[Hiring] Design Director @Poolside Infrastructure Company

Role Description

At PIC, we choose our sites for power and water rather than convenience. That means remote land, thin local infrastructure, and utility scope we have to solve ourselves instead of buying it from someone else. There is no Basis of Design waiting for you and no reference design to inherit. You write both, and they become how this company builds; for this project and every one after it.

You'll own the design function end to end, including:

• The standards our projects get built to
• The AE and specialty consultants who produce the drawings
• The technical decisions made long before a design contract is ever issued
• Phasing and utility calls that cannot be undone once they are in the ground

You won't draw. You'll decide what gets drawn, judge whether it's right, and stand behind it. If you have ever wanted to see what you would build if nobody handed you the answer, this role was made for you.

What you’ll do

• Campus & site planning
  • Lead campus master planning from raw land through entitlement
  • Drive the design side of site selection and diligence
  • Own phasing plans that let Phase 1 energize without boxing in Phases 2 through 5
  • Set the design position on land use, zoning, and community-facing issues
• Solve for remote-site delivery
  • Define the design and delivery model for sites with limited local labor
  • Own the design response to remote-site realities
  • Build for repeatability
• Own standards and design governance
  • Write, maintain and enforce the company Basis of Design
  • Own project requirements and traceability through design
  • Run design review at every milestone
  • Own the design risk register and technical positions
• Manage consultants and partners
  • Scope, competitively bid, and award AE, civil, geotechnical, environmental, and specialty consultant contracts
  • Manage consultant performance against schedule, budget, and quality
  • Work with design-build and GC teams through construction
  • Replace underperforming consultants when necessary
• Collaboration
  • Partner with development, construction, procurement, operations, and commissioning
  • Represent design in front of utilities, AHJs, permitting agencies, investors, and prospective customers

Qualifications

• 10+ years designing or delivering mission-critical, industrial, or heavy utility infrastructure
• At least 3 years leading a design function or a multi-discipline design team
• Direct experience managing AE firms from the owner's side
• Working command of governing codes and standards
• A bachelor's degree in engineering, architecture, or construction management

Nice-to-haves

• You have owned Greenfield campus-scale from site selection through construction
• PE or RA licensure, or the ability to obtain licensure in target states
• Experience with projects carrying significant on-site water treatment, wastewater, or on-site generation scope
• A track record of delivering in a startup or first-project environment
• Experience with liquid-cooled and high-density deployments

Additional requirements

• 40 to 50% travel, front-loaded in the first year
• Field conditions apply: expect active construction sites, required PPE, and site safety training

Process

• Intro call w/Molly Anderson, People Ops
• Interview w/Trevor Fare, Design & Engineering
• Interview w/Adrain Garner, Power & Infrastructure