Responsibilities
- Develop, own, and continuously improve the company's commissioning program, including master commissioning plans, standard test scripts, acceptance criteria, and documentation requirements for all critical systems.
- Establish commissioning standards and procedures covering all phases: pre-functional testing (PFT), functional performance testing (FPT), integrated systems testing (IST), and operational acceptance testing (OAT).
- Build and maintain a commissioning library of test scripts, checklists, issue logs, and turnover documentation templates that are reusable and scalable across the portfolio.
- Establish and own the company's end-to-end QA/QC program, covering design quality, procurement quality, and construction quality across all active development projects.
- Develop a quality management plan framework that defines inspection and test plans, hold points, witness points, and documentation requirements for all critical scopes of work — electrical, mechanical, civil/structural, and architectural.
- Establish field quality inspection protocols and audit schedules; conduct or oversee periodic quality audits across active job sites to verify work-in-place meets design and specification requirements.
- Lead commissioning planning and execution on all active development projects, either directly or through management of third-party commissioning agents (CxAs).
- Engage at the design phase to review drawings and specifications for commissionability — identifying coordination gaps, testability issues, and missing infrastructure (temporary power, water, instrumentation) before construction begins.
- Develop and manage project-specific commissioning schedules aligned with the overall construction and delivery schedule; proactively flag risks to critical path milestones.
- Chair commissioning and QA coordination meetings with the GC, subcontractors, equipment vendors, and the owner's engineering team; maintain open issue logs and drive resolution.
- Lead or oversee Level 4 and Level 5 integrated systems testing, including loss-of-utility simulations, N+1 redundancy validation, and emergency generator load transfer testing.
- Develop and enforce a structured lessons-learned process that captures findings from commissioning, QA audits, and NCRs — and translates them into actionable updates to design standards, specifications, and construction details.
- Publish periodic quality and commissioning performance reports for the executive team, summarizing trends, recurring deficiencies, root causes, and corrective actions across the portfolio.
- Partner with engineering leads (mechanical, electrical, CSA) to close the feedback loop between field findings and upstream design decisions, driving continuous improvement in first-time quality.
- Own the commissioning-to-operations handover process, including system documentation packages, as-built verification, O&M manual delivery, and operator training coordination.
- Coordinate witness testing with customers, third-party auditors, and certification bodies (e.g., Uptime Institute) where applicable.
- Partner with operations to define ongoing recommissioning and periodic testing protocols that sustain facility reliability post-handover.
- Build, mentor, and lead an internal Cx & QA team as the company's development pipeline grows; define clear roles between in-house staff and third-party agents.
- Develop and manage a pre-qualified roster of third-party commissioning agents, specialty testing vendors, and independent inspection firms; conduct performance evaluations after each project.
- Collaborate with procurement and legal to ensure Cx and QA requirements — including ITPs, FAT obligations, NCR rights, and documentation deliverables — are clearly defined in contractor and vendor contracts.
- Present commissioning and quality program status, risk summaries, and delivery readiness reports to executive leadership and customers.
Requirements
- 12+ years of experience in commissioning, quality assurance, or critical systems engineering, with a minimum of 7 years in data center or mission-critical facility environments.
- Demonstrated experience owning both commissioning and quality assurance functions — candidates with deep expertise in one and working knowledge of the other will also be considered.
- Experience leading and developing commissioning programs on hyperscale or colocation projects.
- Prior experience managing third-party commissioning agents, inspection firms, and multi-discipline test teams across concurrent projects in multiple geographies.
- Experience building internal program infrastructure — standards, templates, processes — from the ground up strongly preferred.
- Strong working knowledge of data center mechanical and electrical systems.
- Familiarity with construction quality requirements across civil, structural, and architectural scopes.
- Proficiency in commissioning documentation and issue-tracking platforms; experience developing test scripts and acceptance criteria from first principles.
- Working knowledge of quality management frameworks (ISO 9001, AISC Quality Certification, ACI inspection standards) as applied to large construction projects.
- Familiarity with Uptime Institute Tier Standards, TIA-942, ASHRAE TC9.9, and NFPA 70/75/76 as they relate to commissioning, testing, and construction quality requirements.
- Highly organized with the ability to manage multiple concurrent Cx and QA programs across different geographies, project phases, and disciplines.
- Strong written and verbal communication; ability to produce clear, audit-ready reports and present quality and delivery readiness to executive and customer audiences.
- Decisive under pressure with a demonstrated ability to triage field issues, assess operational risk, and escalate or resolve in real time.
- Collaborative, credible presence in the field — able to work constructively with GCs and subcontractors while maintaining the owner's quality standards without compromising.
- Continuous improvement mindset: approaches deficiencies as systemic problems to solve, not just individual items to close.
- Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or related field required.
Nice to Have
- Professional certifications (CCP, CPMP, CQE, or similar) are a significant asset.
Benefits
- Competitive salary, bonus and equity opportunities
- Comprehensive health and wellness benefits
- Retirement savings with company contribution
- Employee referral program
Work Arrangement
Hybrid — Pittsburgh
Additional Information
- We have a corporate office in Pittsburgh.
- Our typical work schedule is Monday-Thursday in office, Friday remote.
