Nscale · 1 day ago
Senior Manager or Director, Mechanical Engineering (Design)
United States
Full-time
Remote
Senior Level, Lead/Staff, Director/Executive
$150K/yr - $230K/yr
5+ years expNScale is a GPU cloud company focused on AI, providing infrastructure for AI start-ups and enterprises. The Director of Mechanical Engineering will lead mechanical design and engineering governance for U.S. data centers, ensuring systems meet high-density AI workload requirements while managing a high-performing engineering team.
AI InfrastructureArtificial Intelligence (AI)GPUInformation TechnologyInternetTelecommunications
Responsibilities
Lead concept, schematic, and detailed design reviews for new builds and expansions
Establish and maintain design standards and reference architectures to enable repeatable, rapid deployment across the U.S
Ensure designs meet availability, maintainability, and efficiency targets, and are suitable for high-density AI workloads
Provide engineering support through LLE Equipment procurement, submittals, RFIs, field changes, and issue resolution during construction
Vendor and consultant leadership: Select and manage architectural & engineering consultants throughout design process from schematic to construction documents. Enforce quality and documentation standards through document issuance reviews
Lead review of internal and external third-party CFD studies to validate airflow management, temperature compliance, and thermal resilience throughout the site, both inside and outside of the facility
Partner cross-functionally with construction, commissioning, operations, procurement, and product/platform stakeholders to ensure mechanical systems meet business and customer requirements
Continuous improvement: Implement lessons learned from deployments, improve reliability and maintainability, and push innovation in cooling and energy efficiency
Build and lead a high-performing team of engineers including hiring, mentoring, performance management, and career development
Support mechanical technical due diligence for potential colocation sites, including assessment of cooling architecture, redundancy, capacity headroom, maintainability, and operational maturity
Review and validate landlord/operator-provided documentation, including basis of design, one-lines/P&IDs (where available), sequences of operation, maintenance records, incident history, and commissioning reports
Define and negotiate mechanical lease exhibits and technical schedules (capacity commitments, metering approach, operating envelopes, maintenance windows, response SLAs, and change control requirements)
Evaluate fit for high-density AI workloads, including constraints on inlet temperatures, liquid cooling readiness (if applicable), heat rejection limitations, and expansion pathways
Support early-stage site screening by defining mechanical utility and constructability requirements (cooling approach, water strategy, heat rejection constraints, climate considerations, expansion capacity)
Lead mechanical due diligence for greenfield and brownfield acquisitions, including evaluation of existing infrastructure condition, remaining useful life, maintainability, and upgrade pathways
Assess site constraints and risks that impact mechanical design and delivery including heat rejection feasibility (air-cooled vs evaporative vs hybrid) and Space planning for plant rooms, yards, and equipment setbacks
Qualification
Required
Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering
Professional Engineering License
5+ years of mechanical engineering experience in mission-critical facilities, with significant time in data center design
3+ years in engineering leadership (people leadership and/or leading large multi-site programs)
Strong understanding of Cooling systems for high-density compute (air and liquid-cooled strategies, heat rejection options, redundancy models) as well as hydronic systems, piping design, equipment selection, and controls sequences
Experience working with U.S. engineering firms, AHJs, and code environments (state/local variations)
Strong presence and decision-making capability
Pragmatic, risk-based leadership style suited to fast-paced construction environments
High judgment in high-consequence scenarios
Ability to challenge delivery teams while maintaining partnership
Benefits
Medical
Dental
Vision
Flexible paid time off
Parental leave
Retirement plan participation
Company
Nscale
Nscale provides a full-stack AI cloud platform designed for enterprise-scale workloads.
51-200 employees
Funding
Current Stage
Growth StageTotal Funding
$1.72BKey Investors
AkerSandton Capital Partners
2025-10-01Series C· $433M
2025-09-25Series B· $1.1B
2024-12-09Series A· $155.54M
Leadership Team
Josh Payne
Founder & Chief Executive Officer
Karl Havard
Chief Commercial Officer (CCO)
Recent News
2026-01-22
2026-01-22
2026-01-21
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