Director, Engineering & Commissioning

Core Scientific; Muskogee (OK); Remote; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Core Scientific seeks a Director of Engineering & Commissioning to lead national standards, commissioning assurance, and operational readiness for large-scale data center and campus projects.

The role directs electrical, mechanical, civil/architectural, and controls teams through design, testing, and turnover, ensuring compliant and timely project delivery.

Qualifications

• Bachelors in Engineering or related field, or equivalent experience.
• 10+ years in engineering, commissioning, startup, or critical-facility operations for large projects.
• 5+ years leading multidisciplinary engineering/technical teams.
• Experience establishing technical standards and governing commissioning programs.
• Strong knowledge of electrical, mechanical, controls, life-safety, civil/architectural systems.
• Ability to influence cross-functional organizations and communicate with executives.
• Willingness to travel regularly to active sites.

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute national commissioning strategy, governance, and turnover.
• Establish and govern design readiness and acceptance gates with risk-based decisions.
• Lead development and improvement of standards across disciplines (electrical, mechanical, civil, architectural, controls).
• Collaborate with design engineering and site teams to ensure operational requirements are met.
• Provide oversight through project lifecycle from design review to turnover.
• Validate procedures, prerequisites, and testing for turnover readiness.
• Identify and manage technical, operational, and readiness risks with clear ownership.

Skills

Engineering leadership

Cross-functional influence

Travel readiness

Education

Bachelor's degree in Engineering/related field

Job description

Who We Are

Core Scientific is a leading provider of infrastructure for high-performance compute in North America. Our mission is to accelerate digital innovation by scaling high-value compute rapidly, efficiently, and responsibly. We transform energy into high-value compute with unmatched efficiency at scale. Core Scientific is a publicly trade company (NASDAQ: CORZ). We power AI, HPC, and other next-generation data center workloads demanding exceptional computing power, in addition to our digital asset mining operations. Our footprint consists of 11 data center campuses across seven states, housing advanced infrastructure for our customers. What sets us apart? We have an entrepreneurial culture, a "can-do" and collaborative attitude, and we own and control our infrastructure. These strategic advantages enable us to maintain operational excellence, increase efficiency, and rapidly deploy cutting-edge innovations developed by our team of experts. Join us and accelerate your career alongside our groundbreaking journey. We seek smart, creative, and collaborative professionals who thrive in a fast-paced, result-driven environment.

The Job

The Director of Engineering & Commissioning leads the Operations Engineering organization responsible for national engineering standards, commissioning assurance, operational readiness, and turnover of new facilities, campus expansions, and major infrastructure projects. The Director and assigned team support Site Development Design Engineering and Site Development Commissioning throughout design, construction, testing, and turnover. Site Development retains responsibility for construction delivery and day-to-day commissioning execution. The Director establishes Operations Engineering requirements, assigns technical resources, drives identified gaps to completion, and provides the recommendation for operational acceptance. The Director leads national Electrical, Mechanical, Civil and Architectural, Controls, and Operations Readiness roles, together with site-specific Site Commissioning and Turnover Managers.

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute the national commissioning assurance, engineering standards, operational readiness, and turnover strategy, including governance, resource allocation, and portfolio performance reporting.
• Establish and govern acceptance gates for design readiness, pre-functional completion, functional performance testing, Integrated Systems Testing (IST), phased capacity release, operational readiness, and final turnover, including required evidence, decision rights, escalations, approvals, and risk acceptance processes.
• Lead development, implementation, and continuous improvement of national engineering, commissioning, turnover, and operational readiness standards across electrical, mechanical, civil, architectural, and controls disciplines, including standards governance, revisions, deviations, and documented exceptions.
• Partner with Design Engineering and Site Development teams to ensure operational requirements, maintainability, reliability, monitoring capabilities, testing provisions, and lessons learned are incorporated into project designs and future standards.
• Provide Operations Engineering oversight throughout the project lifecycle, from design review through commissioning, Integrated Systems Testing, readiness assessments, phased capacity releases, and final operational acceptance.
• Ensure commissioning and turnover activities meet established requirements by validating procedures, prerequisites, system boundaries, test results, deficiencies, acceptance documentation, training, staffing readiness, vendor support, and turnover deliverables.
• Identify, track, and drive resolution of technical, operational, documentation, and readiness risks, ensuring clear ownership, escalation, interim controls, closure plans, and executive visibility.
• Recommend approval, conditional approval, or hold decisions for Early Customer Access, Progressive Capacity Release, production readiness, and final operational acceptance based on documented readiness criteria and risk assessments.
• Lead and develop a national team of Operations Engineering, Commissioning, and Turnover professionals, fostering a culture of technical rigor, accountability, field engagement, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
• Serve as the senior Operations Engineering liaison with Site Development, Site Operations, customers, design consultants, commissioning providers, contractors, vendors, utilities, Information Technology, Security, and Environmental Health & Safety teams.
• Define and maintain clear accountability boundaries between Operations Engineering, Site Development, Engineers/Architects of Record, contractors, vendors, commissioning providers, and Site Operations to ensure effective project execution and operational transition without duplication of responsibilities.
• Retain authority to withhold Operations Engineering acceptance recommendations when required performance, documentation, testing, or readiness evidence is incomplete, while recognizing that design responsibility, construction delivery, commissioning execution, and operational control remain with their respective accountable parties.
• Foster open, respectful, and professional communication directly within the team, with co-workers/ teammates, and leaders across the organization.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

Required

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Construction Management, Facilities Management, or a related technical discipline, or an equivalent combination of education and relevant experience.
• Ten or more years of progressive experience in engineering, commissioning, construction, startup, or critical-facility operations, including significant responsibility for large mission-critical projects.
• Five or more years leading multidisciplinary engineering, commissioning, or technical teams.
• Demonstrated experience establishing technical standards, governing commissioning programs, managing phased turnover, and presenting risk-based acceptance recommendations.
• Strong working knowledge of mission-critical electrical, mechanical, controls, life-safety, civil and architectural, and monitoring systems.
• Ability to influence cross-functional organizations, resolve unclear ownership, establish completion expectations, and communicate with field and executive stakeholders.
• Ability to travel regularly to active design, construction, commissioning, and operating sites.

Preferred

• Professional Engineer license, Registered Architect credential, or commissioning certification such as BCxP, CCP, CxA, or equivalent.
• Project Management Professional, Certified Facility Manager, or comparable credential.
• Experience with high-density or liquid-cooled data centers, phased customer access, capacity release, and live-site expansions.
• Experience developing enterprise engineering standards, operational policies, dashboards, and formal acceptance-gate processes.

Reports To

Senior Director, HPC Operations Engineering

Location

Remote. To be considered for this role, you mustresidenear the following locations: Miami, FL, Austin, TX, Pecos, TX, Denton, TX, Hunt, TX, Muskogee, OK, Marble, NC, Dalton, GA or Auburn, AL

Travel

Frequent travel may berequiredas needed. (Up to 50% of time worked.)

Work Environment

This job is operated in professional office, warehouse, and data center environments. It routinely uses standard office equipment, including laptop computers, photocopiers, smartphones, and scissor lifts.

Physical Demands

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is frequently required to sit, stand, walk, use hands, and liftup to 50 pounds.

Position Type/ Expected Hours of Work

This is a full-time, onsite position. General hours and days of work are Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Some nights and weekends may be required.

Supervisory Experience (Yes or No)

Yes