Data Center Plant Engineer, Mechanical

Socket.dev; Council Bluffs (IA); On-site; USD 138,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

Google is seeking a Data Center Engineer to lead the optimization of cooling and environmental systems in its high-demand data centers. You will drive efficiency initiatives, coordinate with facilities technicians, and ensure safety and regulatory compliance across a global footprint.

The role requires deep experience with large-scale mechanical systems, data center operations, and the ability to communicate findings to senior leadership while guiding implementation with peers and contractors.

Qualifications

• 9 years of experience with commercial/industrial HVAC, chillers, mechanical cooling systems, and mission-critical facility operations.
• Experience working in data centers, central utility plants, hospitals, or industrial process facilities is required (4+ years).
• Certified training or related technical education is preferred to demonstrate practical understanding of systems.

Responsibilities

• Monitor plant efficiency (PUE/WUE) at a data center and lead site-level programs with technicians and managers.
• Advance EHS, operations, and maintenance programs to ensure compliance with requirements and mentor staff to improve programs.
• Navigate organizational change processes, provide site-level feedback, coordinate with SMEs and managers, and close technical bugs.
• Provide input and direction on DC commissioning, retesting after major repairs, and act as site lead collaborating with quality teams.

Skills

HVAC experience

Education

Associate's degree or equivalent training

Job description

Minimum qualifications:

• Associate's degree, trade school certification, or other certified training in a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.
• 9 years of experience with commercial/industrial HVAC, chillers, mechanical cooling systems, and mission-critical facility operations.
• 4 years of experience working in data centers, central utility plants, hospitals, or industrial process facilities.

Preferred qualifications:

• Experience maintaining data center cooling infrastructure beyond the minimum.
• Familiarity with Building Management Systems (BMS), controls sequences, and mechanical telemetry.
• Knowledge of large-scale mechanical systems, including chillers, cooling towers, CRAH/CRAC units, pumps, and water treatment.
• Ability to coordinate with external mechanical contractors performing maintenance and repairs.
• Ability to work non-standard hours, including shift rotations, weekends, and on-call response.

About the job:

Our thirst for technology is a part of everything we do. The Data Center Engineering team takes the physical design of our data centers into the future. Our lab mirrors a research and development department -- cutting-edge strategies are born, tested and tested again. Along with a team of great minds, you take on complex topics like how we use power or how to run state-of-the-art, environmentally-friendly facilities. You're a visionary who optimizes for efficiencies and never stops seeking improvements -- even small changes that can make a huge impact. You generate ideas, communicate recommendations to senior-level executives and drive implementation alongside facilities technicians.

With your technical expertise, you ensure compliance with codes and standards, develop infrastructure improvements and serve as an expert in your specialty (e.g., cooling, electrical).

This team ensures that our customer service level agreements and availability goals are met while maintaining environmental and safety standards, at scale. We manage data center performance issues and outages to minimize the recovery time from failures, identifying problems while making repairs quickly in emergency situations.

In this role, you will approach complex topics like how we manage the lifecycle of our computing, network, and storage infrastructure in state of the art, environmentally-friendly facilities. You're a visionary who optimizes for efficiency, seeks continuous improvements, communicates recommendations to senior-level executives and drives implementation alongside peers. You will act as the lead from a site in providing technical direction or input on quality or reliability issues at a site or that affects multiple sites across the globe or region, and provide design inputs in the domain of expertise.

Behind everything our users see online is the architecture built by the Technical Infrastructure team to keep it running. From developing and maintaining our data centers to building the next generation of Google platforms, we make Google's product portfolio possible. We're proud to be our engineers' engineers and love voiding warranties by taking things apart so we can rebuild them. We keep our networks up and running, ensuring our users have the best and fastest experience possible.

Individual pay is determined by factors including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training.

US: $138000 - $200000 (USD) + 15% bonus target + equity + benefits

Learn more about benefits at Google.

Responsibilities:

• Monitor plant efficiency (PUE/WUE) at a data center. Be a technical lead in these efficiency areas and work with technicians, leads, and managers to drive site level programs.
• Take a more strategic approach in EHS, operations, and maintenance programs to focus on compliance with those program requirements. Be a resource and mentor for FTs to drive improvements and feedback to programs.
• Be proficient in navigating organizational change processes including providing site level feedback, ensuring appropriate SMEs are included, coordinating with other FTs and managers to execute approved decisions, and properly closing out technical bugs.
• Be focused on providing input and direction to site teams in DC commissioning processes and procedures, commissioning or retesting requirements following replacement or major repairs, and act as a site lead in collaborating with quality on quality issues or concerns.