Role Overview
The Senior Mechanical Controls Engineer position at Lambda is a full-time role based out of the San Francisco office location, requiring presence four days per week with Tuesday designated as a work from home day. This professional will shape control standards and reference architectures for mechanical systems that support large-scale artificial intelligence data centers.
Key Responsibilities
Create comprehensive control narratives, sequences of operation, points lists, alarm matrices, and cause-and-effect diagrams for mechanical infrastructure.
Establish automation requirements for central cooling plants, heat-rejection systems, pumps, heat exchangers, CRAHs, CDUs, liquid-cooling loops, and associated equipment.
Define exact system behavior for facility startup, routine maintenance, emergency shutdown, component failure, utility loss, and recovery operations.
Specify requirements for sensors, actuators, control panels, PLCs, DDC controllers, meters, gateways, and operator interfaces.
Outline building management system integration, mechanical telemetry, trending, alarming, data retention, and cross-operational interfaces.
Review partner designs, vendor submittals, network architectures, and control drawings for full compliance with organizational standards.
Coordinate strict controls requirements across mechanical, electrical, network, hardware, construction, commissioning, and operations teams.
Provide hands-on support for factory testing, site acceptance testing, integrated systems testing, and cooling-system bring-up.
Troubleshoot control-loop instability, communication failures, sensor errors, nuisance alarms, and sequence deficiencies.
Incorporate lessons learned from active operations and commissioning results into future reference designs and control standards.
Travel to manufacturing facilities, project sites, and partner locations as business needs require.
Requirements
Professional experience designing or commissioning mechanical controls for mission-critical facilities, data centers, industrial environments, or central plants.
Strong working knowledge of chilled-water, condenser-water, air-cooling, heat-rejection, and liquid-cooling systems.
Capability to develop and review functional test procedures, P&IDs, wiring diagrams, points lists, control diagrams, and sequences of operation.
Familiarity with programmable logic controllers, direct digital controllers, building management system architectures, and communication protocols like BACnet, Modbus, and OPC UA.
Practical background in instrumentation, sensor selection, equipment safeties, control loops, interlocks, and alarms.
Comprehension of how mechanical setups must react during changing thermal loads, power events, and equipment failures.
Ability to translate complex operational needs into clear, testable control behaviors.
Effective communication skills for interacting with engineers, programmers, vendors, commissioning teams, and facility operators.
Bachelor's degree in mechanical, electrical, controls, or systems engineering, or an equivalent level of practical experience.
Nice to Have
Direct experience working with hyperscale, colocation, high-performance computing, or AI data centers.
Background in controlling warm-water cooling loops, high-density liquid-cooling systems, or CDUs.
Familiarity with hardware platforms and software from Johnson Controls, Siemens, Schneider Electric, Honeywell, Tridium, or Rockwell.
Exposure to operational technology networking, controls cybersecurity, controller redundancy, or high-availability automation.
Familiarity with electrical systems sequences of operation, monitoring, and electrical power monitoring system design.
Experience participating in live facility bring-up, factory acceptance testing, and integrated systems testing.
Knowledge of data center controls standards, ISA, and ASHRAE guidelines.
Background using analytics or trend data to diagnose and optimize mechanical system performance.
Skills and Tools
PLC and DDC architectures
BMS integration and protocols including BACnet, Modbus, and OPC UA
Control narratives, sequences of operation, and P&ID development
Instrumentation, sensor selection, and control-loop tuning
Liquid cooling, central plant, and HVAC automation
Salary and Benefits
Annual salary range between $255,000 and $340,000 in USD
Generous cash and equity compensation packages
Comprehensive health, dental, and vision coverage for employees and dependents
Wellness and commuter stipends for select roles
401(k) plan featuring a 2 percent company match for USA employees
Flexible paid time off policy
About the Company
Founded in 2012, Lambda operates with over 500 employees and experiences rapid growth. The enterprise serves tens of thousands of customers ranging from AI researchers to hyperscalers and major businesses. Key financial backers include TWG Global, NVIDIA, US Innovative Technology Fund, Andrej Karpathy, ARK Invest, and In-Q-Tel, alongside numerous other prominent investors and venture funds. The organization's research papers appear frequently at top machine learning and graphics conferences such as NeurIPS, ICCV, SIGGRAPH, and TOG.
How to Apply
Interested candidates should review the official company careers page on the website to submit an application for the Senior Mechanical Controls Engineer position.
