Principal Critical Facilities Engineer (SME)

Salute; Cheyenne (WY); On-site; USD 135,000 - 165,000; Full time

Job summary

Salute seeks a Principal Critical Facilities Engineer to serve as the senior technical authority for all critical infrastructure across the campus. You will establish engineering standards, lead reliability programs, and govern maintenance procedures to maximize uptime and efficiency.

You will own the Maintenance Readiness Program, lead readiness reviews, and ensure CMMS and work packages meet all safety and documentation requirements, while driving continuous improvement and technical

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience.
• 12+ years in mission-critical engineering.
• 15+ years in hyperscale data centers.
• Expert knowledge of electrical, mechanical, EPMS/BMS, Fire Life Safety and reliability.
• PE, CMRP or equivalent certification.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the senior technical authority for all critical infrastructure systems.
• Advise on engineering strategy, reliability, and technical risk.
• Provide 24/7 technical consultation during major incidents and outages.
• Own the site's Maintenance Readiness Program and ensure prepared maintenance activities.
• Lead daily and weekly maintenance readiness reviews with Operations, Planning, Customer Engineering, and Vendors.
• Verify work packages include procedures, outage requests, permits, risk assessments, and contingency plans.
• Ensure qualified personnel, vendors, tools, and equipment are available for scheduled work.
• Partner with the CFM to resolve schedule conflicts and risks.
• Validate CMMS work package quality and readiness before maintenance execution.
• Monitor maintenance execution and drive continuous improvement.

Skills

Technical leadership

Reliability engineering

Maintenance governance

Root cause analysis

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience

PE or CMRP certification

Job description

The Principal Critical Facilities Engineer (PCFE) serves as the senior technical advisor to the

Director of Operations and Critical Facilities Manager (CFM). The PCFE provides enterprise-level

technical leadership for all Critical Facilities Engineering operations by establishing engineering

standards, maintenance strategies, reliability programs, technical governance, and operational

excellence across the campus. The role serves as the site's highest technical authority, providing

expert consultation, approving maintenance procedures, supporting incident response, and

partnering with customer engineering to maximize uptime, reliability, and efficiency.

Technical Leadership

• Serve as the senior technical authority for all critical infrastructure systems.
• Advise the Director and CFM on engineering strategy, reliability, and technical risk.
• Provide 24/7 technical consultation during major incidents and outages.
• Support commissioning, expansions, and operational readiness.

Operational Readiness & Maintenance Governance

• Own the site's Maintenance Readiness Program, ensuring all planned maintenance activities are fully prepared for safe and successful execution.
• Lead daily and weekly maintenance readiness reviews with Operations, Planning, Customer Engineering, and Vendors.
• Verifying all work packages include approved procedures, outage requests, permits, risk assessments, switching plans, required documentation, and contingency plans.
• Ensure qualified personnel, vendors, tools, calibrated test equipment, spare parts, materials, and support equipment are available prior to scheduled work.
• Partner with the Critical Facilities Manager to resolve schedule conflicts, resource constraints, and operational risks.
• Validate CMMS work package quality and readiness before maintenance execution.
• Monitor maintenance execution performance and drive continuous improvement through post-work reviews and lessons learned.
• Final technical approver for SOPs, MOPs, EOPs, and maintenance procedures.
• Oversee development and continuous improvement of maintenance processes.
• Review and approve elevated-risk maintenance activities.
• Ensure engineering documentation accuracy and standardization.

Maintenance Strategy & Reliability

• Develop equipment maintenance scopes and inspection frequencies.
• Lead creation of the site's 52-week maintenance schedule.
• Optimize PM, PdM, CBM, and RCM programs.
• Improve equipment reliability and lifecycle performance.

Training & Technical Development

• Partner with Training leadership to develop the CFE training and qualification program.
• Develop technical standards and qualification requirements.
• Deliver advanced technical instruction and mentor engineers.
• Lead root cause analysis and corrective actions.

Critical Systems Excellence

• Optimize system reliability and performance.
• Oversee quality of maintenance on mechanical systems.
• Manage technical vendor relationships.

Energy & Continuous Improvement

• Monitor PUE and identify energy-saving initiatives.
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience.
• 12+ years in mission-critical engineering.
• Expert knowledge of electrical, mechanical, EPMS/BMS, Fire Life Safety and reliability
• 15+ years in hyperscale data centers.
• PE, CMRP or equivalent certification

Salute is an equal opportunity employer committed to celebrating diversity, creating an inclusive environment for all employees, and providing equal employment opportunities to all applicants; if you require a reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, perform essential job functions, or receive other benefits and privileges of employment, please contact our Human Resources department for more information.

Compensation & Benefits Disclosure

The base salary range for this role is $65 per hour. This range reflects a good‑faith estimate of what we reasonably expect to pay upon hire, based on factors such as skills, experience, education, and market/location. Our comprehensive benefits include health, dental, and vision insurance, Health Savings Account (HSA), gym discount, mental health, Discounted Group Life & AD&D, Discounted Group Short & Long-term Disability, 401(k) retirement matching, PTO/paid holidays, and parental leave. Final compensation will be determined by job‑related factors consistent with applicable law.