[Hiring] Director, Controls @Nscale

Role Description

As Controls Director, you will be the functional authority for controls engineering across Nscale's data center fleet. You'll own the standards for BMS/BAS and EPMS, steward our SCADA and HMI platforms, set the rules for alarm and telemetry consistency, lead commissioning discipline, and drive our Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DMfA) program.

Our controls strategy rests on one principle: structured diversity at the device layer, and uncompromising consistency at the HMI, SCADA, alarm, and telemetry layers. Your job is to turn that principle into enforceable standards and acceptance criteria, and to build the specialist team that verifies them on every site.

This is a standards-and-governance leadership role. Regional Project Directors deliver projects; you decide what good looks like and develop the people who check it. You'll report to the VP, Controls & Networks, and lead a directorate that brings together SCADA and controls SMEs, MEP specialists, Commissioning Managers, and engineering staff. The role covers the Americas, with travel across regions as required.

Your directorate works alongside, not over, Nscale's Design teams, who hold architectural, mechanical, and base-build design authority; your SMEs are embedded with them as standing reviewers. DC Operations handles day-to-day maintenance of operating controls, and Systems Engineering owns tools and data once data leaves the site.

What You'll be Doing

• Standards and Platform Authority
  • Own the controls standards library: control narratives and sequences, alarm management (ISA-18.2), high-performance HMI (ISA-101), master points lists, and telemetry and MQTT/Sparkplug B conventions.
  • Own the Skid-to-Master Interface Specification and make it a mandatory exhibit on packaged-equipment purchase orders.
  • Steward the SCADA platform portfolio, including Ignition as our delivery basis, and lead platform evolution through a gated qualification program while incumbent platforms remain supported.
  • Rule on controls standards deviations through a formal review process, ensuring no deviation reaches field execution without a decision or escalation.
• Change Management and Operations Support
  • Hold management of change (MOC) approval for changes to operating controls and BMS systems.
  • Own patch testing for controls scope, keeping development and production strictly separated, and manage implementation in partnership with the CISO organization.
• Commissioning and Readiness
  • Lead the Commissioning Managers and the commissioning discipline, including Cx strategy for each project, FAT/CAT/SAT governance, and the site integration readiness gate.
  • Protect independence between commissioning and acceptance, so no system is accepted solely by the team that commissioned it.
• Design for Manufacture and Assembly
  • Drive a governed control-panel catalog, build-to-print construction packages, and fabricator skid-PLC integration under Master PLCs.
  • Shape and grow the DMfA function as the program scales.
• Team Leadership
  • Lead, coach, and develop a bench of SCADA, controls, MEP, commissioning, and engineering specialists, balancing project delivery with operational support.
  • Build succession across the directorate and own specialist recruitment with our People team and search partners.
  • Act as the tie-breaker in a matrixed organization: your directorate rules on standards, while assigned specialists are the authority on site reality.

Qualifications

• 12+ years of experience in industrial automation, controls, SCADA, or mission-critical facility systems, including leading senior specialists or engineers across multiple sites.
• Deep technical command of BMS/BAS, EPMS, SCADA/HMI, and major PLC platforms (Rockwell, Siemens, Schneider Electric), plus telemetry architectures such as OPC UA and MQTT/Sparkplug B.
• Experience setting and enforcing engineering standards across an organization, including ISA-18.2 alarm management and ISA-101 HMI practice.
• Proven commissioning governance on complex facilities, including FAT/CAT/SAT regimes, readiness gates, turnover, and early-life stability.
• Bachelor's degree in electrical, controls, mechanical, or computer engineering, or equivalent practical experience.

Nice to Have

• Experience leading multi-site SCADA standardization or platform migration across mixed incumbent systems.
• Experience with Design for Manufacture and Assembly, modular or off-site manufacturing, and build-to-print delivery.
• ISA Certified Automation Professional (CAP), PE/P.Eng./CEng, or ISA/IEC 62443 credential.
• Hyperscale, AI, or GPU-dense data center experience, including liquid cooling.

Why this role matters

As Nscale scales its fleet, consistent controls are what make every new facility safe to bring online and easy to operate. This role sets the bar that every site is built and accepted against. In your first year, success means:

• Systems integrate right the first time.
• Every site is controls-ready at handover and stable through its first 90 days.
• Alarm health is measured and improving across every operating site.
• Platform changes move through every qualification gate with no shortcuts.
• Your directorate is fully staffed with clear succession for every senior seat.

Benefits

• Highly competitive package, including base salary and equity, with reviews every 12 months.
• Join one of the fastest-growing tech startups: your chance to push boundaries, collaborate with brilliant minds, and make your mark on cutting-edge AI.
• Expect a dynamic progression plan tailored to your ambitions. Grow by trying new things, leading, challenging the status quo, and owning your impact, always with our full support.
• Human-first flexibility.
• Join our thriving remote-first team. Geography is no barrier to impact or connection.

Equal Opportunities Statement

At Nscale, we are committed to fostering an inclusive, diverse, and equitable workplace. We believe that a variety of perspectives enrich our work environment, and we encourage applications from candidates of all backgrounds, experiences, and abilities. We strongly encourage applications from people of colour, the LGBTQ+ community, people with disabilities, neurodivergent people, parents, carers, and people from lower socio-economic backgrounds.

If there's anything we can do to accommodate your specific situation, please let us know.

Salary Range

$170,000 — $240,000 USD

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