Data Center Design Lead - Civil

At Mott MacDonald, we trust our brilliant people to do brilliant things in engineering, management, and development services, supporting multisector project work in over 150 countries. As one of the largest employee-owned companies in the world, we pride ourselves on our ability to deliver exceptional outcomes through our network of 20,000+ talented consultants. With sustainability and innovation at the heart of all our sectors in North America, including, Buildings, Energy, Transportation, and Water.

We believe in empowering our people to excel, learn, and grow, offering diverse opportunities to contribute to career-defining work. Join us and be part of a collaborative environment where your ambitions are united with ours, and you can truly shape your story.

If you share that vision, even if you don’t meet every requirement listed, we’d still love to hear from you. We value potential and diverse perspectives as much as experience. Let’s explore how we can support your growth and help you take the next step in your career, while contributing to an exciting new chapter for Mott MacDonald in North America.

We are seeking a Data Center Civil Design Lead to provide senior technical leadership across the planning, design, and delivery of site infrastructure for large-scale data center and mission-critical campuses. This role will support the growth of our North American Data Center practice by leading civil design strategy, technical governance, project delivery, client engagement, and capability development across hyperscale, cloud, AI, colocation, enterprise, and mission-critical environments.

The successful candidate will bring dedicated experience supporting data center developments where site readiness, utility capacity, grading, stormwater, access, permitting, phasing, constructability, and infrastructure resilience are critical to project success. Data center projects place unique demands on civil and site infrastructure design, particularly around power availability, utility corridors, water requirements, site logistics, security setbacks, drainage, phased campus expansion, environmental constraints, and speed-to-market.

Working closely with structural, mechanical, electrical, architectural, telecoms, environmental, permitting, construction, utility, and global delivery teams, the Civil / Site Infrastructure Design Lead will provide senior technical direction, support major pursuits, help establish design standards, mentor teams, and ensure site infrastructure solutions are resilient, scalable, compliant, and aligned with client and operational requirements.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead civil and site infrastructure design strategy for major data center projects across North America, including hyperscale, cloud, AI, colocation, enterprise, and mission-critical campuses.
• Provide technical leadership from site selection and feasibility through master planning, concept design, detailed engineering, permitting, construction support, commissioning, and operational handover.
• Develop site infrastructure solutions that support power readiness, utility coordination, grading, drainage, access, security, constructability, phasing, resilience, and long-term campus expansion.
• Lead the design and review of site plans, grading, earthworks, stormwater management, erosion and sediment control, roads, access routes, utility corridors, duct banks, water infrastructure, wastewater systems, fire access, and site logistics.
• Coordinate closely with electrical teams on utility corridors, substation interfaces, transmission routes, duct banks, easements, access, equipment yards, and grid interconnection constraints.
• Partner with mechanical teams on water supply, cooling infrastructure interfaces, heat rejection equipment, drainage requirements, process water, and site-based mechanical infrastructure.
• Support planning, zoning, entitlement, environmental review, permitting, utility approvals, municipal coordination, and agency engagement where civil design leadership is required.
• Provide senior technical oversight for civil calculations, drawings, specifications, design reports, stormwater studies, utility plans, permitting packages, and quality reviews.
• Support major pursuits, client interviews, proposal development, technical presentations, and strategic account growth as a senior civil / site infrastructure subject matter expert.
• Establish and improve civil design standards, templates, workflows, QA/QC processes, lessons learned, and technical governance for data center projects.
• Collaborate with construction and preconstruction teams to support value engineering, site logistics, sequencing, mass grading strategy, temporary works, and field issue resolution.
• Mentor civil engineers and design managers, supporting technical development, leadership capability, recruitment, and succession planning.
• Coordinate with global delivery teams to ensure technical quality, production efficiency, and alignment with North American codes, standards, and client expectations.
• Stay current with emerging trends in data center siting, utility constraints, water stewardship, climate resilience, sustainable site design, low-impact development, modular campus deployment, and AI-driven infrastructure demand.
• Represent the organization with clients, utilities, agencies, contractors, and industry stakeholders as a senior civil / site infrastructure design leader.

Candidate qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Site Development, Infrastructure Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
• Professional Engineer, Chartered Engineer, or equivalent professional registration preferred.
• 20+ years experience leading civil and site infrastructure design for data center, mission-critical, industrial, logistics, utility, energy, advanced manufacturing, or large campus developments.
• Demonstrated experience working on data center projects as a primary area of focus, ideally across hyperscale, cloud, AI, colocation, or enterprise environments.
• Strong understanding of site selection, grading, stormwater, utilities, access, roads, permitting, phasing, erosion control, drainage, duct banks, utility corridors, site logistics, and campus expansion.
• Experience coordinating with utilities, municipalities, environmental teams, permitting agencies, contractors, developers, and multidisciplinary design teams.
• Knowledge of North American civil design standards, stormwater regulations, permitting requirements, environmental constraints, accessibility, fire access, and site resilience principles.
• Experience supporting fast-track design and construction programs where utility readiness, entitlement, constructability, and schedule certainty are critical.
• Strong familiarity with Civil 3D, BIM coordination, digital delivery, model-based collaboration, clash resolution, and interdisciplinary design reviews.
• Proven ability to review and approve civil deliverables, manage design risk, coordinate approvals, and drive quality across complex programs.
• Strong client-facing capability, including proposals, interviews, technical workshops, agency meetings, and executive-level design discussions.
• Experience mentoring engineers, supporting recruitment, and building civil / site infrastructure capability.
• Excellent communication, commercial awareness, technical judgement, and stakeholder management skills.
• Familiarity with Uptime Institute Tier Standards, TIA-942, LEED, Envision, ASHRAE, and data center operational requirements preferred.

Benefits & Reward

At Mott MacDonald, our employees have a stake and a voice in our business, providing them with a direct connection to our success through our personal and group performance bonuses. We provide a comprehensive benefit package that includes 401k, medical, dental and vision insurance, short-term/long-term disability, paid holidays, PTO, parental leave, and company paid life insurance.

Individual pay is determined based on several factors such as work location, education, experience, and unique skills.

Collaboration at Our Core
At Mott MacDonald, we believe great ideas happen when we’re together. Our hybrid approach centers on an in-office culture, with most of your time spent collaborating face-to-face and a minimum of three days per week in the office. We balance flexibility with connection, so you and your manager can choose how to meet client, team, and personal commitments.

Equal opportunity is the law. 

We seek to promote fair employment procedures and practices to ensure equal opportunities for all. We encourage individual expression in our workplace and are committed to creating an inclusive environment where everyone feels they have the opportunity to contribute.

• English version
• Spanish version
• Chinese version

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, protected veteran status, creed, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, citizenship status or disability status.