Lambda

Senior Mechanical Controls Engineer

Lambda$120K — $145K *
Enterprise Technology
Less than 5 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 5+ years of experience in designing or commissioning mechanical controls for data centers or industrial environments.
  • Strong understanding of chilled-water, condenser-water, and liquid-cooling systems.
  • Proficiency in developing and reviewing sequences of operation and control diagrams.
  • Knowledge of PLC, DDC, and BMS architectures with common protocols like BACnet.
  • Experience with instrumentation, sensor selection, and control loops.
  • Ability to translate operational requirements into controllable systems.
  • Bachelor's degree in mechanical, electrical, controls, or systems engineering, or equivalent experience.

Responsibilities

  • Own the controls standards and reference architectures for mechanical systems in AI data centers.
  • Develop comprehensive control narratives and sequences of operation for various cooling and mechanical systems.
  • Design system responses for critical events like utility loss and component failure.
  • Establish specifications for control equipment, including sensors and PLCs.
  • Coordinate with multiple teams to ensure compliance with mechanical and electrical controls requirements.
  • Support various testing phases, including factory and site acceptance tests.
  • Troubleshoot issues related to control loops and system instabilities.

Benefits

  • Opportunity to work with advanced technologies in large-scale AI environments.
  • Collaboration with cross-functional teams across various disciplines.
  • Travel opportunities to project sites and partner facilities.
  • Development and implementation of innovative control standards and designs.
Full Job Description


What You'll Do
  • Own controls standards and reference architectures for mechanical systems supporting large-scale AI data centers.
  • Develop control narratives, sequences of operation, points lists, alarm matrices, cause-and-effect diagrams, and controller requirements.
  • Define automation for central cooling plants, heat-rejection systems, pumps, heat exchangers, CRAHs, CDUs, liquid-cooling loops, valves, and associated equipment.
  • Design system behavior for startup, shutdown, maintenance, component failure, utility loss, and recovery.
  • Establish requirements for sensors, actuators, meters, control panels, PLCs, DDC controllers, gateways, and operator interfaces.
  • Define BMS integration, mechanical telemetry, trending, alarming, data retention, and interfaces with other operational systems.
  • Review partner designs, vendor submittals, control drawings, network architectures, and equipment packages for compliance with Lambda standards.
  • Coordinate controls requirements across mechanical, electrical, network, hardware, construction, commissioning, and operations teams.
  • Support factory testing, site acceptance testing, commissioning, integrated systems testing, and cooling-system bring-up.
  • Troubleshoot control-loop instability, sensor errors, communication failures, nuisance alarms, and sequence deficiencies.
  • Incorporate commissioning results and operating lessons into future designs and control standards.
  • Travel to project sites, manufacturers, and partner facilities as needed.

You
  • Have experience designing or commissioning mechanical controls for data centers, mission-critical facilities, central plants, or industrial environments.
  • Understand chilled-water, condenser-water, heat-rejection, air-cooling, and liquid-cooling systems.
  • Can develop and review sequences of operation, P&IDs, control diagrams, wiring diagrams, points lists, and functional test procedures.
  • Understand PLC, DDC, and BMS architectures and common protocols such as BACnet, Modbus, and OPC UA.
  • Have experience with instrumentation, sensor selection, control loops, alarms, interlocks, and equipment safeties.
  • Understand how mechanical systems should respond during equipment failures, power events, and changing thermal loads.
  • Can translate operational requirements into clear, testable control behavior.
  • Communicate effectively with engineers, programmers, vendors, commissioning teams, and facility operators.
  • Hold a bachelor's degree in mechanical, electrical, controls, or systems engineering, or equivalent practical experience.

Nice to Have
  • Experience with hyperscale, colocation, HPC, or AI data centers.
  • Experience controlling high-density liquid-cooling systems, CDUs, or warm-water cooling loops.
  • Familiarity with platforms from Siemens, Schneider Electric, Johnson Controls, Honeywell, Rockwell, or Tridium.
  • Experience with OT networking, controls cybersecurity, controller redundancy, or high-availability automation.
  • Familiarity with EPMS design, electrical systems SOOs and monitoring
  • Experience with factory acceptance testing, integrated systems testing, and live facility bring-up.
  • Familiarity with ASHRAE, ISA, and data center controls standards.
  • Experience using trend data or analytics to diagnose and optimize mechanical-system performance.

Salary Range Information

The annual salary range for this position has been set based on market data and other factors. However, a salary higher or lower than this range may be appropriate for a candidate whose qualifications differ meaningfully from those listed in the job description.

About Lambda

Lambda is an online education company that offers courses in computer science and software engineering. The company was founded in 2017 by Austen Allred and Ben Nelson. Lambda's courses are designed to be accessible to anyone, regardless of their background or prior experience. The company's mission is to provide high-quality education that leads to well-paying jobs in the tech industry. Lambda has partnerships with a number of companies, including Amazon, Google, and Microsoft, and has helped thousands of students launch careers in tech.
Learn more about Lambda
Size
1,000 employees
Industry
Net Income
-$5 million
Founded
2017
5 Year Trend
+100%
Revenue
$100 million
NASDAQ

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