Senior Manager Physical Infrastructure Engineering

We are looking for a Senior Manager of Physical Infrastructure Engineering who is passionate about the electrical, mechanical, and controls engineering that keeps leading-edge AI/GPU infrastructure running reliably at scale.

As Senior Manager of Physical Infrastructure Engineering, you will lead a multidisciplinary engineering team — electrical, mechanical, controls/automation, and infrastructure engineering and construction — responsible for the standards, specifications, and technical decisions that every new build, retrofit, and deployment across DigitalOcean's global footprint must meet. You are the technical authority for data center infrastructure: Design & Deployment executes floor layouts and installs against your team’s standards; you own the standards themselves, the engineering judgment behind them, and the reliability outcomes that follow. This role reports directly to the VP of Data Center Operations & Engineering.

What You’ll Do:

• Lead and grow a multidisciplinary team covering electrical, mechanical, controls/automation, and data center infrastructure engineering and construction.
• Develop and own engineering standards and specifications for AI/GPU data centers, including liquid cooling (CDU sizing, secondary loop design, leak detection), power distribution, and controls/automation.
• Serve as the technical authority and final engineering escalation point for infrastructure issues that Site Operations and Design & Deployment cannot resolve at their level.
• Provide engineering due diligence on new colocation and build-to-suit facilities before signing — power capacity, cooling topology, electrical infrastructure condition, and expansion feasibility.
• Own vendor and OEM infrastructure engineering relationships (e.g., CDU, UPS, generator, and switchgear manufacturers) — drive root-cause engagements when infrastructure fails, and hold vendors accountable for design defects, not just field service.
• Lead or sponsor root-cause analysis for infrastructure-driven incidents, and own the resulting engineering corrective actions through to verified completion, not just documentation.
• Own infrastructure specifications, technical documentation, and change governance — nothing changes at the infrastructure layer without engineering sign-off.
• Partner with Site Operations, Deployment, Construction, and Design organizations to ensure engineering standards are practical to build and operate, not just technically correct on paper.
• Track and report on infrastructure reliability metrics across the fleet, and prioritize engineering investment against the highest-risk, highest-recurrence failure modes.
• Lead compliance review of infrastructure standards against relevant codes and safety requirements (e.g., NFPA 70E, electrical code, two-person energized work rules) in partnership with Legal and EHS.
• Build and maintain an audit process for reviewing existing sites against current engineering standards, and prioritize remediation of out-of-compliance assets.
• Manage outsourced engineering talent where required to keep up with workload
• Develop engineering and construction talent on your team and build a succession plan for key technical authority roles

Travel: Expect 20–30% travel for new-site due diligence, commissioning support, and vendor/OEM engineering reviews.

Key Metrics: 

• Reduction in infrastructure-driven incidents and repeat failure modes (risk-to-reoccur trending down, not flat).
• Standardization coverage — percentage of fleet reviewed and brought into compliance with current engineering standards.
• Time-to-root-cause and time-to-corrective-action on infrastructure engineering escalations.
• Reliable engineering support of new-site expansion (due diligence turnaround time, defect-free commissioning).
• Scalability of the engineering organization relative to footprint growth.

What You’ll Add to DigitalOcean:

• BS in Electrical, Mechanical, Chemical, or related Engineering discipline, or equivalent practical experience.
• 10+ years in mission-critical engineering, including direct experience with data center infrastructure.
• 5+ years leading engineering teams, including hiring, developing, and retaining senior technical talent.
• 5+ years experience managing outsourced engineering teams
• Deep hands-on experience with liquid cooling systems (chillers, heat exchangers, pumps, CDUs, secondary loop design, leak detection and mitigation), UPS, generators, switchgear, and controls/automation platforms.
• Experience running or directly supporting root-cause analysis with OEMs on infrastructure component failures, and translating vendor findings into engineering decisions (e.g., accept, mitigate, or mandate replacement).
• Working knowledge of relevant electrical, mechanical, and safety codes (NFPA 70E, local electrical code) and experience partnering with Legal/EHS on compliance reviews.
• Experience conducting technical due diligence on data center facilities (colocation or build-to-suit) prior to lease or construction commitment.
• Track record of building engineering standards that scale across multiple sites and hold up under rapid, concurrent expansion.

Compensation Range: 

• $156,800.00 - $196,000.00

*This is a hybrid role

JR: 2026-8188

#LI-Hybrid