[Hiring] Manager, Mechanical & Thermal OFCI Procurement Engineering @SB Energy

Role Description

SB Energy is seeking a manager with deep industry and OEM experience to lead the mechanical and thermal procurement engineering team for owner-furnished, contractor-installed (OFCI) cooling equipment supporting AI data centers. You will own the cooling product roadmap, procurement technical requirements, basis of design and equipment acceptance decisions for high-density computing.

Working directly with SB Energy’s clients, OEMs, and vendors, you will deliver highly reliable cooling at the best total cost of ownership (TCO). From day one, you will make independent decisions under ambiguity, advance new technologies and equipment fungibility, and enable multi-sourcing. You will build a team with the capacity and domain expertise needed to deliver the full cooling equipment scope.

Responsibilities

• Equipment coverage includes but is not limited to the categories below:
• Cooling equipment
• Cooling and heat rejection: air- and water-cooled chillers, cooling towers, dry coolers, adiabatic/fluid coolers, and heat exchangers.
• Airside cooling: CRAH/CRAC units, air-handling units, fan walls, in-row cooling, and rear-door heat exchangers.
• Liquid cooling: coolant distribution units, direct-to-chip and immersion cooling packages, manifolds, cold plates, hoses, and quick disconnects.
• Hydronics and water: pumps and integral drives, piping/valve skids, strainers, buffer/expansion/storage tanks, pressurization, makeup water, filtration, and water treatment.
• Packaged cooling: modular plants and cooling skids, integral controls, instrumentation, and leak detection.
• Personally lead mechanical and thermal technical decisions from day one.
• Prioritize deliverables and specialist support, identify capability gaps, and propose hiring as workload and business needs expand.
• Once staffed, coach, develop, and manage direct reports to establish LLE ownership across central cooling, airside systems, liquid cooling, and hydronics.
• Own cooling equipment specifications, Basis of Design (BOD), configurations, and thermal/hydraulic interfaces.
• Translate client requirements and Engineering/EOR design intent into procurement requirements.
• Own cooling-package performance and integral controls, coordinating power-feed interfaces with Electrical.
• Own the cooling product roadmap: thermal capacity and efficiency requirements, technology evaluation, pilots, standard product families, refresh cycles, and obsolescence.
• Align with clients’ computing roadmaps and vendor capabilities to improve reliability and TCO.
• Own cooling equipment fungibility criteria and technical equivalence decisions across OEMs, generations, and projects.
• Validate duty points, footprints, fluid chemistry, materials, connections, controls, and service requirements.
• Define limits on interchangeability and required adaptations.
• Enable multi-sourcing through vendor-neutral specifications and technical approval of alternate cooling products.
• Supply product assessments to Supplier Engineering, which owns OEM/factory qualifications.
• Challenge vendor selections, performance curves, calculations, and exclusions with clients and Engineering.
• Validate ambient and part-load performance, redundancy, maintainability, failure response, and compatibility.
• Own product acceptance and deviation decisions within delegated authority.
• Own cooling equipment TCO comparisons covering acquisition, installation, energy, water, fluids, maintenance, spares, replacement, and downtime exposure.
• Define equipment-specific Factory Acceptance Testing (FAT), Factory Witness Testing (FWT), and Site Acceptance Testing (SAT) criteria.
• Own cooling technical acceptance under Supplier Engineering’s common test framework.
• Own cooling impact assessments for client/design changes and engineering dispositions for equipment defects.
• Resolve thermal and mechanical issues through manufacturing and commissioning, providing decisions to TPM and technical input to Quality-led corrective actions.
• Use operating results and field lessons to improve the cooling roadmap.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering or a related engineering discipline with substantial thermal systems specialization required.
• A master’s degree or Professional Engineer (PE) license is an advantage.
• 12+ years of progressively responsible experience in mechanical equipment engineering, thermal systems, procurement engineering, or OEM engineering.
• Demonstrated mechanical and thermal subject matter expertise and success in building and leading engineering teams.
• Extensive experience within cooling equipment OEM or directly leading technical engagements with OEM engineering and manufacturing teams.
• Deep understanding of thermodynamics, heat transfer, hydronics, heat rejection, redundancy, controls, and maintainability.
• Strong practical experience with high-density cooling and liquid-cooling interfaces.
• Ability to interpret equipment drawings, piping and instrumentation diagrams, performance maps, control sequences, and test evidence.
• Strong commercial acumen, including total cost of ownership (TCO) analysis, technical bid evaluation, and value engineering.
• A record of developing cooling product roadmaps, qualifying new technologies, and enabling fungibility and multi-sourcing.
• Credibility with client technical leaders, OEMs, vendors, and internal partners.
• Willingness to travel domestically and internationally to factories, test facilities, client locations, and project sites.

Requirements

• Assignments may span projects, equipment categories, suppliers, and locations and may change with business needs.
• The role includes supplier, factory, warehouse, and active construction site visits.
• Coordination across time zones and compliance with site safety and access requirements.

Benefits

• 100% Company-Paid Medical, Dental & Vision (for employees and dependents)
• 401(k) with Company Match
• Generous Paid Time Off + 11 Paid Holidays
• 12 Weeks Parental Leave
• Life, AD&D & Long-Term Disability Coverage
• Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA) for Medical, Dependent Care, Transit & Parking (with company contributions)
• Mental, Physical & Social Wellness Support (with company contributions)
• Flexible Work Arrangements & Hybrid Office Setup Benefits
• Monthly Reimbursement for Phone, Internet & Data
• Optional Legal & Pet Insurance Plans
• Device Purchase Support