Data Center Solutions Architect

Daikin Applied; Kentucky; On-site; USD 146,900 - 246,200; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical insurance

Dental and vision insurance

401K with matching

Life insurance

Disability benefits

Paid time off

Holidays

Parental leave

Job summary

Daikin Applied is seeking a Solutions Architect to lead standardized cooling reference architectures for AI-focused data centers. You will engage with data center owners, hyperscalers, and partners to shape design standards and guide purchasing decisions across the full thermal value chain.

The role blends engineering depth with commercial impact, driving market credibility, and increasing design wins through validated architectures and PoC testing.

Qualifications

• BSc in engineering or related field required.
• 10+ years of experience in data center or equivalent mission-critical infrastructure.
• Technical expert in at least one data center domain with system-level thinking.
• Experience with liquid cooling integration and central plant architectures.
• Strong understanding of redundancy and high-availability design.
• Experience communicating strategy to executives and stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Lead standard reference architectures for data center cooling.
• Define system topology across cooling, plant design, and heat rejection.
• Architect integrated solutions aligning thermal, electrical, controls, and resilience.
• Establish design guardrails and scalability boundaries.
• Support PoC testing, benchmarking, and interoperability validation.
• Lead cross-functional architecture reviews with engineering, product, and commercial teams.
• Influence customer design decisions and guide solution alignment.
• Travel to San Diego Innovation Lab, customer sites, and partner facilities as needed.

Skills

Data center design

Systems architecture

Liquid cooling

Executive communication

Technical leadership

Trade studies

Cross-functional collaboration

Hyperscale awareness

Education

BSc Mechanical, Electrical, Systems, Industrial, or Automation Engineering

Tools

System modeling tools

Energy analysis software

Job description

Join the world's largest HVAC company, named by Forbes as one of America's Best-In-State Employers 2025!

Position Summary

The Solutions Architect is a senior technical leader within Daikin Applied's Data Center of Excellence (CoE). This role leads the development of standardized reference architectures and drives technical strategy across the full data‑center thermal value chain—from chip to chiller.

The Solutions Architect will have direct customer engagement and work closely with data center owners, developers, hyperscalers, integrators, and Neo‑Cloud operators to shape design standards, influence solution selection, and guide purchasing decisions aligned with Daikin Data Center Solutions.

This is a highly visible role that blends engineering depth with commercial impact. The role directly enhances Daikin's competitive position by strengthening market credibility and customer trust with best‑in‑class technical engagement and increasing design wins through direct customer influence. It reduces technical and commercial risk via validated architectures and PoC testing and accelerates product innovation through real‑world performance insights and solution leadership.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Technical Leader and expert in the Data Center Solutions specialty to develop and govern standardized cooling reference architectures for AI‑focused data center deployments.
• Define system‑level topology across liquid cooling, air cooling, plant design, and heat rejection strategies.
• Architect integrated solutions that align thermal systems, electrical constraints, controls philosophy, and operational resilience.
• Establish design guardrails, scalability boundaries, and redundancy strategies.
• Support proof‑of‑concept testing, performance benchmarking, interoperability validation, and technical demonstrations within the Data Center CoE Innovation Lab in San Diego.
• Lead cross‑functional architecture reviews across engineering, product, service, and commercial teams.
• Drive techno‑economic trade studies balancing performance, reliability, footprint, manufacturability, and cost.
• Define control philosophy and system orchestration standards across plant equipment and distribution systems.
• Incorporate field performance feedback and commissioning lessons into architecture evolution to improve products.
• Support customer‑facing technical discussions with hyperscale, enterprise, and colocation stakeholders.
• Contribute to long‑term product and platform strategy alignment.
• Engage selectively with external stakeholders to position Daikin solutions early in design cycles.
• Strong ability to articulate both system‑level architecture and product‑level technical detail in executive and customer‑facing settings.
• Sales‑aware mindset with the ability to influence customer design decisions and guide solution alignment.
• Excellent communication skills, emotional intelligence, and executive presence in customer and partner interactions.
• Highly collaborative and effective in cross‑functional environments, aligned with CoE team culture.
• Ability to travel to the San Diego Innovation Lab, customer sites, partner facilities, and internal meetings as required.

Preferred Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Experience contributing to or governing formal reference architectures or system design standards.
• Exposure to AI‑focused or high‑density computing infrastructure.
• Experience supporting proof‑of‑concept validation, performance benchmarking, or interoperability testing.
• Familiarity with system modeling, energy analysis, or simulation tools.
• Experience presenting technical strategy to executive stakeholders.

Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• BSc Mechanical, electrical, systems, industrial, or automation engineering
• 10+ years' experience
• Technical expert in at least one major data center domain (mechanical systems, thermal cooling, controls, integration, or systems architecture), with the ability to think across domains at the system level.
• Experience in mission‑critical infrastructure system design.
• Demonstrated expertise in liquid cooling integration and central plant architectures.
• Strong understanding of redundancy models and high‑availability system design.
• Working knowledge of plant control strategies and integrated system operation.
• Demonstrated business acumen with experience evaluating architecture decisions through lifecycle cost, capital efficiency, operational impact, and market positioning.
• Experience conducting or contributing to structured technical and commercial trade studies.

Benefits

• Multiple medical insurance plan options + dental and vision insurance
• 401K retirement plan with employer contributions matching 100% of the first 3% of employee contributions and 50% of the next 2% of employee contributions
• Company provided life insurance + optional employee‑paid voluntary life insurance, dependent life coverage, and voluntary accident coverage
• Short‑term and long‑term disability
• 3 weeks of paid time off for new employees + 11 company‑paid holidays
• Vacation accrues on a monthly basis, unless applicable federal, state, and local law requires a faster accrual
• Paid sick time in accordance with the federal, state, and local law
• Paid parental leave and tuition reimbursement after 6 months of continuous service

The typical annual base salary for this position ranges from $146,900 - $246,200.