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Lambda, a leader in AI cloud infrastructure serving tens of thousands of customers globally, is seeking a Senior Mechanical Controls Engineer to own controls standards and reference architectures for mechanical systems supporting large-scale AI data centers.
In this role, you will develop control narratives, sequences of operation, points lists, alarm matrices, cause-and-effect diagrams, and controller requirements for complex mechanical systems. You'll define automation for central cooling plants, heat-rejection systems, pumps, heat exchangers, CRAHs, CDUs, liquid-cooling loops, valves, and associated equipment. Your work will encompass system behavior design for startup, shutdown, maintenance, component failure, utility loss, and recovery scenarios.
Key responsibilities include establishing requirements for sensors, actuators, meters, control panels, PLCs, DDC controllers, gateways, and operator interfaces. You will define BMS integration, mechanical telemetry, trending, alarming, data retention, and interfaces with other operational systems. You'll review partner designs, vendor submittals, control drawings, network architectures, and equipment packages for compliance with Lambda standards.
You will coordinate controls requirements across mechanical, electrical, network, hardware, construction, commissioning, and operations teams. Support activities include factory testing, site acceptance testing, commissioning, integrated systems testing, and cooling-system bring-up. You'll troubleshoot control-loop instability, sensor errors, communication failures, nuisance alarms, and sequence deficiencies, incorporating commissioning results and operating lessons into future designs.
Travel to project sites, manufacturers, and partner facilities is required as needed.
Lambda was founded in 2012 and now has 500+ employees. The company is backed by notable investors including NVIDIA, Andrej Karpathy, ARK Invest, In-Q-Tel, and others. Lambda offers generous cash and equity compensation, health/dental/vision coverage, wellness and commuter stipends, 401k with 2% match, and flexible paid time off.
Note: This position requires presence in the San Francisco or San Jose office 4 days per week; Tuesday is Lambda's designated work-from-home day.
REQUIREMENTS:
- Experience designing or commissioning mechanical controls for data centers, mission-critical facilities, central plants, or industrial environments
- Understanding of chilled-water, condenser-water, heat-rejection, air-cooling, and liquid-cooling systems
- Ability to develop and review sequences of operation, P&IDs, control diagrams, wiring diagrams, points lists, and functional test procedures
- Knowledge of PLC, DDC, and BMS architectures and common protocols (BACnet, Modbus, OPC UA)
- Experience with instrumentation, sensor selection, control loops, alarms, interlocks, and equipment safeties
- Understanding of mechanical system response during equipment failures, power events, and changing thermal loads
- Ability to translate operational requirements into clear, testable control behavior
- Strong communication skills with engineers, programmers, vendors, commissioning teams, and facility operators
- Bachelor's degree in mechanical, electrical, controls, or systems engineering, or equivalent practical experience
NICE TO HAVE:
- Experience with hyperscale, colocation, HPC, or AI data centers
- Experience controlling high-density liquid-cooling systems, CDUs, or warm-water cooling loops
- Familiarity with Siemens, Schneider Electric, Johnson Controls, Honeywell, Rockwell, or Tridium platforms
- Experience with OT networking, controls cybersecurity, controller redundancy, or high-availability automation
- Familiarity with EPMS design and electrical systems SOOs and monitoring
- Experience with factory acceptance testing, integrated systems testing, and live facility bring-up
- Familiarity with ASHRAE, ISA, and data center controls standards
- Experience using trend data or analytics to diagnose and optimize mechanical-system performance
