Critical Infrastructure Engineer; Fully Remote

🌍 Remote, USA 🎯 Full-time 🕐 Posted Recently

Job Description

Position: Critical Infrastructure Engineer (Fully Remote with Travel)

This role requires 10–15+ years in multi-site colocation data center operations, hyperscale-only experience is not sufficient.

Type:
Contract-to-hire

Compensation: $150-$200 / hour + travel

Location:
Remote with travel to nationwide colocation sites

99 Mission Critical is a critical environment performance & risk audit platform designed specifically for multi-tenant colocation operators. This is an opportunity for a senior mission-critical engineer to take a technical leadership role in shaping how this service is delivered, refined, and scaled.

This is a hands-on, high-autonomy role for someone who wants to apply their deep operational expertise inside an early-stage and fast-moving environment, where your actions are directly tied to customer outcomes and company growth.

Lead comprehensive, on-site Critical Environment Performance & Risk Audits within live multi-tenant colocation facilities
Serve as Technical Lead for the audit service, exercising discretion over methodology refinement, scope prioritization, instrumentation standards, and service evolution based on field experience.
Evaluate mechanical plant performance including chilled water systems, economizers, pump staging logic, VFD optimization, partial-load efficiency behavior, and redundancy mode impacts on efficiency.
Conduct hands-on airflow and white space diagnostics including plenum pressure mapping, containment validation, bypass airflow identification, rack-level T verification, and thermal imaging analysis.
Identify overcooling, economizer under utilization, fan overspeed, low T syndrome, and inefficiencies tied to redundancy staging.
Design and deploy short-term instrumentation strategies to validate system performance and quantify inefficiencies.
Quantify defensible kW reduction and PUE improvement ranges from operational adjustments.
Assess operational risk exposure including mechanical redundancy gaps, UPS/battery lifecycle risk indicators, firmware obsolescence awareness, open corrective maintenance trends, and asset health concerns.
Evaluate telemetry reliability including sensor drift, alarm threshold validity, and monitoring blind spots.
Identify gaps between documented preventative maintenance practices and observable field execution.
Prioritize findings across energy, reliability, and lifecycle risk dimensions.
Translate technical observations into structured audit reports, risk heat maps, and executive-ready summaries.
Participate in client-facing sales discussions, site tours, executive briefings, and presentation of findings.
Contribute to refinement and evolution of the audit framework based on real-world field experience.
Advise leadership on service roadmap, expansion opportunities, and technical positioning based on real-world audit findings.
10–15+ years of mission-critical data center operations experience.
Minimum 5+ years in multi-tenant colocation facilities (hyperscale-only experience is insufficient).
Proven hands-on airflow diagnostics experience in active critical environments.
Experience conducting structured or semi-structured facility performance or risk assessments.
Strong systems-level understanding across mechanical and electrical infrastructure.
Working knowledge of UPS efficiency behavior, redundancy staging tradeoffs, battery lifecycle considerations, and infrastructure inefficiencies at partial IT load.
Experience identifying asset health, lifecycle, or maintenance execution risks in operational environments.
Demonstrated ability to quantify estimated kW and PUE impact from operational changes.
Comfortable presenting technical findings to facility leadership and executive stakeholders.
Structured thinker capable of prioritizing issues across performance, risk, and feasibility dimensions.
High professional credibility in front of experienced operators.