Head of Design (Data Centers)

Head of Design Engineering — DfMA & Integration

Reports to: Managing Director

Mode: Full-time

Salary: Very competitive

Own the company's modular data centre product as a repeatable, manufacturable platform. Act as the technical design authority, responsible for the reference design, Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DfMA) standards, interface management, and technical governance across external engineering, manufacturing and construction partners.

This role ensures the product remains technically coherent across every deployment while enabling controlled evolution of the platform over successive generations.

Key Responsibilities

• Own the reference design.

Maintain the product architecture, technical standards and reference design. Control design freeze and change management, determining what remains standardised versus site-specific, and protect the company's product IP.

• Own system interfaces.

Define interface control documents (ICDs), battery limits, tolerance budgets and responsibility matrices between modules, powered shell and external yard infrastructure. Chair design-freeze and interface reviews.

• Lead DfMA.

Ensure the product is engineered for manufacture, transport, lifting, installation and commissioning from the outset. Drive continuous improvement in manufacturability, assembly efficiency and repeatability.

• Provide technical leadership.

Line manage the Electrical Lead and Mechanical Lead, providing overall systems leadership and technical assurance across all engineering disciplines.

• Govern external engineering.

Define the technical requirements that the external engineering partner designs to and the manufacturing partner builds to. Review and approve partner deliverables, ensuring compliance with the reference design and product standards. Operate as the intelligent client and product owner—not a duplicate design team.

• Maintain FAT-to-SAT continuity.

Working with Quality & Commissioning Assurance, ensure factory acceptance testing, quality records and technical documentation transition seamlessly into site acceptance and handover.

• Develop the platform.

Capture lessons learned from projects to improve the standard Electrical, Mechanical and Whitespace architecture across future product generations while maintaining configuration control.

Must Have

• Demonstrated delivery of prefabricated, modular or volumetric data centres, or comparable offsite-manufactured MEP-intensive facilities, from factory through site deployment.
• Strong systems knowledge across both electrical infrastructure (HV/LV distribution, UPS, generators and power chain) and mechanical systems (liquid cooling, heat rejection and thermal management).
• Significant DfMA and offsite construction experience, including design freeze, tolerance management, factory acceptance testing, transport constraints and lifting strategies.
• Proven systems integration and interface management across multiple engineering, manufacturing and construction organisations.
• Chartered Engineer (or equivalent professional standing), with the credibility to act as technical design authority and challenge partner engineering decisions.

Nice to Have

• Experience delivering high-density AI or liquid-cooled data centre infrastructure.
• Familiarity with leading AI infrastructure reference architectures.
• Working knowledge of industry standards including Uptime Institute, TIA-942, EN 50600, IEC 61936, IEC 60364, IEC 62271 and NFPA 855.
• Experience developing productised, repeatable infrastructure platforms rather than bespoke project delivery.

Key Interfaces

• External Engineering Partner
• Module Manufacturing Partner
• Construction Partner (Powered Shell)
• Supply Chain & Procurement
• Quality & Commissioning Assurance
• Delivery / Programme Director
• Customer Technical Teams

Success in the First 12 Months

• Product reference design formally frozen, under configuration management and protected by robust change control.
• Interface Control Documents established for all critical interfaces, including Module – Powered Shell and Module – External Yard.
• Electrical and Mechanical Leads recruited and operating within a defined technical governance framework.
• External engineering governance fully established, with partner deliverables consistently reviewed and approved against the reference design.
• First deployment successfully adapted from the standard platform, design frozen and released for manufacture.