Senior Data Center Power Architect for AI Compute

OpenAI; California (MO); On-site; USD 160,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

OpenAI is seeking a senior Data Center Infrastructure Electrical Engineer to design, validate, and scale electrical power systems for high-density, liquid-cooled AI data centers. The role spans architecture, lab validation, vendor qualification, field deployment, and operations to ensure reliable facility operation.

You will work across engineering and operations to optimize power delivery, manage UPS and battery systems, grounding, protection, and control suites, and drive rigorous testing and

Qualifications

• 10+ years of electrical engineering experience in mission-critical facilities such as data centers or comparable critical infrastructure.
• Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, power systems, or a related discipline.
• Strong hands‑on experience with MV/LV distribution, transformers, switchgear, switchboards, generators, UPS systems, batteries, PDUs, RPPs, busway, PSUs, grounding, bonding, and protection systems.
• Experience producing and reviewing electrical designs, studies, equipment specifications, commissioning plans, test procedures, and acceptance criteria.
• Experience leading FWTs, FATs, SATs, integrated systems testing, failure‑mode testing, and root‑cause investigations.
• Strong understanding of codes, standards, utility coordination, safety requirements, and AHJ processes.
• Ability to evaluate conflicting technical tradeoffs involving reliability, cost, schedule, constructability, maintainability, and scalability.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to explain complex issues clearly to technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Comfortable operating in fast‑moving environments with incomplete information and changing priorities.

Responsibilities

• Design and optimize electrical topologies and equipment strategies that reduce cost, accelerate schedules, improve efficiency, increase scalability, and maintain high reliability and maintainability.
• Review and develop basis-of-design documents, single-line diagrams, equipment specifications, commissioning plans, and power system studies including load flow, short circuit, protection coordination, arc flash, and grid transient compliance.
• Lead technical evaluation of equipment vendors, manufacturers, design consultants, commissioning agents, contractors, and test labs. Review submittals, schematics, certifications, quality records, and test reports.
• Evaluate AC and DC power distribution options for high-density compute, including rectifier architectures, busway, rack power shelves, power supplies, cable management, redundancy strategies, serviceability, and fault isolation.
• Partner with mechanical, cooling, controls, hardware, networking, construction, and operations teams to ensure electrical systems support liquid-cooled GPU rack deployments and reliable facility operation.
• Drive FAT, SAT, witness testing, burn-in, reliability testing, interoperability testing, and integrated systems testing for critical infrastructure and rack deployments.
• Help guide and operate an R&D program to validate new equipment, rack designs, telemetry, operating envelopes, failure scenarios, and facility-to-hardware interactions.
• Define telemetry and controls requirements including metering, waveform capture, breaker and relay status, UPS and battery health, generator status, rack power, CDU status, coolant conditions, alarms, and control states.
• Analyze lab data, operational incidents, power quality events, nuisance trips, thermal excursions, controls alarms, and rack-level failures to improve designs, procedures, vendor quality, and reliability models.
• Create engineering standards, test procedures, commissioning scripts, operating procedures, decision records, risk registers, and concise executive summaries.
• Provide senior technical escalation support during design reviews, construction, manufacturing validation, commissioning, energization, deployment, and operational events.
• Raise the technical bar across partner teams in electrical design, safety, testing discipline, documentation quality, reliability, and operational rigors

Skills

MV/LV distribution

Investigate power systems

Technical escalation

Systems thinking

Education

Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering

Tools

BMS

EPMS

DCIM

SCADA

PLCs

Job description

OpenAI is seeking a senior Data Center Infrastructure Electrical Engineer to design, validate, and scale electrical power systems for high-density, liquid-cooled AI data centers. The role spans architecture, lab validation, vendor qualification, field deployment, and operations to ensure reliable facility operation.

You will work across engineering and operations to optimize power delivery, manage UPS and battery systems, grounding, protection, and control suites, and drive rigorous testing and