Lead Data Center Design for AI Scale

OpenAI, Inc.; United States; On-site; USD 140,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

OpenAI is seeking a Data Center Design Manager to coordinate infrastructure design for large-scale AI deployments. You will align design packages, manage milestones, and ensure design decisions meet project requirements across engineering, construction, and operations teams.

You will lead cross-discipline reviews, manage interfaces among power, cooling, and networks, and coordinate external consultants to maintain quality through handoff to operations.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in engineering, architecture, or related discipline, or equivalent practical experience.
• Experience managing multidisciplinary design for data centers, mission-critical facilities, or comparable complex infrastructure.
• Technical understanding of data center infrastructure and the interfaces among power, cooling, controls, structures, and physical networks.
• Experience taking coordinated design packages from early planning through detailed design and construction support.
• Experience coordinating external design consultants, engineering specialists, and construction partners.
• Ability to read technical drawings and specifications, identify interface gaps, and work with discipline experts to resolve them.
• Strong written and verbal communication, disciplined issue tracking, and sound judgment when balancing technical requirements with delivery constraints.

Responsibilities

• Manage design scope, deliverables, milestones, and dependencies from concept development through detailed design and construction support.
• Coordinate civil, structural, architectural, mechanical, electrical, controls, and physical network interfaces across data center buildings and campuses.
• Translate owner and hardware requirements into coordinated design criteria, working with discipline leads to resolve gaps and competing requirements.
• Lead multidisciplinary design reviews; track comments, decisions, technical risks, and actions through resolution before design release.
• Evaluate design changes with engineering and delivery partners, making impacts on reliability, safety, cost, schedule, and maintainability clear.
• Coordinate external architects, engineering consultants, developers, and equipment suppliers to maintain design quality and meet agreed deliverables.
• Partner with construction and commissioning teams on constructability, sequencing, RFIs, submittals, field issues, and design changes.
• Maintain design documentation and handoff requirements, and incorporate field and operational lessons into reusable standards and reference designs.

Skills

Multidisciplinary design management

Interdisciplinary coordination

Technical data center infra

Design reviews & governance

Interface management

Reading technical drawings

Strong communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in engineering, architecture, or related discipline

Tools

BIM

Model coordination

Clash detection

Engineering document-control tools

Job description

OpenAI is seeking a Data Center Design Manager to coordinate infrastructure design for large-scale AI deployments. You will align design packages, manage milestones, and ensure design decisions meet project requirements across engineering, construction, and operations teams.

You will lead cross-discipline reviews, manage interfaces among power, cooling, and networks, and coordinate external consultants to maintain quality through handoff to operations.