MEP Project Manager

Position Profile

ABOUT THE COMPANY

Where Innovation Meets Infrastructure

Sentinel Data Centers was founded in 2001 with a bold vision: to offer enterprise users world-class data center real estate, best-in-class critical infrastructure, and transparent operations — all under a unified model centered on reliability. Over the years, Sentinel has developed more than 3 million square feet of production and failover facilities, serving clients across industries including technology, financial services, healthcare, media, and biotechnology.

What sets Sentinel apart is its deliberate balance: combining the scale and efficiencies of large deployments with the tailored autonomy and security that enterprise users demand. Its “dedicated suites” model gives users fully isolated, hard-walled spaces within a data center, eliminating shared cages or cabinets and offering flexible power, cooling, and resiliency levels. Sentinel also emphasizes vendor, network, and form-factor neutrality — allowing clients to bring their choice of equipment, carriers, and configurations.

Beyond infrastructure, operational excellence is core to Sentinel’s promise. The company staffs 24×7 on-site teams, implements robust monitoring and management systems, and operates with rigorous documentation and transparency. Its goal is simple: maintain uninterrupted power, cooling, and connectivity so that clients’ critical operations never miss a beat.

Mission

Sentinel's mission is to align best-in-class infrastructure, engineering, construction and operations to deliver the highest quality data center facilities with the single obsessive purpose of sustaining secure and uninterrupted power, cooling and connectivity for their customers and their critical applications.

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Substance Over Form

Their 20+ year track record of delivering both enterprise and hyperscale facilities for among the most stringent customers in the industry speaks for itself. They do not cut corners. They pursue excellence in every detail. They hold transparency as a core value.

Quality

Designed by premier engineers to the highest quality and resiliency standards and operated by highly-trained, diligent and experienced technicians.

Efficiency

Rigorously optimized for the highest PUE efficiencies in the industry, ensuring the lowest operating costs without degrading quality or reliability.

Flexibility

Flexibility to accommodate the individual nuances of each customer’s program, and optimized for flexible growth and densification over time.

Service

A 20+ year history of full-service data center facility operations for both owned and third-party data centers with deeply talented and experienced regional teams of engineers and operators.

WHY SENTINEL?

Superior Quality

A data center’s quality resides principally in its infrastructure and we continually work to perfect our engineering, construction, commissioning and operations towards a simple end: continuous uptime.

Key Features:

Five-level third party commissioning, commencing at project inception
Degreed engineers as operators in the field
Concurrent maintainability and fault tolerance for all critical systems

Complete Flexibility

Rigidities in physical spacing, watt density, resiliency level and MEP technology can cause premature obsolescence when things change. Flexibility can be the most important determinant of data center TCO, yet is perhaps the least appreciated. We work obsessively to design our solutions to flex on demand, providing you the agility to embrace change while others are forced to avoid it.Over 100 years of combined leadership experience across the executive team

Key Features:

Flexible Server Halls
Flexible Infrastructure
Flexible Resiliency Tiering
Flexible Support Space

Intelligent Efficiency

How much efficiency is enough? There is no correct answer given trade-offs involving cost and resiliency, but transparency is critical. Our guiding principle: optimize for efficiency to the greatest degree possible without harming customer TCO or deploying untested or risk-laden technology. With the best counsel from our thought-leading engineers, we strive to design the most efficient plants in the industry, the benefits of which accrue directly to you.

Key Features:

Highest efficiency HVAC with enhanced free cooling capabilities.

Suites pre-engineered to accommodate containment and high density distribution options.
Highly granular real time monitoring of efficiency and consumption metrics.

Unparalleled Service

Our team of in-sourced engineers, technicians and project managers have many million square feet of enterprise and hyperscale data center development, deployment and operations under their belts and stand ready to assist whenever you need us.

Key Features:

Pre-occupancy coordination, including optimization of racking plans.
Pre-occupancy space and power planning to ensure maximal future flexibility.
Supplemental staffing, rack and stack and remote hands services.
Procurement support, customized reporting and audit support.

SERVICES & SOLUTIONS

Quality Focused. Custom Solutions.

Dedicated Suites

Our dedicated suites are tailored to your exact specifications. Think of it as your own “data center within a data center,” blending autonomy and security with the value and quality of mega-scale deployments. Uncompromised quality and total flexibility underpin each element of our offering.

Our Address. Your Data Center.

Separate slab-to-deck demising: No cages or individual cabinets — just large footprint, fully secured premises.
Turn-key delivery with independent, fully documented, five-level commissioning and customer witness testing.
Dedicated, secure access via programmable keycard and biometric readers.
Flexible power and cooling to densities greater than 200 watts per square foot, provisioned modularly on demand as-needed.
Ability to vary resiliency profile by workloads to perfectly align resiliency and value

Built-to-Suit

For over 20 years, Sentinel has maintained a singular focus: designing, building and operating data centers for the most discerning enterprises.

In addition to our multi-tenant facilities, we design and build fully customized, build-to-suit data centers for both hyperscale and enterprise users for lease on either a triple-net or fully managed basis.

About Sentinel's build-to-suit capabilities:

Complete flexibility to customize all aspects of design, facility size, power density, etc.
Geographic flexibility to construct a facility in your desired location.
Leverage Sentinel’s scale economies in equipment and labor procurement.
Build-to-suit facilities can be managed by the Tenant or can be managed by Sentinel’s experienced critical operations team.

Operational Excellence

Distraction breeds mediocrity. Our 24×7 critical facilities teams serve one simple purpose: to keep you secure and online. They have no competing demands on time as is often the case with in-house environments. And we believe that only direct employees can feel a pride of ownership and accountability for their work.

Employed by Us. Focused on You.

24×7 technician and security coverage by qualified and rigorously trained personnel, including licensed electricians.
Best practice BAS, BMS, and DCIM software platforms, including a tenant-accessible web portal with real-time heat mapping of critical space (via wireless sensors), power load monitoring, and critical alarm annunciation.
Disciplined documentation of all standard operating procedures, daily monitoring protocols, contingency action plans, critical contacts, maintenance schedules, access logs, etc.
Full work order and routine maintenance transparency via web-enabled CMMS.

Neutral Platform

Complete vendor, network and form factor neutrality provide the basis for uniquely tailored solutions for each user’s requirements. Our team of on-site engineers is also available 24×7 to provide a full suite of remote hands, rack and stack and other asset management functions. Use your resources, our resources or third party resources – the choice is yours.

No markups. No restrictions.

Contract freely with qualified third parties or utilize Sentinel’s in-house facilities team on an as-needed, no commitment basis, including full-service support for completely “lights out” operations.
Complete network neutrality: a diverse mix of carriers, large and fault-tolerant meet me rooms and dedicated conduit pathways to your data suite. No middlemen, no shared cable conveyance, and no cross connect charges. Open-IX certified.

Value Through Scale

A simple proposition: better quality at a lower cost. By leveraging the economies of mega-scale deployment and a disciplined focus on the enterprise user, we can offer a superior product at a lower TCO relative to do-it-yourself or retail colocation alternatives. As a result we deliver a best-of-all worlds proposition: a better product at a lower cost.

Dedicated solutions. Shared economies.

MEP Plant: Our model allows you to leverage the benefits of amortizing best-of-breed construction and a Tier III+ resiliency topology over a mega-scale deployment.
Utility Infrastructure: Sentinel deploys dedicated, transmission-grade utility substations at each of its facilities.
Operations: We recruit, train and reward the best operating teams in the industry and still drive comparative savings to your bottom line.
Power Purchasing: Our facilities enable users to pool power demands to yield better collective pricing than any would have achieved individually.

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POSITION OVERVIEW

Sentinel Data Centers seeks an experienced MEP Project Manager to join its lean, high-performing development team during an unprecedented period of growth. This critical role will provide technical leadership across multiple hyperscale data center projects, managing consultant relationships, driving design excellence, and ensuring the delivery of world-class mechanical and electrical infrastructure. The successful candidate will work closely with the Vice President of Development and Construction to scale the company's technical capabilities while maintaining Sentinel's unwavering commitment to quality and innovation.

Location: This position offers remote work flexibility for candidates based anywhere on the East Coast or Midwest, with regular travel required to project sites in the Northeast and Northern Virginia regions.

You’re not just taking on another data center role — you’re stepping into the backbone of the modern digital world. At Sentinel Data Centers, you’ll help design and operate environments that power the global flow of AI, cloud computing, and mission-critical enterprise systems. Sentinel combines the stability of an established industry leader with the ingenuity of a purpose-driven team, giving you the platform to make an impact and advance your career at the center of technological progress.

ROLE & RESPONSIBILITIES

Design Leadership & Consultant Management:

The MEP Manager will oversee and direct mechanical, electrical, and plumbing design consultants across multiple concurrent projects
They will ensure design compliance with hyperscale customer specifications and industry best practices
The individual will conduct comprehensive drawing reviews and coordinate multi-disciplinary design integration
They will manage consultant performance, deliverables, and adherence to project schedules

Technical Excellence & Innovation:

The MEP Manager will drive innovation in mechanical and electrical systems, researching emerging technologies and efficiency improvements
They will optimize designs for industry-leading PUE while maintaining the highest reliability standards
The individual will evaluate and implement new technologies including advanced heat exchangers, cooling systems, and electrical distribution solutions
They will establish and maintain technical standards across all MEP systems

Project Execution & Risk Management:

The MEP Manager will make critical risk-based decisions balancing cost, schedule, and technical requirements
They will provide technical issue resolution during design and construction phases
The individual will collaborate with construction teams to ensure seamless design implementation
They will support equipment procurement strategies for long-lead items including generators and switchgear

Client Interface & Stakeholder Management:

The MEP Manager will serve as a technical resource for hyperscale customer discussions when required
They will present design concepts and technical solutions to internal and external stakeholders
The individual will build and maintain relationships with key equipment vendors and suppliers
They will support business development efforts with technical expertise and feasibility assessments

Team Development & Collaboration:

The MEP Manager will mentor junior team members and support their professional development
They will collaborate effectively with the broader development team including construction, operations, and procurement
The individual will contribute to the company's lean culture by wearing multiple hats when necessary
They will help establish processes and procedures as the team scales

EXPERIENCE REQUIREMENTS

Education & Experience:

Bachelor's degree in Mechanical, Electrical, or related engineering discipline
7-12 years of progressive experience in data center or mission-critical facility design and construction
Proven track record managing MEP systems for large-scale (10MW+) data center projects
Experience with hyperscale data center requirements and customer interfaces strongly preferred

Technical Competencies:

The candidate must possess deep expertise in data center mechanical and electrical systems including power distribution, UPS systems, generators, cooling systems, and controls
They must have strong understanding of reliability standards (Uptime Institute Tiers, TIA-942)
The individual must demonstrate proficiency in design software and BIM coordination processes
They must have knowledge of energy efficiency strategies and sustainability practices in data centers

Leadership & Soft Skills:

The MEP Manager must exhibit exceptional communication skills with ability to interface confidently with C-level executives and hyperscale customers
They must demonstrate strong project management capabilities with ability to manage multiple priorities simultaneously
The individual must possess critical thinking and analytical skills for complex problem-solving
They must be self-directed and proactive with entrepreneurial mindset
They must have proven ability to influence without direct authority and build consensus across stakeholder groups

Preferred Qualifications:

Professional Engineering (PE) license
Experience transitioning from consulting to owner/developer side
Background with both greenfield and retrofit data center projects
Familiarity with construction means and methods
Experience with emerging technologies such as liquid cooling and renewable energy integration

What Sentinel Offers:

Competitive base salary commensurate with experience
Comprehensive benefits package
Opportunity to work on industry-defining projects with leading hyperscale customers
Direct access to company leadership and influence on strategic decisions
Professional development opportunities in a rapid-growth environment
Remote work flexibility with strategic travel to project sites

IN THE NEWS

Sentinel Data Centers Announces over $3 Billion in New Developments Across New Jersey and Virginia

Uncovering The Benefits of Modular Chiller Plants

HFN Completes Network Expansion Into Sentinel’s NJ-1 Facility

Exceptional Leader

One who builds, inspires, and coaches teams with a passion for the organization, while forging close working relationships with others throughout the organization and community. This individual will create and implement policies and procedures to foster a culture of trust, accountability and results while elevating capabilities.