Senior Mechanical Controls Engineer

The role

The Senior Mechanical Controls Engineer will own controls standards and reference architectures for mechanical systems supporting large-scale AI data centers. This role involves developing control narratives, defining automation for cooling and heat-rejection systems, and coordinating requirements across multiple engineering teams.

What you will 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

Required qualifications

• 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
• 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
• 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

Benefits

• Generous cash & equity compensation
• Health, dental, and vision coverage for you and your dependents
• Wellness and commuter stipends for select roles
• 401k Plan with 2% company match (USA employees)
• Flexible paid time off plan

About the company

Lambda is a leader in AI cloud infrastructure serving tens of thousands of customers. Founded in 2012, the company has 500+ employees and aims to make compute as ubiquitous as electricity.