Head of Applications Engineering - Data Center Cooling (Hybrid)

Data Center Frontier LLC; Ashburn (VA); Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical insurance

401(k) plan

Job summary

Data Center Frontier LLC is seeking a Manager, Applications Engineering to lead and grow the Applications Engineering team supporting data center cooling solutions in Ashburn, VA with hybrid remote options. You will deliver equipment selections, performance data, submittals and proposals across air- and liquid-cooling portfolios.

The role requires strong HVAC expertise, 8+ years in related fields, and 5+ years in design management, plus travel ~25% to sites and customers. A PE or E.M.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering or closely related field.
• PE license or Certified Energy Manager credential a plus.
• 8+ years of applications, sales, or systems engineering experience with HVAC, refrigeration, precision cooling, or thermal equipment, including direct experience with chillers and heat rejection equipment.
• 5+ years as a Design Manager.
• Demonstrated command of precision cooling applications, including capacity and efficiency ratings, part‑load and ambient performance, fluid/glycol considerations, refrigerant circuits, redundancy configurations, hydronics, and controls interfaces.
• Experience preparing and defending submittal packages, equipment schedules, and technical responses to consulting engineers, contractors, and end users.
• Demonstrated ability to lead, coach, or formally supervise technical staff, or clear readiness to take on first‑line people management.
• Willingness and ability to travel to customer, consulting engineer, representative, and project sites as required, approximately 25%.
• Direct experience with data center cooling applications is a plus, including hyperscale, colocation, or enterprise facilities.

Responsibilities

• Lead, coach and develop the Applications Engineering team, establishing performance expectations, priorities and development plans; recruit, onboard and develop additional engineers as the business grows.
• Allocate resources and balance workload based on sales priorities, project requirements and deadlines; build organizational depth and succession planning.
• Own the accuracy, completeness, competitiveness and timely delivery of equipment selections, sizing, performance calculations, technical proposals, drawings, schedules and submittals.
• Establish and manage standard turnaround times for selections and budget pricing support; review and approve technical deliverables before release to customers, consulting engineers, contractors and representatives.
• Establish consistent engineering processes, review procedures and quality controls across the team.
• Personally lead the most complex, strategic and high‑risk applications; provide technical guidance on chillers, heat rejection, CRAH / FanWall systems, liquid cooling, CDUs, hydronics and controls.
• Support non‑standard operating conditions, system configurations, redundancy strategies and application challenges; serve as the escalation point for complex technical issues.
• Serve as the primary technical resource for the Sales organization and manufacturers’ representatives, supporting opportunity development through selections, system design guidance, competitive comparisons, technical presentations and value‑engineering responses.
• Participate in customer and consulting‑engineer meetings to establish technical credibility and support specifications; provide training to Sales and channel partners on routine technical questions.
• Develop and continuously improve selection tools, calculation methods, performance databases, templates and standard technical details.
• Establish standardized processes that allow Applications Engineering to scale with increasing sales volume without sacrificing quality or turnaround; implement document control and version management.
• Work closely with Product Management, Engineering, Manufacturing, Quality, Supply Chain and Service to resolve technical, configuration, capacity, quality and lead‑time issues.
• Provide market and customer feedback to Product Management and Engineering to influence product development and roadmap priorities.
• Support new product introductions by ensuring selections, performance data, submittals, training and application tools are ready at launch.
• Ensure applications work complies with applicable industry standards, certification programs and rating methods, and that published performance claims are substantiated and defensible.
• Maintain records, calculations and issued documentation so that any released selection can be reconstructed and defended.

Skills

Leadership

People management

Project management

Technical communication

HVAC expertise

Business acumen

Travel readiness

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering

Tools

MS Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams)

Salesforce CRM

Job description

Data Center Frontier LLC is seeking a Manager, Applications Engineering to lead and grow the Applications Engineering team supporting data center cooling solutions in Ashburn, VA with hybrid remote options. You will deliver equipment selections, performance data, submittals and proposals across air- and liquid-cooling portfolios.

The role requires strong HVAC expertise, 8+ years in related fields, and 5+ years in design management, plus travel ~25% to sites and customers. A PE or E.M.