Applied Researcher – Data Centers

The role

Location: Hybrid | Bellevue, WA (downtown)

Our client is seeking a Data Center Expert to join an Applied Research organization supporting the next generation of AI infrastructure.

Nice to have

Preferred qualifications

Fluency with the landscape you would be scanning: who the vendors, hyperscalers, standards bodies, utilities, and startups are in data center power and cooling, and a view on which of them matter. Expect to be asked what you think is currently overhyped, and why.
Demonstrated ability to do research in the applied sense: taking an open question, investigating it from primary sources — vendor roadmaps, standards documents, utility filings, academic literature, your own benchmarking — and producing a defensible position under genuine uncertainty. A PhD in a relevant technical field is one good route to this and is valued here; sustained industry research, standards-body work, or a body of internal technical assessments that changed real decisions are equally valid. Either way, the role turns on the second half: translating that work for engineering, product, go-to-market, and finance, because it informs all four.
Significant hands-on experience designing, building, operating, or engineering data center infrastructure.
Strong understanding of data center architecture and physical infrastructure.
Demonstrated experience with GPU-based compute environments.
Working knowledge of the power side of the business: utility interconnect, capacity procurement, PPAs, backup generation, and the lead times that govern each.
Experience building or stress-testing infrastructure cost models, and comfort defending those numbers to finance and commercial stakeholders.
Deep understanding of power, cooling, rack design, density, electrical/mechanical infrastructure, and related data center considerations.
Experience evaluating data center infrastructure, sites, or large-scale compute environments.
Ability to understand emerging technologies and assess their practical implications for infrastructure.
Strong technical communication and the ability to influence engineering and business stakeholders.
Comfortable operating as a horizontal subject-matter expert rather than owning a traditional operational team.
Comfortable operating as an individual contributor with high ownership in a lean, early-stage team.

Nice to Have Qualifications

Experience across multiple data center builds and multiple vendor reference designs.
Background in liquid cooling (direct-to-chip or immersion) or high-density rack deployments — meaningful above 100 kW, and increasingly relevant at the 200 kW-plus densities current GPU racks now draw.
Experience with commissioning, capacity planning, or handover of new data center halls into production.
Publications, patents, standards-body participation, or a visible external presence in the data center or infrastructure community.
Spent your education and career working deeply in data center architecture, but you have the foundational knowledge and intellectual curiosity to quickly understand new architectures and technologies as they emerge.

Applied Researcher – Data Centers

The role

Applied Researcher – Data Centers

The role

What you will do

What you need

Nice to have

Preferred qualifications

Nice to Have Qualifications

Location

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