Location: Toronto, ON
Employment type: Full-time
Travel: 30–50%, depending on project requirements
Reports to: CxA Principal
Apply: https://missioncriticalengineers.com/career/
The Position
Mission Critical Engineers is seeking a technically strong Lead Data Centre Commissioning Engineer & Project Manager to lead commissioning activities on complex data centre and mission-critical projects.
This role requires deep knowledge of critical electrical and mechanical systems, redundancy, availability, resilience, maintainability, and failure modes, combined with the ability to manage technical delivery, change control, schedules, and interfaces across clients, contractors, OEMs, design engineers, and operations teams.
Responsibilities
- Lead the technical delivery of commissioning programs for data centres and high-availability facilities.
- Serve as the primary MCE project interface with the client, owner’s team, general contractor, trade contractors, OEMs, design engineers, controls providers, authorities having jurisdiction, and facility operations personnel.
- Lead, coordinate, and actively participate in L1–L5 commissioning activities, including factory acceptance testing, site acceptance testing, installation verification, pre-functional testing, functional performance testing, and integrated systems testing.
- Maintain a strong field presence during equipment startup, test preparation, functional testing, integrated systems testing, failure-mode testing, and system turnover.
- Review electrical, mechanical, controls, and life-safety designs to assess redundancy, availability, maintainability, resilience, constructability, and commissionability.
- Identify single points of failure, common-mode failures, control-system dependencies, maintainability constraints, and gaps between design intent and demonstrated performance.
- Assess critical infrastructure topology, including N, N+1, 2N, distributed redundancy, block redundancy, and concurrently maintainable configurations.
- Develop, review, and execute commissioning plans, test plans, test scripts, failure-mode scenarios, test matrices, sequences of operation, readiness criteria, and acceptance criteria.
- Lead testing of critical electrical systems, including utility service, medium- and low-voltage distribution, switchgear, transformers, generators, ATS/STS, UPS systems, battery systems, PDUs, grounding, protection, and EPMS.
- Lead testing of critical mechanical systems, including chillers, cooling towers, pumps, CRAH/CRAC units, air-handling systems, CDUs, liquid cooling infrastructure, hydronic systems, BMS, controls, and associated alarms and interlocks.
- Verify the performance of controls, monitoring, alarms, interlocks, automatic sequences, system failover, and recovery following abnormal operating conditions.
- Manage the commissioning change-control process; assess proposed design changes, substitutions, RFIs, field changes, equipment changes, control-sequence revisions, and construction deviations for their impact on design intent, redundancy, operability, maintainability, testing, schedule, and turnover.
- Maintain a clear record of change decisions, technical risks, required re-testing, stakeholder approvals, and resulting updates to commissioning documentation.
- Review construction submittals, RFIs, equipment selections, change requests, sequences of operation, and test procedures for technical and commissioning impact.
- Lead commissioning, test-readiness, change-control, and technical coordination meetings; communicate requirements, decisions, risks, deficiencies, dependencies, and accountabilities clearly.
- Develop and maintain commissioning plans, integrated schedules, test matrices, resource plans, readiness criteria, risk registers, change logs, deficiency logs, and reporting deliverables.
- Manage interfaces and dependencies among construction completion, energization, OEM startup, controls integration, temporary works, safety requirements, test equipment, and operations readiness.
- Ensure systems are installed, tested, and documented in accordance with the Owner’s Project Requirements, Basis of Design, specifications, contract documents, approved changes, and intended operating strategy.
- Manage test readiness, including safety controls, site access, equipment availability, temporary loads, OEM attendance, system status, required documentation, and test-day logistics.
- Drive the resolution and verification of deficiencies, test exceptions, control issues, and open items, including confirmation of required re-testing.
- Prepare clear, technically rigorous reports covering project status, testing outcomes, system performance, changes, risks, deficiencies, recommendations, and closeout requirements.
- Support owner training, operational turnover, warranty documentation, and transition to the facility operations team.
- Mentor commissioning staff and contribute to the development of MCE technical standards, test procedures, and quality practices.
- Travel to client and project sites across Canada, as required.
Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a related engineering discipline.
- Significant experience in data centre, mission-critical, industrial, healthcare, utility, or similarly complex infrastructure environments.
- Demonstrated hands-on field experience leading and performing commissioning activities for critical electrical and mechanical systems.
- Strong L1–L5 commissioning experience, including functional performance testing, integrated systems testing, failure-mode testing, and operational readiness.
- Deep technical knowledge of critical electrical infrastructure, mechanical cooling systems, controls, and system interdependencies.
- Demonstrated understanding of redundancy, availability, resilience, fault tolerance, concurrent maintainability, and recovery from equipment or system failures.
- Ability to read and critically review single-line diagrams, mechanical drawings, P&IDs, control diagrams, sequences of operation, specifications, submittals, and test procedures.
- Experience managing technical change control, including assessing the commissioning impact of RFIs, substitutions, design changes, field changes, and revised control sequences.
- Demonstrated project-management experience leading complex commissioning, construction, engineering, or mission-critical infrastructure projects from planning through testing, handover, and closeout.
- Strong project-management skills, including integrated scheduling, resource coordination, test planning, interface management, stakeholder communication, change control, risk management, reporting, project financial awareness, and closeout.
- Excellent written and oral communication skills, with the ability to explain complex technical matters clearly to clients, contractors, OEMs, design engineers, and operations personnel.
- Collaborative, dependable, and professional approach; able to lead independently while working effectively within a multidisciplinary team.
- Proficiency with Microsoft Office and project-scheduling tools such as Microsoft Project, Primavera P6, or equivalent.
- Valid driver’s licence and ability to travel 30–60% as required.
Preferred Qualifications
- P.Eng. designation or eligibility for registration with Professional Engineers Ontario.
- PMP, PMI-SP, CxA, BCxP, CCP, LEED AP, or comparable credential.
- Experience acting as an independent Commissioning Authority or owner’s representative.
- Experience with high-density, AI-ready, hyperscale, colocation, or enterprise data centres.
- Experience with liquid cooling systems, dynamic load testing, factory acceptance testing, and critical-facility failure-mode testing.
About Mission Critical Engineers
Mission Critical Engineers is an independent Commissioning Authority for data centres and other high-availability infrastructure. We represent owners through design and construction verification, functional and integrated systems testing, and operational handover.
Our work covers the complete critical infrastructure stack: electrical distribution, standby generation, UPS and battery systems, air and liquid cooling, BMS and controls, fire suppression, and life-safety systems.
