Strategic Customer Data Center Architect

Digital Realty; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 160,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Digital Realty is seeking a Strategic Customer Product Architect to collaborate with Sales, Solutions Engineering, Product Management, Design Engineering, and customers to craft scalable, customer-aligned data center infrastructure solutions. This role focuses on translating requirements into efficient MEP designs and strategic design packages for multi-campus deployments.

You will lead technical discovery, develop BoD documents, and act as a trusted advisor across design alignment discussions

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or related technical discipline, or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• 3–5 years of experience in mission-critical infrastructure, MEP engineering, data center design, or related environments.
• Strong knowledge of data center cooling systems, power distribution, redundancy strategies, and scalable infrastructure architectures.
• Familiarity with industry standards and guidelines, including Uptime Institute Tier Standards, ASHRAE, and TIA-942.
• Understanding of building design considerations such as structural loading, wall and door layouts, floor elevations, plumbing interfaces, security requirements, bracing, and access/egress pathways.
• Experience supporting customer-facing technical engagements and collaborating with cross-functional teams.
• Experience managing external engineering consultants, vendors, or technical service partners.
• Proficiency with AutoCAD and related design tools for creating and modifying facility and infrastructure designs.
• Strong communication, presentation, and stakeholder management skills with the ability to translate complex technical concepts into practical solutions.
• Ability to balance customer requirements, technical feasibility, operational considerations, and commercial objectives.

Responsibilities

• Lead technical discovery sessions with customers to understand infrastructure requirements, performance objectives, and design constraints.
• Translate customer requirements into scalable, efficient, and standardized MEP infrastructure solutions for data center environments.
• Develop and review conceptual layouts, Basis of Design (BoD) documents, technical narratives, and customer solution packages.
• Serve as a trusted technical advisor during customer engagements, solution development activities, and design alignment discussions.
• Support complex customer deployments, including hyperscale, high-density, and build-to-suit infrastructure solutions.
• Create, maintain, and enhance a library of pre-planned customer-specific design packages for single-site and multi-campus deployments.
• Partner with Sales and Solutions Engineering teams to support strategic pursuits, customer proposals, and solution development initiatives.
• Contribute to RFP/RFQ responses, technical proposals, infrastructure narratives, and conceptual planning efforts.
• Provide guidance to internal stakeholders on evolving customer requirements, infrastructure trends, and technical standards.
• Identify opportunities to improve scalability, constructability, operational efficiency, deployment speed, and design standardization.

Skills

Data center design

Stakeholder management

Technical proposals

AutoCAD

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical or Electrical Engineering

Tools

AutoCAD

Job description

Digital Realty is seeking a Strategic Customer Product Architect to collaborate with Sales, Solutions Engineering, Product Management, Design Engineering, and customers to craft scalable, customer-aligned data center infrastructure solutions. This role focuses on translating requirements into efficient MEP designs and strategic design packages for multi-campus deployments.

You will lead technical discovery, develop BoD documents, and act as a trusted advisor across design alignment discussions