Mechanical Manager, Data Center Engineering

DigitalOcean; Richmond (VA); On-site; USD 132,000 - 164,000; Full time

Job summary

DigitalOcean in the United States is seeking a senior Datacenter Cooling Engineer to design, deploy, and monitor next-generation cooling infrastructure at mega scale. You will act as the primary SME for cooling topics and collaborate with facility and vendor teams to ensure scalable, reliable systems.

You will lead a high‑performing team, mentor staff, and drive improvements in thermal management, monitoring, and cross‑functional coordination across Infra and DC Operations.

Qualifications

• BS in Mechanical, Chemical or Manufacturing Engineering or equivalent practical experience.
• Hands-on experience deploying and operating cooling infrastructure at scale.
• Experience leading, mentoring and developing staff.
• Deep understanding of facility cooling technologies (free-air, liquid cooling, etc.).
• Strong understanding of thermal management and monitoring best practices.
• Excellent cross-functional collaboration and communication.

Responsibilities

• Act as primary SME for cooling topics at DigitalOcean.
• Lead design, deployment and monitoring of cooling systems at scale.
• Develop and maintain standards for datacenter facilities.
• Hire, train and mentor a high-performing team.
• Coordinate with facility engineering teams and hardware vendors.
• Develop monitoring tooling and alerting for cooling systems.
• Work with Infra teams to ensure facility readiness for next-generation solutions.

Skills

Cooling at scale

Mentoring staff

Clear communication

Continuous improvement

Education

BS in Mechanical Engineering / Chemical Engineering / Manufacturing Engineering or equivalent

Job description

Dive in and do the best work of your career at DigitalOcean. Journey alongside a strong community of top talent who are relentless in their drive to build the simplest scalable cloud. If you have a growth mindset, naturally like to think big and bold, and are energized by the fast-paced environment of a true industry disruptor, you’ll find your place here. We value winning together—while learning, having fun, and making a profound difference for the dreamers and builders in the world.

We want people who are passionate about optimizing and troubleshooting data center hardware at mega-scale so our customers don’t have to worry!

Reporting to the Director of Datacenter Engineering, you will lead design, deployment, and monitoring of next-generation cooling infrastructure in high-density datacenter environments. The ideal candidate will be eager to face new challenges as DigitalOcean continues to scale its data center footprint and explore new technologies to bring to our customers.

What You’ll Be Doing:

• Act as primary SME for all cooling-related engineering topics at DigitalOcean
• Act as secondary SME for all power-related engineering topics at DigitalOcean
• Evangelize cooling technologies throughout the Infra organization and company
• Develop and maintain standards and practices for DigitalOcean datacenter facilities
• Lead, hire, train, mentor and develop a high-performing team, driving accountability, performance, and career growth
• Inform facility design requirements with best practices for both air and liquid cooling
• Liaise with colocation facility engineering teams regarding mechanical system designs
• Liaise with vendor hardware engineering teams regarding hardware solution designs
• Lead selection of liquid cooling systems during the hardware design, ensuring designs not only meet our current needs but can scale with us
• Develop cooling monitoring tooling and systems to aggregate thermal monitoring information and provide alerting capabilities
• Coordinate with operations on monitoring thresholds, failure modes and alerting
• Assist in troubleshooting cause of failures and work to prevent them in the future
• Work closely with Infra teams such as DC Operations and Machine Design to ensure facility readiness for next-generation solutions

What We’ll Expect From You:

• Technical Degree (BS Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, or Manufacturing Engineering) or equivalent practical experience
• Hands‑on experience deploying and operating cooling infrastructure at scale (including experience with facility cooling loops and designs, pumps, chiller systems, heat exchangers, CDUs(Cooling Distribution Units), Direct Liquid Cooling, rear‑door heat exchangers, etc.)
• Experience with leading, mentoring and developing staff
• An in‑depth understanding of facility cooling technologies (free-air/adiabatic, closed loop air, cold aisle/hot aisle containment strategies, direct liquid cooling, immersion cooling, etc.)
• Strong understanding of thermal management principles in mission critical environments and knowledge of best practices around thermal monitoring and alerting
• Clear communication and collaboration across key stakeholders
• An insatiable passion for constant improvement

Compensation Range:

• $132,000 - $164,000

*This is a onsite role

JR: 2026-7651

#LI-Onsite

Why You’ll Like Working for DigitalOcean

• We innovate with purpose. You’ll be a part of a cutting‑edge technology company with an upward trajectory, who are proud to simplify cloud and AI so builders can spend more time creating software that changes the world. As a member of the team, you will be a Shark who thinks big, bold, and scrappy, like an owner with a bias for action and a powerful sense of responsibility for customers, products, employees, and decisions.
• We prioritize career development. At DO, you’ll do the best work of your career. You will work with some of the smartest and most interesting people in the industry. We are a high‑performance organization that will always challenge you to think big. Our organizational development team will provide you with resources to ensure you keep growing. We provide employees with reimbursement for relevant conferences, training, and education. All employees have access to LinkedIn Learning’s 10,000+ courses to support your continued growth and development.
• We care about your well‑being. Regardless of your location, we will provide you with a competitive array of benefits to support you from our Employee Assistance Program to Local Employee Meetups to flexible time off policy, to name a few. While the philosophy around our benefits is the same worldwide, specific benefits may vary based on local regulations and preferences.
• We reward our employees. The salary range for this position is based on market data, relevant years of experience, and skills. You may qualify for a bonus in addition to base salary; bonus amounts are determined based on company and individual performance. We also provide equity compensation to eligible employees, including equity grants upon hire and the option to participate in our Employee Stock Purchase Program.
• DigitalOcean is an equal‑opportunity employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, ancestry, national origin, caste, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or expression, age, disability, medical condition, pregnancy, genetic makeup, marital status, or military service.

Application Limit: You may apply to a maximum of 3 positions within any 180-day period. This policy promotes better role‑candidate matching and encourages thoughtful applications where your qualifications align most strongly.