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Volta is building a vertically integrated AI infrastructure platform with a mission to make compute as dependable and available as electricity. The company has secured $10B in strategic partnerships, Series A funding from Andreessen Horowitz, and a $5B AI Infrastructure Fund. With 100+ employees across London, Palo Alto, and New York, Volta is rapidly scaling its operations.
As Director of Mechanical Engineering, you will be Volta's subject matter expert and design authority for mechanical engineering across the global portfolio of AI factories. You will report directly to the Senior Director, Infrastructure Engineering and own all mechanical engineering input across EMEA and AMER regions from concept through commissioning.
Key responsibilities include:
- Serve as mechanical SME and design authority for all AI factories, owning mechanical engineering across the entire project lifecycle
- Develop, deploy, and maintain Volta's mechanical design standards, specifications, and basis of design documents, ensuring consistent application across all projects and regions
- Provide mechanical input to Volta's Reference Design for AI factory infrastructure, balancing performance, energy/water efficiency, cost, speed, and scalability
- Own the liquid cooling architecture, including facility water systems, technology cooling systems, and coolant distribution units; partner with CTO and CPO to align with rack, GPU, and thermal requirements
- Support live projects with mechanical expertise from concept through detailed design, construction, and commissioning
- Track evolution of AI hardware and cooling technology (rack densities, warmer water operation, emerging cooling methods) and translate into mechanical standards
- Lead mechanical design reviews and technical assurance; act as design authority for departures from standards
- Collaborate with electrical, controls, and structural SMEs to optimize overall design for safety, delivery speed, and cost
- Work with Procurement to standardize specifications for long-lead mechanical equipment (chillers, dry coolers, CDUs, pumps, air handling plant)
- Champion safety in design, reliability, maintainability, and energy/water efficiency
- Embed lessons learned from delivery and operations into mechanical standards
- Direct mechanical scope of external design partners, mentor engineers, and build out the mechanical engineering team
- Provide mechanical engineering status, risk, and decision reporting to leadership
Requirements:
- Degree in mechanical or building services engineering; chartered or professional engineer status (CEng or PE) preferred
- Significant experience in data centre or mission-critical mechanical engineering, including senior technical leadership of mechanical design on large-scale programmes
- Deep technical expertise in data centre cooling: chilled water and heat rejection systems, air-side design, hydraulic design, and cooling control philosophy
- Track record developing and deploying mechanical design standards, reference designs, or basis of design documents for hyperscale, colocation, or large-scale data centre developers
- Hands-on experience designing and delivering high-density and liquid-cooled environments for AI and HPC workloads, including direct-to-chip cooling, coolant distribution units, and facility water systems; understanding of how GPU cluster thermal requirements drive facility design
- Familiarity with codes and standards governing data centre mechanical design in Europe and North America (ASHRAE guidelines, NFPA standards)
- Strong commercial judgement, balancing capex, schedule, reliability, and operability in mechanical design decisions
- Confident communication ability to explain complex technical trade-offs to technical and non-technical stakeholders, including executives
- Collaborative style that builds trust with peers across partner teams and conviction to hold the line on standards
