Sr. Principal Controls Engineer- Data Center Design and Innovation

Job Description
This is a highly influential technical leadership role focused on defining the future of Building Management Systems (BMS) and Electrical/Mechanical Plant Management Systems (EMPS) for OCI's hyperscale and GW-scale data center platforms. You will provide deep technical expertise in controls architecture, software integration, automation, operational intelligence, and platform standardization to enable world-class reliability, scalability, efficiency, and speed of deployment.
You will partner closely with mechanical, electrical, network, software, operations, commissioning, manufacturing, and supply chain engineering teams to develop and scale a unified controls ecosystem supporting OCI's next-generation infrastructure.
This role is ideal for a hands-on technical leader who enjoys solving complex engineering challenges, influencing strategy through expertise, and driving innovation without direct people management responsibilities.
What You'll Do Technical Strategy & Architecture
Define and evolve the technical architecture for BMS and EMPS controls systems across OCI's global data center portfolio.
Develop long-term controls and automation roadmaps supporting hyperscale cloud and AI infrastructure growth.
Establish standardized controls philosophies, software frameworks, integration architectures, and deployment models.
Drive innovation in software-driven infrastructure management focused on resiliency, automation, telemetry, observability, and operational efficiency.
Provide technical leadership for controls integration across mechanical, electrical, thermal, and critical infrastructure systems.
Standards & Engineering Excellence
Develop global engineering standards, design guidelines, software requirements, and integration protocols for BMS/EMPS platforms.
Define controls cybersecurity, alarming, telemetry, redundancy, and data integrity requirements for mission-critical operations.
Create scalable design patterns that ensure consistency across regions, vendors, and deployment models.
Establish validation, testing, commissioning, and lifecycle management practices for controls software and hardware platforms.
Controls Software & Platform Innovation
Lead technical development of next-generation controls platforms, automation systems, and operational analytics capabilities.
Drive adoption of intelligent monitoring, predictive analytics, automated optimization, and AI-enabled operational controls.
Partner with software engineering teams to define data architectures, APIs, visualization platforms, and enterprise integrations.
Design scalable approaches for fleet-wide controls management, remote operations, and digital infrastructure visibility.
Vendor & Technology Leadership
Evaluate and qualify controls vendors, hardware platforms, and software technologies.
Define interoperability requirements, performance benchmarks, and technology selection criteria.
Collaborate with manufacturers and strategic partners to drive innovation and influence future product roadmaps.
Conduct technical reviews and provide expert guidance during vendor engagements and product evaluations.
Cross-Functional Technical Leadership
Serve as a trusted technical advisor across engineering, operations, commissioning, construction, manufacturing, and software teams.
Lead complex technical initiatives spanning multiple disciplines and organizations.
Review designs, resolve critical technical issues, and provide subject matter expertise throughout project lifecycles.
Mentor engineers and contribute to the development of OCI's controls engineering community
Responsibilities
What We're Looking For
Deep expertise in BMS, EMPS, SCADA, PLC, or mission-critical controls systems within hyperscale data centers, industrial infrastructure, or large-scale critical facilities.
Proven experience designing controls architectures and engineering standards for large-scale infrastructure deployments.
Strong understanding of mechanical and electrical plant operations, thermal systems, power infrastructure, and mission-critical reliability requirements.
Experience developing controls software strategies, automation platforms, telemetry systems, and operational analytics solutions.
Demonstrated ability to lead complex cross-functional technical initiatives through influence and technical expertise.
Strong vendor evaluation and technology assessment experience across controls hardware and software ecosystems.
Excellent technical communication, problem-solving, and stakeholder management skills.
Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, high-growth, highly technical environment.
Preferred Qualifications
Experience supporting hyperscale or GW-scale data center infrastructure.
Familiarity with AI/HPC infrastructure, liquid cooling, and high-density compute environments.
Experience with digital twins, advanced analytics, machine learning, or autonomous infrastructure operations.
Knowledge of global regulatory and compliance standards related to controls systems and critical infrastructure.
Background in cloud infrastructure, industrial automation, or large-scale critical facilities engineering.
This role offers the opportunity to shape the future technical direction of controls systems powering OCI's next generation of cloud and AI infrastructure while remaining deeply engaged in architecture, engineering, and innovation as a senior individual contributor.
Infrastructure Design and Development-Infrastructure Support:
Ensures response to data center build and construction related emergencies as needed.
Oversees design and debug investigations and support failure analysis and resolution activities.
Innovation:
Leads the research of new designs, materials, and construction methods for data center equipment and related components, including site and building.
Spearheads the identification of and monitors the need for new tools to improve the quality of data and analytics.
Architects and evaluates new power and advanced cooling technologies that enable the delivery of artificial intelligence (AI) products and other technologies driving up density and performance in data centers.
Drives the development of optimal components and solutions for future OCI fleet requirements by partners (e.g., technology providers and design partners).
Innovation-Patent Generation:
Spearheads the identification of opportunities to generate intellectual property to help strengthen OCI's position as a leader in Cloud Computing.
Quality Assurance-Documentation:
Drives the development of OCI data center facilities requirements documentation.
Quality Assurance:
Oversees product evaluation.
Ensures that quality benchmarks are upheld for new sites, regions, and/or deployments.
Quality Assurance-Standard Development/Maintenance:
Drives implementation of updates to design standards and specifications for consistency, maximum system reliability and optimal facility utilization.
Monitors adherence to global data center infrastructure standards.
Ensures adherence to whitespace design standards.
Stakeholder/Partner Management:
Leads communication and collaboration with third-party vendors (e.g., data center lease providers, equipment manufacturers), internal cross-functional stakeholders, and data center engineering organizational team.
Team Management-Team Success:
Ensures the translation of team needs into program goals.
Leads the prioritization of deliverables based on OCI priorities and industry/historical insights.
Drives success criteria and performance metrics (e.g., OKRs, KPIs) for feature areas and works across multiple business lines (e.g., Hardware Development, Engineering, Procurement, Data Center Software Analytics) to ensure objectives are supported.
Thermal Management-Thermal Management Solutions:
Leads partnership cross-functionally (e.g., data center design, construction, mechanical/electrical engineering teams) to ensure the provision of optimized, scalable cooling solutions, as well as thermal solutions optimized for the entire stack.
Ensures alignment with power and cooling standards (e.g., input voltage, rack density, heat rejection, power consumption) for OCI shapes throughout data center fleet.
Thermal Management-Thermal Testing, Simulation, and Reviews:
Leads the review of thermal simulation models from partners to identify risks and improve efficiency.
Thermal Management-Thermal Design:
Ensures alignment of OCI thermal hardware design and data center physical infrastructure.
Leads collaboration with multifunctional engineering groups to deliver hardware and data center sites that meet the associated thermal specifications.
Leads collaboration with firmware and contro

Work arrangement
Yes