Location: Remote The Role: Reliability Engineer - Mechanical As a Reliability Engineer - Mechanical at Switch, you will own complex mechanical reliability analysis for mission-critical cooling and fluid systems. This role sits within RCM Analysis & Maintenance Strategy in the Reliability Engineering department. You will develop BIA/FMEA packages, define monitoring needs, and recommend maintenance strategies, spares, and engineered mitigations. Your work will improve infrastructure reliability, maintenance quality, operational readiness, and risk-based investment decisions. This is an individual contributor role with no direct reports, but you may provide technical guidance during assigned work.
What You'll Do - Define mechanical system boundaries, functions, capacity margins, redundancy assumptions, and criticality.
- Analyze chillers, heat-rejection systems, pumps, air handlers, CRAH and CRAC units, thermal storage, hydronic systems, liquid-cooling systems, coolant distribution units, and related controls.
- Validate P&IDs, schematics, sequences of operation, operating modes, capacity assumptions, and common-cause failure risks.
- Develop mechanical BIA/FMEA packages using system documents, telemetry, maintenance history, field observations, and event evidence.
- Define condition indicators and monitoring requirements using thermal, vibration, flow, pressure, chemistry, and performance data.
- Recommend maintenance tasks, intervals, spare-parts strategies, monitoring improvements, and engineered mitigations.
- Support event reviews, commissioning, retrofit design reviews, vendor technical reviews, and site validation.
- Facilitate technical workshops and document assumptions, decisions, risks, owners, and follow-up actions.
- Track completed analyses, condition coverage, preventive maintenance optimization, repeat-failure trends, and risk and action closure.
What We're Looking For - Operating in Mission-Critical Mode: Balances reliability, safety, maintainability, cost, and operating constraints in each recommendation.
- Clear in Communications: Translates complex technical evidence into clear, decision-ready information.
- Compelled to Contribute: Moves from identifying risk to proposing practical monitoring, maintenance, or design changes.
- Supportive of the Team: Works constructively with operations, design, controls, vendors, and technology partners.
- Consistently Reliable: Follows through on commitments, documents decisions, and raises risks early.
What You'll Bring Required - Bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering or an equivalent combination of technical education and relevant experience.
- Four or more years of experience in mechanical reliability, mechanical design, commissioning, or critical-facilities operations.
- Experience with several of the following systems: chillers, HVAC, hydronics, pumping, heat rejection, thermal storage, liquid cooling, or related controls.
- Ability to interpret P&IDs, mechanical schematics, sequences of operation, and thermodynamic performance data.
- Experience applying maintenance and failure analysis using vibration, thermal, flow, pressure, chemistry, or equipment-performance indicators.
- Ability to facilitate technical workshops, validate conditions in the field, write clear recommendations, and coordinate vendor follow-up.
- Ability to read and follow technical documents, site procedures, safety requirements, and change-control processes.
- Ability to obtain and maintain the site safety qualifications required for assigned work.
- Ability to work across office or remote settings and active data center sites, with 25% to 40% travel and selected maintenance-window support.
- Ability to work in environments that may include extended walking or standing, stairs, ladders, mechanical and electrical rooms, noise, temperature changes, and required PPE. The role may require carrying field equipment or documents weighing up to 35 pounds. Reasonable accommodations may be made for qualified individuals with disabilities.
Preferred - PE, CMRP, CRL, vibration analysis, or thermography credential.
- Experience with large-scale data center cooling, hydronic systems, thermal storage, or liquid-cooling deployments.
Qualified candidates are encouraged to apply even if they do not meet every preferred qualification.
