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OpenAI's Compute organization builds and operates the infrastructure powering frontier AI training and inference. The Data Center Design Manager will coordinate the design and delivery of infrastructure for large-scale AI deployments, bringing together engineering disciplines and external design partners to translate infrastructure requirements into coordinated, buildable design packages.
You will manage design milestones, resolve cross-discipline interfaces, and keep technical decisions aligned with project requirements. Working across civil, structural, mechanical, electrical, construction, commissioning, operations, and hardware teams, you will preserve design intent from early planning through construction and turnover, with focus on design execution, technical coordination, and clear ownership of design decisions.
Key responsibilities include managing design scope, deliverables, milestones, and dependencies from concept through detailed design and construction support; coordinating civil, structural, architectural, mechanical, electrical, controls, and physical network interfaces across data center buildings and campuses; translating owner and hardware requirements into coordinated design criteria; leading multidisciplinary design reviews and tracking comments, decisions, risks, and actions; evaluating design changes and their impacts on reliability, safety, cost, schedule, and maintainability; coordinating external architects, consultants, developers, and suppliers; partnering with construction and commissioning teams on constructability and field issues; and maintaining design documentation while incorporating lessons into reusable standards.
REQUIREMENTS:
- Bachelor's degree in engineering, architecture, or related discipline, or equivalent practical experience
- Experience managing multidisciplinary design for data centers, mission-critical facilities, or comparable complex infrastructure
- Technical understanding of data center infrastructure and interfaces among power, cooling, controls, structures, and physical networks
- Experience taking coordinated design packages from early planning through detailed design and construction support
- Experience coordinating external design consultants, engineering specialists, and construction partners
- Ability to read technical drawings and specifications, identify interface gaps, and work with discipline experts to resolve them
- Strong written and verbal communication, disciplined issue tracking, and sound judgment balancing technical requirements with delivery constraints
PREFERRED:
- Experience with hyperscale data centers, high-density AI or HPC infrastructure, or rapidly evolving mission-critical environments
- Familiarity with liquid cooling, high-density power distribution, and integration of changing compute hardware into facility designs
- Experience managing design reviews, quality checks, and technical change control across concurrent projects
- Experience with modular or prefabricated infrastructure and design approaches improving constructability and deployment speed
- Familiarity with BIM, model coordination, clash detection, and engineering document-control tools
- Experience supporting commissioning readiness, as-built documentation, and handoff to operations
- Experience adapting reference designs and engineering standards to site-specific constraints across a portfolio
- Professional engineering or architecture licensure, or relevant design and project management credentials
