Principal Operations Engineer, Controls

Fluidstack

$130K — $160K *
US-AnywhereRemote in United States
Technical Services
8 - 10 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 10+ years of hands-on experience in building automation or industrial controls, with 5+ years in a senior role.
  • Data center operations experience preferred; similar industrial controls experience acceptable.
  • Deep understanding of modern BMS/BAS environments with practical field experience.
  • Fluency in major control system communication protocols like BACnet and Modbus.
  • Experience in PLC programming on major platforms such as Allen-Bradley or Siemens.
  • Knowledge of mechanical, electrical, and fire safety systems in relation to controls operation.
  • Proven track record of leading root cause analyses on controls-driven events.

Responsibilities

  • Serve as the primary technical authority for BMS, EPMS, PLC, and control systems across the fleet.
  • Manage changes and enhancements to BMS systems globally, emphasizing standardization and change control.
  • Conduct technical and operational audits for pre-activation and active sites, focusing on operational efficacy.
  • Ensure controls readiness for new sites, including validating sequences and approving operational handovers.
  • Review operational designs, contributing insights to ensure they are operationally sound.
  • Provide operational feedback to improve design and manufacturing processes for data center builds.
  • Lead troubleshooting and repair of complex control system malfunctions and oversee trend analysis.

Benefits

  • Competitive total compensation package including salary and equity.
  • Retirement or pension plan available.
  • Comprehensive health, dental, and vision insurance.
  • Generous paid time off policy.
Full Job Description
How We Operate
  • Extreme ownership. Full autonomy. Own things end to end often taking on scope outside your core role without being asked to get things done.
  • Velocity. We drive everything forward as fast as possible.
  • First principles. Challenge every assumption. Zero analogy thinking, no egos, the best idea wins.
  • Love of the game. The frontier of AI is the most interesting problem of our time. We put in long hours at high intensity to push the frontier forward.
The Controls Team

Examples of key problems the team is working on
  • Lead the design, development, and execution of 10s to 100s of GWs of data centers this decade.
  • Build real-time load control systems, pushing the limits of MEP infrastructure and behind-the-meter systems.
  • Automate L4/L5 commissioning and functional tests for fully modular data center builds.
  • Develop autonomous robotic solutions for data center deployment.
Role Scope
  • Serve as the most senior technical authority for BMS, EPMS, PLC, and equipment-level controls across the fleet.
  • Own every material BMS change across the fleet and serve as final technical approver for high-consequence changes. Standardize where it matters, enforce change control everywhere it matters.
  • Lead technical and operational site audits on sequences, alarming, trending, integration health, and cybersecurity, and own the remediation roadmap through closure.
  • Personally sign off on controls operational readiness and the handover from commissioning to steady-state operations for every new site.
  • Feed operational learnings back into design and manufacturing as we shift to repeatable, productized builds, including standing up a full BMS in two days.
  • Author and approve high-risk MOPs, EOPs, and AOPs, and lead root cause analysis on significant controls events through to closure.
  • Travel 50 to 75% across the fleet. The work is in the field, not at a desk.
What We're Looking For

The below is a starting point. We always make space for exceptional people, so if you don't fit this role exactly, tell us where you would.
  • You've spent a career programming, commissioning, and operating controls on complex central plants and critical environments. You can walk into any site and own the front-end within a day.
  • You have platform-agnostic command of modern BMS/BAS (Ignition, Niagara, Metasys, EcoStruxure) earned in the field, plus PLC programming on at least one major platform.
  • You're fluent across BACnet, Modbus, SNMP, and the other major controls protocols, and you know the mechanical, electrical, and fire/life safety systems they coordinate.
  • You've authored and executed high-risk controls MOPs in live critical environments, and led root cause analysis on significant events through to closure.
  • You hold integrators, OEMs, and vendors to a programming and documentation standard without burning the relationship.
  • You teach. Operational health assessments, RCAs, sequences, and design feedback are second nature, and you build the people around you up.
  • Bonus: Hyperscale or large colocation at hundreds of MW+. EPMS platforms and DCIM. Historians and scripting in Python or SQL. OT network segmentation and cybersecurity.
Salary & Benefits
  • Competitive total compensation package (salary + equity).
  • Retirement or pension plan, in line with local norms.
  • Health, dental, and vision insurance.
  • Generous PTO policy, in line with local norms.
    Total compensation may also include equity in the form of stock options.


We are committed to pay equity and transparency.

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