Senior Systems Engineer – Mechanical

Fleet Data Centers designs, builds and operates mega-scale data center campuses. Fleet provides its customers with flexibility and predictability to meet their upside demand forecasts, addressing a key need in the market as traditional leased models are struggling to keep pace with the demand for new Cloud and AI infrastructure. Fleet is led by a team of industry veterans that have already made a lasting imprint on the evolution of global digital infrastructure and are committed and uniquely capable of up leveling data center development scale and operations in the face of rising demand.

Fleet is well positioned to bring in-house design, engineering and operational capabilities to collaborate with customers on tailored solutions for campuses of 500MW+. This unique model enables Fleet to provide the world’s largest and most sophisticated customers with a seamless extension of their own data center fleets with constant access to design innovation. Fleet is headquartered in Denver, Colorado, with satellite offices in Seattle, WA and Arlington, VA.

Position Overview:

We are seeking a Senior Systems Engineer – Mechanical to own the detailed design validation, analysis, and ongoing optimization of Fleet’s data center cooling topology from campus level through the rack. This role requires a deep understanding of Fleet data center cooling topology, including air-side and liquid-side systems (fan walls, CRAHs/CRACs, chillers, dry coolers, pumps, heat exchangers, distribution manifolds, in-rack cooling components), and how these components interact under a variety of operating and failure scenarios.

The ideal candidate will pair strong mechanical engineering fundamentals with practical data center cooling experience, ensuring that the air-to-liquid mix and cooling configuration for each deployment match rack layouts and rack SKUs, that CFD and failure-mode simulations are routinely used to de-risk deployments, and that cooling system behavior is well understood and systematically improved. This role is accountable for end-to-end thermal system integrity, including aisle-level optimization, fan wall octet configuration, failure-mode simulations (e.g., CRAC outage, dry cooler outage), and impact assessment for infrastructure upgrades and expansions, with the goal of optimizing uptime SLAs and minimizing cooling stranding.

We have a hybrid policy, and candidates can sit in Seattle, WA, Denver, CO, Austin, TX, or Alexandria, VA

Responsibilities

Cooling Topology Ownership & Rack-Level Alignment

• Develop and maintain a deep understanding of Fleet data center cooling topology, including:
• Air-side systems: fan walls, CRAHs/CRACs, air handlers, ducting, containment, filters.
• Rack-level solutions: liquid-cooled cold plates, rear-door heat exchangers, in-rack manifolds, hybrid air/liquid configurations.
• Determine the air-to-liquid mixneeded to support a given rack layout and density, considering rack SKUs, aisle configuration, containment, and site constraints.
• Ensure cooling topology and capacity at room/aisle level support current and forecast rack deployments and density targets.

• Understand the air and liquid cooling requirements for each rack SKU, including:
• Inlet temperature and humidity ranges.
• Liquid flow, pressure, and temperature ranges for cold plates and rear-door heat exchangers.
• Maintain structured mapping from rack SKUs to:
• Required airflow per rack/aisle.
• Required liquid flow per rack/manifold/loop.
• Special constraints (e.g., mixed air/liquid aisles, max ΔT).
• Ensure specifications and counts for cooling components (fan wall modules, CRAHs/CRACs, CDUs, pumps, valves, manifolds, piping sizes, coils) are accurate, documented, and provided to capacity planning and procurement.

• Perform CFD analysis at room and aisle level to:
• Validate that planned rack placement does not create hot spots.
• Confirm that airflow patterns, pressure profiles, and temperature distributions are within allowable limits.
• Identify and mitigate cooling stranding, where cooling capacity exists but cannot be effectively delivered to IT load because of placement or topology.
• Use CFD and…