About this role
Data Center Detailed Design & MEP Execution Lead
Date:
Sep 10, 2026
Location
Overland Park, KS, US
Company:
Black & Veatch Family of Companies
Together, we own our company, our future, and our shared success.
As an employee-owned company, our people are Black & Veatch. We put them at the center of everything we do and empower them to grow, explore new possibilities and use their diverse talents and perspectives to solve humanity's biggest challenges in an ever-evolving world. With over 100 years of innovation in sustainable infrastructure and our expertise in engineering, procurement, consulting and construction, together we are building a world of difference.
Company : Black & Veatch Corporation
Req Id : 117055
Opportunity Type : Staff
Relocation eligible : Yes
Full time/Part time : Full-Time
Project Only Hire : No
Visa Sponsorship Available: No
Why Black & Veatch?
At Black & Veatch, you’ll be part of work that matters—designing, creating, and building the infrastructure communities rely on every day, from concept through execution.
We care about how the work gets done as much as what we build. Safety is built into every decision, and people look out for each other—speaking up, collaborating, and doing the right thing because it affects real lives.
You’ll work alongside teams solving complex challenges and turning ideas into solutions that perform in the real world—gaining hands-on experience across projects, technologies, and disciplines.
Ownership shows up in how we work. We take responsibility for outcomes, follow through on commitments, and take pride in what we deliver. As a 100% employee-owned company, employees share in the long-term success we build together.
With flexible ways of working and meaningful development opportunities, you’ll build a career you can be proud to stand behind.
The Opportunity
Black & Veatch is seeking an experienced Data Center Detailed Design & MEP Execution Lead to provide executive-level technical and delivery leadership for hyperscale, colocation, and mission-critical data center design programs. The leader will be accountable for establishing the execution model, assembling and developing multidisciplinary teams, and delivering coordinated design through construction documents and construction administration.
This role will connect project directors, project managers, engineering managers, discipline leads, BIM/VDC, quality, and regional delivery teams. The successful candidate will bring deep data center design experience and the ability to translate client requirements and basis-of-design criteria into safe, reliable, constructible, scalable, and commercially sound design deliverables.
The position is delivery focused. It is expected to strengthen detailed design execution, technical integration, quality, predictable performance, and repeatability across a growing portfolio.
Key Responsibilities
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Detailed Design Delivery Leadership
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Lead multidisciplinary data center design execution from concept and basis of design through schematic design, design development, permitting, construction documents, procurement support, construction administration, and closeout.
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Establish the project-specific design execution plan, organization, workshare model, design schedule, deliverable register, decision cadence, and discipline interfaces.
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Provide oversight across mechanical, electrical, plumbing, fire protection, controls, civil, structural, architecture, telecom/security interfaces, and campus utility connections.
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Ensure designs support reliability, redundancy, maintainability, resiliency, energy and water performance, phased deployment, and future expansion requirements.
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MEP and Technical Integration
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Lead integration of critical power, cooling, plumbing, fire protection, controls, and building systems with the data hall, core-and-shell, central utility, substation, generation, and campus infrastructure scopes.
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Drive coordinated resolution of technical interfaces, including utility service, medium- and low-voltage distribution, backup power, UPS, cooling architecture, controls, water systems, life safety, and commissioning requirements.
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Chair interdisciplinary design reviews and technical decision forums; maintain clear ownership, action tracking, comment resolution, and escalation paths.
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Coordinate internal subject matter experts and external architecture/engineering partners where specialized or supplemental capability is required.
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Execution, Quality, and Risk
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Own engineering delivery performance for scope, schedule, budget, quality, coordination, and technical risk.
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Establish and enforce design review, checking, model coordination, interdisciplinary review, and quality-control requirements.
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Identify constructability, procurement, long-lead equipment, permitting, code, interface, and schedule risks early and drive mitigation plans.
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Support project leadership with estimates, staffing plans, earned progress, change management, claims avoidance, and executive reporting.
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Team and Capability Leadership
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Build, organize, mentor, and develop data center engineering managers, discipline leads, design managers, BIM/VDC leaders, and emerging technical talent.
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Define role clarity and decision rights across project directors, project managers, engineering managers, design managers, discipline leads, and delivery centers.
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Create repeatable execution practices, design guides, checklists, templates, lessons learned, and training that improve consistency across projects.
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Balance internal resources, regional delivery centers, and external partners to create scalable teams while maintaining accountability and technical quality.
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Client and Project Leadership
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Serve as a senior delivery and technical interface with client design, engineering, construction, procurement, commissioning, and operations stakeholders.
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Translate client standards, reference designs, technical requirements, and commercial commitments into clear execution requirements for the project team.
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Support project directors and project managers in issue resolution, recovery planning, client communications, and delivery assurance.
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Participate in proposal and contract reviews to confirm scope clarity, staffing strategy, schedule realism, risks, assumptions, and deliverability.
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Preferred Qualifications
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Bachelor's degree in mechanical, electrical, architectural, civil, or related engineering discipline, or a closely related field.
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Minimum 15 years of progressive experience in engineering and design delivery for complex buildings or mission-critical infrastructure, including substantial experience in data center detailed design.
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Demonstrated leadership of multidisciplinary MEP and supporting design teams on large or concurrent projects.
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Experience leading design through construction documents, permitting, procurement support, construction administration, commissioning support, and issue resolution.
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Demonstrated accountability for engineering scope, schedule, budget, quality, technical risk, discipline interfaces, and client-facing technical discussions.
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Experience coordinating internal teams, global or regional delivery centers, and external architecture/engineering partners.
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Working knowledge of data center critical power, cooling, controls, fire protection, plumbing, civil/structural/architectural, BIM/VDC, constructability, and commissioning interfaces.
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Ability to communicate clearly with executive, client, project, engineering, and field stakeholders and to make timely decisions in a fast-moving environment.
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Professional Engineer or Architect registration.
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Experience with hyperscale or colocation provider standards, reference designs, site-adapt programs, and repeatable design platforms.
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Experience as a Project Director, Engineering Manager, Design Director, MEP Director, or comparable detailed design execution leader.
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Experience with modular or prefabricated systems, high-density compute, advanced cooling, high-availability electrical systems, and phased campus deployment.
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Experience developing scalable design teams, standards, quality systems, and delivery partnerships across multiple regions.
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Experience with Revit-based multidisciplinary delivery, BIM execution planning, model coordination, digital delivery, and document-control workflows.
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Commercial