Data Center Engineer

Cotidal; Palo Alto (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 250,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, and vision coverage

Unlimited PTO

Relocation support

Visa sponsorship

Job summary

Cotidal Limited seeks a Data Center Engineer in Palo Alto to be the electrical authority for deployed sites. You will set electrical requirements, lead diligence, and manage design reviews through commissioning with colocation providers and contractors.

Requires an active US PE license, a bachelor's in Electrical Engineering, and 10+ years in mission-critical data centers. You will oversee 2N/5N power schemes, high-density racks, and power delivery across sites.

Qualifications

• Active PE license in electrical or power engineering in a US state.
• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering or related field.
• 10+ years delivering electrical design for mission-critical data centers.
• Strong command of MV/LV systems and relevant standards.
• Experience with power-system studies and AutoCAD/Revit.

Responsibilities

• Set electrical requirements and standards for colocation and builds.
• Lead site diligence, design reviews, and MSAs/SOWs with vendors.
• Design rack and row power for high‑density AI racks and UPS ride‑through.
• Analyze AI load behavior and configure power, storage, and cooling interfaces.
• Specify and qualify switchgear, transformers, UPS, generators, and PDUs.
• Manage commissioning, submittals, and contractor coordination to code.
• Own electrical escalations and develop capacity-planning tools.

Skills

PE license

Electrical design for data centers

10+ years experience

MV/LV systems knowledge

AutoCAD / Revit proficiency

Power quality analysis

Cross-functional leadership

Clear communication of trade-offs

Education

Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Power Engineering or related field

Tools

ETAP

SKM

EasyPower

AutoCAD

Revit

Job description

WHO WE ARE

Supercomputing built for AI.

Cotidal is building the computing infrastructure that AI companies and research labs need to train and run their models. Starting with TPUs, we design the hardware and software together around their workloads, with the goal of making powerful AI chips easier to use at scale.

Our mission is endless compute for humanity. Over time, we want customers to choose across chip stacks without rebuilding their infrastructure.

THE ROLE

We're hiring a Data Center Engineer to be the electrical authority for the sites Cotidal deploys. This is a staff-level electrical engineering role requiring an active US Professional Engineer (PE) license. You will set our electrical requirements and carry the work from site diligence through design review, construction, commissioning and ongoing support.

You will join our data center engineering team, report to the Head of Data Center Infrastructure, and work hands‑on with colocation providers, design consultants, contractors, supply chain and onsite operations. Your scope runs from utility connections to rack power, including the power and cooling interfaces needed for high‑density AI infrastructure.

WHAT YOU WILL DO

• Set electrical requirements and standards. Own our Owners Project Requirements (OPR), Basis of Design (BOD) and readiness checklists for colocation, build‑to‑suit, brownfield retrofit and modular deployments. Translate accelerator vendor requirements into specifications for accelerator, network, optical switching, compute, storage and CDU racks. Define redundancy by load type, including single‑feed accelerator racks protected upstream, 2N A/B feeds for network and storage, and cooling ride‑through.

• Lead site diligence and design review. Assess utility capacity and energization dates, interconnection and substation scope, MV/LV distribution, redundancy and usable capacity. Review single‑line diagrams, load calculations, short‑circuit, coordination and arc flash studies, and grounding. Verify usable capacity after breaker derating, review electrical commitments in MSAs and SOWs, including SLAs, metering and maintenance windows, and propose practical fixes when a site falls short.

• Design rack and row power. Engineer distribution for liquid‑cooled AI racks above 100 kW, including busway, remote power panels, rack PDUs, whips and connectors at 415/240 V three‑phase. Size and protect CDU and pump power, including UPS or STS ride‑through so cooling can continue through utility events.

• Address AI load behavior. Analyze fast, synchronized training power swings and work with platform engineers and vendors on power capping, energy storage, UPS and generator settings, and power quality.

• Specify and qualify equipment. Select switchgear, transformers, UPS, generators, busway, PDUs, power shelves, and battery or supercapacitor systems. Work with supply chain on long‑lead equipment, approved alternatives and cost trade‑offs, and attend factory witness tests.

• Carry electrical work through commissioning. Review submittals, construction documents and shop drawings. Manage consultants and electrical contractors to applicable codes, AHJ requirements and schedule. Lead Levels 1-5 electrical commissioning, witness testing, energization and punch‑list closure. Seal drawings and studies where a PE stamp is required, in states where you hold a license.

• Support safe, reliable operations. Own electrical escalations from onsite technicians, write electrical MOPs and safe‑work steps with colocation providers, and lead incident root‑cause analysis. Build capacity‑planning tools for rack, row and hall loads, actual versus contracted capacity, and growth. Improve standards from deployment lessons and mentor engineers and technicians.

WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR

• An active Professional Engineer (PE) license in electrical or power engineering in a US state, and willingness to obtain additional state licenses by comity as we expand.

• A bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Power Engineering or a related field.

• 10+ years of electrical design and delivery for mission‑critical or hyperscale data centers as an owner, operator or design consultant.

• Strong command of MV/LV systems, including switchgear, transformers, UPS, generators, ATS/STS, busway and PDUs.

• Hands‑on power‑system studies covering load flow, short circuit, coordination and arc flash with ETAP, SKM, EasyPower or similar tools, plus working use of AutoCAD or Revit.

• Solid knowledge of NEC (NFPA 70), NFPA 70E, NFPA 110, IEEE 1584, grounding, lightning protection and AHJ permitting.

• A record of reviewing third‑party designs and managing consultants, vendors and contractors through design, construction and commissioning.

• Hands‑on field verification: walking sites, checking installations and delivering without large hyperscale tooling or support teams.

• Clear communication of electrical trade‑offs to non‑electrical leaders, colocation providers and vendors.

ESPECIALLY VALUABLE

Experience in one or more of the following:

• Delivering high‑density AI or HPC deployments with liquid‑cooled racks above 100 kW.

• Rack‑level power architectures, including OCP Open Rack, 48/54 V DC busbars, power shelves, battery backup units and supercapacitor shelves.

• Utility interconnection, large‑load service agreements, substations, and onsite or bridge power such as gas generation, fuel cells and battery energy storage.

• Converting brownfield data halls to high‑density AI space, or deploying prefabricated and modular power skids.

• Working as an owners engineer inside third‑party colocation facilities.

• Commissioning authority work or hands‑on reliability testing of electrical systems.

• Uptime Institute tiers, OCP and ASHRAE TC9.9 guidance.

• Using EPMS or DCIM data and Python or similar tools for power analytics.

• A master's degree in Electrical Engineering.

WHY JOIN COTIDAL

Define how we deliver power to AI infrastructure as we expand across sites. You will own electrical decisions from site evaluation through field validation and operational learning, with the opportunity to turn each deployment into a better standard for the next.

Help shape the foundations of an early company through direct discussion and work across engineering, infrastructure and supply chain.

LOCATION & WHAT WE OFFER

Location: Palo Alto, in person, working with the data center infrastructure team.

Travel: Approximately 25% to colocation sites, construction sites and vendor factories, mostly within the US.

Site work: Follow NFPA 70E practices and each facility’s access and safety rules when working around energized‑equipment areas.

Compensation: Competitive salary and equity.

Visa sponsorship: We sponsor work visas and help you navigate the process.

Benefits: Medical, dental, and vision coverage, unlimited PTO, and relocation support as needed.