical designs and supporting solutions through build, validation, and acceptance.
• Preferred CCNP/CCDP/JNCIP certifications in networking or related technologies.

Responsibilities

• Lead technical discovery to define and document customer requirements, constraints, dependencies, and acceptance criteria.
• Serve as the primary technical contact throughout deployment, translating requirements into executable designs.
• Communicate design decisions, risks, and trade-offs and drive resolution of technical issues.
• Develop and maintain solution designs, configuration specifications, Methods of Procedure (MOPs), field task trackers, implementation workbooks, rack designs, and related documentation.
• Maintain approved designs in the designated design and configuration-management platform, ensuring accuracy and alignment with customer requirements and engineering standards.
• Review the implementation approach and acceptance criteria with the customer, secure technical approval, and manage approved design changes.
• Provide technical direction to teams assembling, configuring, and testing customer solutions.
• Resolve design discrepancies and technical questions identified during build and integration.
• Participate in first-article builds, proofs of concept, and validation reviews as required.
• Review build records, configuration snapshots, and test results and approve completed configurations before release.
• Lead onsite technical execution as required, monitoring progress and communicating risks, issues, changes, and decisions to the customer and project leadership.
• Lead the final onsite walkthrough, validate completed work against approved requirements, and obtain customer technical sign-off.
• Document outstanding items and ensure final technical documentation reflects the delivered solution.
• Provide project leadership with timely visibility into technical status, risks, decisions, and recommendations.
• Provide technical input for changes or follow-on work within existing customer accounts.

Skills

Technical leadership

Requirements gathering

Solution design

Communication with stakeholders

Project delivery

Networking certifications

Education

Bachelor's degree in engineering/IT/compsci

Job description

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About the role

The Project Engineer provides end-to-end technical leadership for assigned customer deployments, from requirements discovery and solution design through build, integration, validation, and technical closure. This customer-facing role translates customer requirements into accurate, executable technical designs and ensures that completed solutions align with approved specifications.The Project Engineer serves as the primary technical liaison among the customer, project leadership, engineering teams, and the integration facility where solutions are assembled and tested. The role owns technical quality, design clarity, and timely resolution of discrepancies throughout the delivery lifecycle. This position is focused primarily on project delivery rather than pre-sales activity.

What you'll be doing

Customer Requirements and Technical Leadership

• Lead technical discovery to define and document customer requirements, constraints, dependencies, and acceptance criteria.
• Serve as the primary technical contact throughout deployment, translating requirements into executable designs.
• Communicate design decisions, risks, and trade-offs and drive resolution of technical issues.

Solution Design and Documentation

• Develop and maintain solution designs, configuration specifications, Methods of Procedure (MOPs), field task trackers, implementation workbooks, rack designs, and related documentation.
• Maintain approved designs in the designated design and configuration-management platform, ensuring accuracy and alignment with customer requirements and engineering standards.
• Review the implementation approach and acceptance criteria with the customer, secure technical approval, and manage approved design changes.

Build and Integration Support

• Provide technical direction to teams assembling, configuring, and testing customer solutions.
• Resolve design discrepancies and technical questions identified during build and integration.
• Participate in first-article builds, proofs of concept, and validation reviews as required.
• Review build records, configuration snapshots, and test results and approve completed configurations before release.

Field Implementation and Onsite Leadership

• Review the MOP, task assignments, sequencing, site requirements, risks, and escalation paths with the assigned Field Services team before implementation.
• Lead onsite technical execution as required, monitoring progress and communicating risks, issues, changes, and decisions to the customer and project leadership.
• Resolve or escal field issues and ensure approved changes are reflected in the final documentation.

Technical Closure and Delivery Assurance

• Lead the final onsite walkthrough, validate completed work against approved requirements, and obtain customer technical sign-off.
• Document outstanding items and ensure final technical documentation accurately reflects the delivered solution.
• Provide project leadership with timely visibility into technical status, risks, decisions, and recommendations.
• Provide technical input for changes or follow-on work within existing customer accounts.

Cross-Functional Leadership

• Lead technical contributors through influence, establishing direction and driving accountability without direct reporting authority.
• Partner with project management, Field Services, consulting, integration facilities, and other delivery teams to maintain alignment throughout deployment.
• Promote disciplined engineering, documentation, and continuous-improvement practices.

What you have

• Bachelor's degree in engineering, information technology, computer science, or a related technical discipline, or equivalent relevant professional experience.
• Five or more years of experience designing, configuring, implementing, or supporting enterprise technology environments.
• Demonstrated experience translating customer requirements into detailed technical designs and supporting solutions through build, validation, and acceptance.
• Relevant technical certifications (CCNP, CCDP, JNCIP) in networking, data center infrastructure, servers, storage, virtualization, audiovisual solutions, or related technologies are preferred.
• Must be legally eligible to work in the United States.
• Strong customer orientation, professionalism, and accountability for technical outcomes.
• Ability to lead technical discussions and build credibility with customers, engineers, project leaders, and operational teams.
• Strong requirements-gathering, solution-design, technical-documentation, and configuration-management capabilities.
• Ability to identify design discrepancies, assess technical impacts, and drive issues through resolution.
• Strong knowledge of applicable enterprise technologies, implementation practices, and engineering standards.
• Ability to communicate complex technical information clearly to technical and nontechnical audiences.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, organizational, and follow-through skills.
• Ability to lead technical contributors through influence without direct reporting authority.
• Ability to manage multiple deployments, technical priorities, dependencies, and deadlines.
• Experience using enterprise design, configuration-management, project-management, and documentation tools.
• Ability to travel domestically or internationally based on customer and business needs.

What you can expect

There's so much more to enjoy about being at Computacenter than just having a rewarding career. In addition to offering competitive compensation plans and long-term career opportunities, we provide an attractive mix of benefit plans to contribute to your good health, future financial security, and peace of mind.

About us

Computacenter is a leading independent technology partner, trusted by large corporate and public sector organizations. We help our world-renowned customers to source, transform, and manage their IT infrastructure to deliver digital transformation, enabling users and their business. We're a public company quoted on the London FTSE 250 (CCC.L) and employ over 21,000 people worldwide. In the US, we support some of the country’s best-known businesses with regional hubs in San Francisco and Irvine, CA; Norcross, GA; Plano, TX; and New York City; and Integration Centers in Silicon Valley and Atlanta. www.computacenter.com/us