Strategic Engineering Director – Critical Infrastructure

Cognisant; United States; Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Cognisant is seeking a Strategic Engineering Director to be the senior technical authority across major data centre developments. This role focuses on strategic leadership, guiding engineering direction, and serving as an advisor on technically demanding programmes.

You will mentor engineers, review complex solutions, and lead multidisciplinary teams from early planning through handover, ensuring resilient, scalable outcomes for hyperscale and enterprise data centres.

Qualifications

• Twenty years+ delivering technically complex infrastructure or mission-critical facilities.
• Experience leading cross-disciplinary A/E teams across large campuses.
• Ability to influence senior clients, consultants and executives.

Responsibilities

• Act as the organisation's recognised subject matter expert for critical engineering systems.
• Provide strategic engineering leadership across multiple high-value infrastructure programmes.
• Serve as the senior technical advisor for clients, project teams and executive leadership.
• Review, challenge and validate engineering solutions throughout the project lifecycle.
• Mentor senior engineers and project teams, helping develop technical capability.

Skills

Electrical engineering

Mechanical engineering

Multidisciplinary leadership

Client influence

Education

Degree in Electrical Engineering or Mechanical Engineering

Professional registration advantageous

Job description

Strategic Engineering Director - Critical Infrastructure

Location: Flexible (US-Based) Limited travel

About the Opportunity

An established organisation delivering complex critical infrastructure programmes is seeking an exceptional Strategic Engineering Director to become the organisation's senior technical authority across major data centre developments.

This is a rare opportunity for an engineering leader who will be recognised as the go-to subject matter expert for complex engineering challenges. Rather than managing day-to-day project delivery, you will provide strategic technical leadership, influence engineering direction, challenge design decisions and serve as the trusted advisor on the most technically demanding programmes.

Operating as an expert across both Electrical and Mechanical you will work across multiple projects simultaneously, you'll support engineering teams from the earliest stages of project development through design, construction, commissioning and operational handover, ensuring engineering solutions remain practical, resilient, scalable and aligned with client objectives.

This role requires someone who is equally comfortable advising executive leadership as they are mentoring engineers, reviewing complex technical solutions and helping project teams overcome their most difficult engineering challenges.

Key Responsibilities

• Act as the organisation's recognised subject matter expert for critical engineering systems and complex technical issues.
• Provide strategic engineering leadership across multiple high-value infrastructure programmes.
• Serve as the senior technical advisor for clients, project teams and executive leadership.
• Review, challenge and validate engineering solutions throughout the project lifecycle.
• Lead multidisciplinary engineering teams in developing integrated design solutions across all building systems.
• Provide expert guidance on electrical distribution, mechanical systems, resilience strategies and critical infrastructure design.
• Develop engineering standards, technical guidance and best practices that improve consistency across projects.
• Support early-stage planning, technical due diligence and engineering strategy.
• Mentor senior engineers and project teams, helping develop technical capability across the wider organisation.
• Facilitate technical workshops and engineering reviews to resolve complex design and delivery challenges.
• Champion innovation while ensuring engineering solutions remain practical, buildable and commercially viable.
• Work closely with clients, consultants, contractors and operational teams to achieve successful project outcomes.

The Candidate

You'll be recognised by colleagues and clients as the individual people seek out when projects encounter technically challenging issues, when critical engineering decisions need to be made, or when an independent technical opinion is required.

Most professionals develop deep expertise in either electrical or mechanical engineering. This opportunity is different. The ideal candidate will bring technical authority in managing complex, multidiscipline Architecture and Engineering (A/E) teams across expansive data center campuses. An individual that will drive industry-leading engineering standards, cultivate client success, and pioneer next-generation integrated facility solutions for hyperscale, colocation, wholesale, and enterprise environments.

You are likely to bring:

• More than 20 years of experience delivering technically complex infrastructure or mission-critical facilities.
• Significant expertise across both electrical and mechanical building services.
• A proven ability to solve complex engineering problems within live, high-risk or technically demanding environments.
• Extensive experience providing technical leadership across multidisciplinary engineering teams.
• Strong knowledge of critical building systems, resilience strategies, commissioning principles and integrated engineering design.
• The credibility to influence senior clients, consultants, contractors and executive stakeholders.
• Experience developing engineering standards, technical governance and best practice.
• A degree in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering or a related discipline.
• Professional registration or recognised engineering qualifications would be advantageous.

Experience within data centres, critical infrastructure, advanced manufacturing, healthcare, telecommunications, pharmaceutical or similarly complex environments will all be considered.

The Opportunity

This is an opportunity to become the technical authority within a respected organisation delivering some of the industry's most complex infrastructure programmes.

You'll shape engineering strategy, influence major project decisions, mentor highly capable engineering teams and become the trusted expert relied upon to solve the challenges others cannot.

If you enjoy being the person everyone turns to when the answer isn't obvious, this role offers an opportunity to make a genuine impact at both project and organisational level.