Manager of Mechanical Engineering

Manager of Mechanical Engineering

Compensation: $225,000 + Bonus and Benefits (Commensurate with experience) Location: Hybrid Denver or NY

Our client is an industrial-scale data center construction and operations company. They allocate data center opportunities between bitcoin mining and other high performance computing services, such as AI. They continue to develop their pipeline of power capacity at high-quality data center sites, either for bitcoin mining or HPC.

Position Description: We are seeking a highly technical Mechanical Engineering leader to take full ownership of the cooling architecture, thermal strategy, and mechanical system integration across a portfolio of hyperscale HPC and AI data center projects. This role is accountable for ensuring our facilities can support extreme power densities, rapidly evolving compute architectures, and aggressive deployment schedules—without compromising reliability, efficiency, or constructability. This is not a coordination-only HVAC management position.

We are specifically looking for someone who:

• Has designed large-scale chilled water plants and mission-critical cooling systems
• Understands liquid-to-chip, high-density cooling, and airflow/liquid interaction dynamics
• Has firsthand experience with cooling system failures and understands how thermal instability develops
• Is knowledgeable about heat rejection constraints, water risk, and regional environmental factors
• Can challenge mechanical Engineer of Record (EOR) assumptions and integrate controls and commissioning strategies

Mechanical engineering ultimately determines how much compute capacity we can run. This role defines that ceiling.

Responsibilities:

Cooling Architecture Ownership

• Lead and validate mechanical system architecture, including air- vs liquid-cooled strategies, hybrid systems, direct-to-chip cooling, rear-door heat exchangers, immersion cooling (as applicable), and chilled water plant design with primary/secondary or variable primary flow systems. Oversee heat rejection approaches (cooling towers, dry coolers, hybrid systems) and define thermal redundancy strategies (N, N+1, 2N, distributed). Ensure designs support high rack densities, future growth, climate variability, water constraints, and rapid deployment.

High-Density & Liquid Cooling Expertise

• Direct and review designs for liquid distribution (LDUs/CDUs), facility-to-IT heat exchangers, coolant chemistry, leak detection, secondary containment, and isolation strategies. Incorporate thermal buffering and dynamic load response while accounting for failure containment, thermal runaway risks, rapid AI load changes, and airflow/liquid conflicts.

Central Plant Engineering

• Own chiller selection and staging, pump redundancy, thermal storage, plant controls/sequencing, and equipment yard layout. Address maintainability, noise, plume, and environmental constraints while evaluating tradeoffs between CAPEX/OPEX, water vs energy, efficiency vs resiliency, and modular vs stick-built plant strategies.

Controls & Integration Strategy

• Lead coordination of client systems, PLCs, sensor placement, failure detection logic, automated failover, and thermal monitoring. Ensure mechanical and electrical systems operate cohesively during generator events, power transitions, emergency shutdowns, and partial load conditions.

Constructability & Installation Oversight

• Evaluate pipe routing, congestion, structural loads, vibration isolation, lifting logistics, commissioning access, and service clearance. Prevent overdesigned piping, airflow short-circuiting, poor installation tolerances, and improperly sequenced startup events.

Commissioning & Operational Readiness

• Oversee functional testing, flow/pressure verification, leak testing, load simulation, thermal ramp testing, and failure mode scenarios. Ensure systems perform reliably under full load, rapid load swings, and redundancy transitions—not just at installation.

Heat Rejection & Environmental Risk

• Direct water sourcing strategy, drought and freeze risk mitigation, plume abatement, permitting considerations, and climate-driven performance impacts, recognizing that mechanical risk varies by region.

Required

• 12–18+ years in mechanical engineering with direct experience designing large chilled water plants and mission-critical cooling systems
• Experience with high-density and/or liquid cooling environments
• Strong knowledge of ASHRAE standards, fluid dynamics, and thermal modeling
• Experience in fast-track construction environments
• Hyperscale data center mechanical design experience preferred
• Exposure to AI / HPC density environments preferred
• Experience integrating liquid cooling systems preferred

Education & Certifications

• Bachelor's or advanced degree in a relevant field preferred; PE license preferred

Equal Opportunity Employer: RCM is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran. Pay Transparency: RCM believes in transparency and fairness in compensation. We are committed to providing our employees with competitive salaries that reflect their skills, experience, and contributions to our organization. About RCM: RCM is publicly traded on Nasdaq under the symbol RCMT. RCM is a business and technology solutions provider with world-class talent in key market segments. We help design, build, and enable the Industries of Tomorrow, Today. Operating at the intersection of resources, critical infrastructure, and modernization of industries, RCM is a provider of services in Life Sciences, Data & Solutions (IT), Healthcare, Engineering, Aerospace & Defense, and Process & Industrial. Disclaimer: This job posting is intended to describe the general nature and the level of the work to be performed. It is not intended to include every job duty and responsibility specific to the position. RCM reserves the right to amend and change responsibilities to meet business and organizational needs as necessary.