To lead the engineering function, maintain critical infrastructure resilience, manage engineering risks, and provide technical leadership to the shift engineering team.
Engineering Manager - Job Description
Reports to Operations Manager
Direct reports 4 M&E Shift Engineers
Site-based role
Purpose
To lead the engineering function, maintain critical infrastructure resilience, manage engineering risks, and provide technical leadership to the shift engineering team.
Role Overview
Reporting to the Operations Manager, the Engineering Manager is responsible for the safe, reliable and effective operation of the data centre critical mechanical and electrical infrastructure. The Engineering Manager will provide leadership and technical oversight to a team of four M&E Shift Engineers responsible for the 24/7 operation and monitoring of the data centre. The role is responsible for ensuring that critical infrastructure is operated and maintained to the required standards, engineering risks are effectively managed, incidents are appropriately responded to and investigated, and the engineering team has the competence, procedures and support required to perform their duties safely and effectively. The Engineering Manager will work closely with the Operations Manager, customers, contractors, equipment manufacturers and other internal stakeholders to maintain site availability, improve operational resilience and support the continued development of the data centre.
Key Responsibilities
Engineering Team Leadership and Management
- Lead, manage and develop a team of four M&E Shift Engineers providing 24/7 operational coverage of the data centre.
- Provide clear leadership, direction and technical support to the shift engineering team.
- Conduct regular one-to-one meetings, performance reviews and development discussions.
- Establish clear objectives and performance expectations for the engineering team.
- Identify training and competency requirements and develop appropriate training and development plans.
- Maintain an engineering competency framework and ensure engineers are appropriately trained, assessed and authorised for the activities they undertake.
- Promote a culture of accountability, ownership, continuous improvement and high engineering standards.
- Monitor shift performance, standards of communication, record keeping and completion of operational activities.
- Ensure effective communication and handover between shifts and between the shift engineering team and site management.
- Support recruitment, onboarding and development of engineering personnel when required.
Critical Infrastructure Operations
- Oversee the safe and reliable operation of the data centre critical mechanical and electrical infrastructure, including HV and LV electrical distribution systems, UPS systems, standby generators, cooling systems, BMS, fire detection and suppression systems and associated building services.
- Ensure critical infrastructure is operated in accordance with approved procedures, manufacturer recommendations, statutory requirements and industry best practice.
- Monitor the condition, performance, capacity and resilience of critical infrastructure and identify emerging risks or potential points of failure.
- Ensure equipment defects, alarms and abnormal operating conditions are appropriately investigated, escalated and managed.
- Maintain appropriate operational resilience and ensure risks to data centre availability are identified, communicated and mitigated.
- Review engineering alarms, trends and operational data to identify recurring issues and opportunities to improve system performance and reliability.
- Support capacity planning, infrastructure upgrades, customer installations and expansion projects.
Maintenance Management
- Ensure all critical infrastructure is maintained in accordance with manufacturer recommendations, statutory requirements, contractual obligations and recognised engineering standards.
- Plan and coordinate maintenance activities to minimise operational risk and disruption to customers.
- Review maintenance reports and ensure defects, observations and recommendations are appropriately assessed, prioritised and tracked through to completion.
- Monitor outstanding defects, remedial works and equipment reliability issues and escalated risks where appropriate.
- Ensure maintenance activities are subject to appropriate planning, risk assessment, change control and technical review.
- Analyse equipment failures and maintenance performance to identify trends and opportunities to improve reliability.
Incident Management and Operational Escalation
- Act as the first management escalation point for engineering incidents and significant operational issues.
- Participate in the site management escalation and on-call arrangements as required.
- 24/7 availability.
- Provide technical leadership and support to the shift engineering team during incidents and abnormal operating conditions.
- Ensure incidents are appropriately managed, escalated, communicated and documented.
- Lead or support engineering incident investigations, root cause analysis and the development of corrective and preventative actions.
- Ensure lessons learned from incidents, failures and near misses are communicated and incorporated into procedures, training and operational practices.
- Monitor corrective and preventative actions through to completion.
- Support the Operations Manager with customer communications, incident reports and technical investigations.
Customer Engagement and Technical Representation
- Act as a senior technical and operational representative of the data centre when engaging with key customers.
- Attend regular operational, service review and engineering meetings with key customers, including the data centre largest and most critical customers.
- Build and maintain strong working relationships with customer engineering, operations and management teams.
- Provide clear and accurate updates on site engineering performance, infrastructure reliability, maintenance activities, operational risks and improvement initiatives.
- Present and explain technical information, engineering risks and complex infrastructure issues clearly to both technical and non-technical customer stakeholders.
- Participate in customer meetings following incidents and significant operational events, supporting the Operations Manager with technical explanations, investigation findings, root cause analysis and corrective and preventative actions.
- Respond to customer technical queries and requests for engineering information, ensuring responses are accurate, timely and appropriately reviewed.
- Support customer audits, site inspections, resilience reviews, due diligence activities and technical assessments.
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Data Center Engineering Design Manager in London employer: VERNE
Verne is an excellent employer that fosters a collaborative work culture in the heart of London, offering employees the chance to engage with diverse teams across legal, finance, and operations. With a strong emphasis on professional development, employees are encouraged to grow their skills in insurance management while enjoying competitive benefits and a supportive environment that values innovation and compliance.
