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Agent guide: [/agents.md](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/agents.md). --- # Principal Mechanical Engineer (Data Centers) - **Company:** Converge - **Location:** Houston, TX, United States - **Salary:** $100,000.0 - $150,000.0 - **Contract:** Permanent contract - **Skills:** Data Centers, Performance Tuning - **Published:** August 14, 2026 - **Apply:** https://www.careerjet.com/job/us0a28bb2660e84baa385f0c676da37581/eaa ## About the Role * Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering. * At least 15 years of progressive mechanical engineering experience. * Meaningful experience designing mission-critical cooling or other high-availability mechanical infrastructure. * Strong knowledge of large central plants, chilled-water distribution, air-cooled equipment, controls, and redundancy planning. * Working knowledge of ASHRAE guidance and environmental requirements applicable to data center equipment. * Demonstrated ability to coordinate complex mechanical systems with electrical, controls, architectural, structural, and construction teams. * Strong client-facing communication and technical leadership skills. * Ability to direct work across multiple projects with aggressive delivery schedules. Preferred Experience * Professional Engineer license. * Hyperscale or colocation data center design. * Application of ASHRAE TC 9.9 guidance. * Direct-to-chip liquid cooling or other high-density thermal-management technologies. * Modular and prefabricated mechanical infrastructure. * EPC or design-build delivery. * Commissioning and integrated testing of mission-critical facilities. ## Description A Houston EPC company is developing a mission-critical facilities group and needs a Principal Mechanical Engineer to lead its mechanical engineering capability. The role centers on the design of scalable and dependable thermal infrastructure for high-density computing environments. As the mechanical technical authority, this engineer will set design expectations, guide project teams, advise clients, and help shape the organization’s approach to both conventional and next-generation cooling. The position will have meaningful influence over engineering methods, supplier relationships, project pursuits, and staff development., * Define mechanical design criteria, standard details, specifications, calculations, and review procedures for data center projects. * Lead the evaluation and design of chilled-water plants, air-cooled systems, cooling towers, pumping systems, CRAH and CRAC units, heat exchangers, and associated controls. * Develop cooling architectures that meet project requirements for availability, maintainability, scalability, and phased expansion. * Apply N, N+1, 2N, and other redundancy strategies based on the consequences of equipment or distribution-system failure. * Evaluate air cooling, rear-door heat exchangers, direct-to-chip liquid cooling, and other high-density thermal solutions. * Coordinate heat rejection, water use, electrical demand, control sequences, and emergency operating modes with other disciplines. * Optimize system performance using lifecycle cost, climate, load profile, water availability, energy efficiency, and operational risk. * Support project energy targets and realistic power usage effectiveness objectives without sacrificing resilience. * Lead mechanical design reviews, equipment-layout studies, model reviews, constructability sessions, and commissioning planning. * Engage clients to define technical requirements, compare system options, and communicate tradeoffs. * Prepare or review equipment specifications and lead technical evaluations for chillers, cooling towers, pumps, air-handling equipment, and packaged cooling systems. * Work with manufacturers and fabricators on modular plants, cooling skids, and other prefabricated assemblies. * Provide senior technical support during construction, start-up, functional testing, and integrated systems testing. * Contribute to proposals, interviews, project estimates, and market-development activities. * Mentor mechanical engineers and create a consistent technical foundation for the growing practice., The selected engineer will be expected to build a durable mechanical engineering practice—not simply complete individual designs. That includes establishing standards, developing staff, improving execution, and delivering cooling systems that remain dependable as computing loads and thermal technologies evolve. ## Related Videos - [From Messy Queries to Scalable Systems - How Data Engineering actually works](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/100203-from-messy-queries-to-scalable-systems-how-data-engineering-actually-works) - [Practical performance tuning for Serverless Java on AWS](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/2075-practical-performance-tuning-for-serverless-java-on-aws) - [The Sustainability Race: AI's Promises, Pitfalls and Potential](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/100155-the-sustainability-race-ai-s-promises-pitfalls-and-potential) - [Shipping Faster with Less: Render on Cloud Hosting, AI Workloads, and the Future of DevOps](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/1894-shipping-faster-with-less-render-on-cloud-hosting-ai-workloads-and-the-future-of-devops) - [Tour de Force: Open-Source LLM Inference Optimization from Simple to Sophisticated](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/100099-tour-de-force-open-source-llm-inference-optimization-from-simple-to-sophisticated) - [Building the Nervous System of AI - Michael Kagan (NVIDIA)](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/2133-building-the-nervous-system-of-ai-michael-kagan-nvidia) ## Related Articles - [What Makes WeAreDevelopers World Congress Different From Every Other Tech Event?](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/701-what-makes-wearedevelopers-world-congress-different-from-every-other-tech-event) - [How We Built a Worry-Free System That Runs for 10+ Years – And What We’d Do Again](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/751-how-we-built-a-worry-free-system-that-runs-for-10-years-and-what-we-d-do-again) - [Best US AI Conferences for CTOs in 2026: Build vs. Buy, Vendor Evaluation, and Peer Intelligence](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/736-best-us-ai-conferences-for-ctos-in-2026-build-vs-buy-vendor-evaluation-and-peer-intelligence) - [A Guide to Green Tech and Green IT Careers](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/374-a-guide-to-green-tech-and-green-it-careers) - [From developer to manager – what does it take to become an engineering manager?](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/42-from-developer-to-manager-what-does-it-take-to-become-an-engineering-manager) - [How Engineering Hubs Build Visibility at Developer Conferences like WeAreDevelopers World Congress](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/720-how-engineering-hubs-build-visibility-at-developer-conferences-like-wearedevelopers-world-congress)