Principal Mechanical Engineer - NA

10150 Iron Mountain Data Centers, LLC; Virginia; Hybrid; USD 163,000 - 218,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary

Executive total rewards

Career advancement

Generous PTO

Flexible work options

Job summary

Iron Mountain Incorporated is seeking a Principal Mechanical Engineer to act as the regional technical authority for cooling systems across new and existing data center assets. You will shape technical direction, governance standards, and strategic roadmaps while leading critical projects and interfacing with senior leadership.

The role demands 15+ years in data center mechanical engineering, deep expertise in air and liquid cooling, and the ability to travel up to 25%.

Qualifications

• 15+ years of relevant experience in data center mechanical engineering or mission-critical programs.
• Expertise in air and liquid cooling, hydronics, water strategy, and controls interfaces.
• Proven ability to govern global approval frameworks and manage systemic risk.

Responsibilities

• Set design principles and performance criteria for cooling and associated systems across data centers.
• Own and govern Basis of Design, standards, and technical specifications; approve deviations and assess risk.
• Advise leadership on technical strategy, roadmaps, and investment trade-offs; translate trends into scalable requirements.
• Oversee equipment strategy and incident investigations with Supply Chain; embed root-cause findings into standards.
• Represent Iron Mountain in customer, regulatory, and industry forums; mentor senior engineers.

Skills

15+ years experience

Data center engineering

Governance & risk

Executive presence

Travel up to 25%

Education

Mechanical/Building Services Engineering degree

Professional Engineer license preferred

Job description

At Iron Mountain we know that work, when done well, makes a positive impact for our customers, our employees, and our planet. That’s why we need smart, committed people to join us. Whether you’re looking to start your career or make a change, talk to us and see how you can elevate the power of your work at Iron Mountain. We provide expert, sustainable solutions in records and information management, digital transformation services, data centers, asset lifecycle management, and fine art storage, handling, and logistics. We proudly partner every day with our 225,000 customers around the world to preserve their invaluable artifacts, extract more from their inventory, and protect their data privacy in innovative and socially responsible ways. Are you curious about being part of our growth story while evolving your skills in a culture that will welcome your unique contributions? If so, let's start the conversation.

Principal Mechanical Engineer – Data Center Job Summary

Iron Mountain Data Centers is seeking an accomplished Principal Mechanical Engineer to serve as the regional technical authority for cooling, heat-rejection, ventilation, hydronic, water, and liquid-cooling systems across new developments, customer deployments, operational upgrades, and the existing portfolio. Operating as an enterprise specialist and strategic technical leader, this individual contributor works with broad autonomy across regional Design and Engineering teams to establish technical direction, govern standards and specifications, and assure high-risk engineering decisions.

What You’ll Do (Responsibilities)

• Set Technical Direction: Establish design principles, performance outcomes, and decision criteria for air and liquid cooling, heat rejection, ventilation, hydronic, and water systems across the data center platform.
• Govern Standards & Approvals: Own and govern Basis of Design (BOD) requirements, standard designs, technical specifications, and discipline assurance frameworks; act as the final authority on precedent-setting deviations and risks.
• Advise Senior Leadership & Drive Innovation: Advise senior leaders on technical strategy, investment trade-offs, and long-term technology roadmaps while sponsoring research and translating emerging trends into scalable requirements.
• Direct Equipment Strategy & Incident Investigations: Govern global technical requirements and product strategy for owner-furnished equipment (OFCI) with Supply Chain, while providing top-tier discipline support for major operational incidents to embed root-cause findings into standards.
• Build Discipline Capability: Represent Iron Mountain in strategic customer, regulatory, and industry forums; establish a mechanical community of practice; and mentor Senior Engineers without direct line-management authority.

What You’ll Bring (Skills & Qualifications)

• Core Experience: Typically 15+ years of relevant experience, including technical leadership across major data center, mission-critical, or comparable programs across multiple projects or markets.
• Enterprise Technical Mastery: Recognized depth of expertise in data center mechanical engineering, including air and liquid cooling, heat rejection, hydronics, water strategy, and critical controls interfaces.
• Governance & Commercial Judgement: Proven ability to govern global approval frameworks and manage systemic risk while balancing cooling architecture, rack density, resilience, capital cost, and energy/water efficiency.
• Executive Presence & Influence: Exceptional influencing, negotiation, and communication skills to frame complex technical decisions for executive audiences, customers, regulatory authorities, and manufacturers.
• Education & Travel: University degree in Mechanical Engineering, Building Services Engineering, or a related discipline (Professional Engineer/Chartered Engineer license strongly preferred) and the ability to travel domestically and internationally up to 25%.

What We Offer (Benefits)

• Compensation: Competitive salary and executive total rewards packages aligned with your experience level.
• Work-Life Balance: Generous paid time off, holiday schedules, and flexible work options to support personal well-being.
• Health & Well-being: Comprehensive health, dental, vision, wellness, and retirement plans.
• Growth: Continuous learning, technical leadership opportunities, and career advancement across a global organization.

#Li - Remote Reasonably expected salary range: $163,400.00 - $217,900.00 Please note that an employee's starting salary may vary based on a variety of factors. Where State, Municipal, Provincial, Territorial or other legal minimum wages exceed the federal minimum wage, employees are entitled to the higher rate.

Category: Real Estate & Facilities Iron Mountain is a global leader in storage and information management services trusted by more than 225,000 organizations in 60 countries. We safeguard billions of our customers’ assets, including critical business information, highly sensitive data, and invaluable cultural and historic artifacts. Take a look at our history here. Iron Mountain helps lower cost and risk, comply with regulations, recover from disaster, and enable digital and sustainable solutions, whether in information management, digital transformation, secure storage and destruction, data center operations, cloud services, or art storage and logistics. Please see our Values and Code of Ethics for a look at our principles and aspirations in elevating the power of our work together.

If you have a physical or mental disability that requires special accommodations, please let us know by sending an email to [e-mail]. See the Supplement to learn more about Equal Employment Opportunity.