Field Service Engineer

Overview

Senior field service engineer to build the technical operating model for critical electrical and mechanical infrastructure across OpenAI's data center portfolio. This is a field-oriented electrical and mechanical engineering role, not a traditional facilities operations position.

What you'll do

• Lead field support for startup, commissioning, troubleshooting, repair, and reliability improvement across critical data center infrastructure.
• Serve as the senior technical owner for transformers, switchgear, UPS systems, generators, PDUs, protection and controls, chillers, cooling towers, pumps, CDUs, CRAH units, and associated control systems.
• Diagnose complex failures across power, cooling, controls, and hardware interfaces; distinguish symptoms from root causes and drive corrective actions through validation.
• Build the field service operating model, including staffing recommendations, coverage, escalation paths, response expectations, spare-parts strategy, documentation, and performance metrics.
• Aid in hiring, development, and coaching other field service engineers and technicians while creating a culture of safety, technical rigor, accountability, and continuous learning.
• Partner with design, construction, commissioning, site operations, and hardware teams to improve maintainability, readiness, and lifecycle reliability.
• Manage OEM and service-provider relationships, technical escalations, repair plans, warranties, and sustained corrective action.
• Establish and improve safe work practices, including lockout/tagout, switching and maintenance procedures, MOPs, SOPs, EOPs, and incident response.
• Translate field learning into design feedback, preventive maintenance improvements, training, and reusable standards.

What you'll need

• 8+ years of hands-on experience supporting critical electrical, mechanical, or electromechanical infrastructure in data centers, industrial facilities, utilities, manufacturing, or similarly complex environments.
• Deep technical expertise in at least one discipline, electrical or mechanical, with demonstrated ability to troubleshoot across electromechanical and controls boundaries.
• Experience building, leading, or materially developing a field engineering, service, maintenance, or technician team.
• Demonstrated success leading high-severity troubleshooting, root-cause analysis, corrective action, and reliability improvement.
• Ability to read and use one-line diagrams, schematics, P&IDs, sequence-of-operations documents, control diagrams, equipment manuals, and commissioning records.
• Strong safety judgment and experience working under formal energization, isolation, maintenance, and change-control procedures.
• Clear written and verbal communication with engineers, technicians, vendors, construction teams, and senior stakeholders.
• Ability to travel up to 50% and support planned or urgent field activity when required.
• Bachelor's degree in engineering or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.

Nice to have

• Experience with hyperscale data centers, high-density compute infrastructure, or other mission-critical environments.
• Experience bringing new sites from construction and commissioning into steady-state operations.
• Working knowledge of BMS, EPMS, SCADA, PLC, or other infrastructure monitoring and controls platforms.
• Experience establishing service programs, readiness criteria, technical training, or fleet-wide reliability standards.
• Relevant electrical, mechanical, HVAC, controls, safety, or trade certifications.

Details

• Work mode: Remote.
• Travel: up to 50%.