Principal Mechanical Engineer (Mission Critical / Data Centers)

Inovi Inc. is building a mission-critical mechanical practice for data centers in Richmond, and this role is the foundation. You will lead the practice as the mechanical engineer of record with full technical authority, owning standards, quality, compliance, delivery, and team growth. The position is hybrid from Ashland, VA and supports multi-state work across the Mid-Atlantic and beyond.

What you’ll own

• Serve as mechanical engineer of record on mission-critical projects with seal authority and no layer above you
• Set the firm’s mechanical design standards, including calculation methods, drawing conventions, and a specification library for mission-critical delivery
• Own discipline QA/QC as the final checkset on what leaves the office
• Make system topology decisions: air vs. liquid, chilled water vs. DX vs. evaporative, economizer strategy, thermal storage sizing, and the redundancy scheme that meets the client availability target without unnecessary gold-plating
• Adjudicate complex scenarios involving generator transfer ride-through, containment impacts on partial-load failure modes, and the viability of evaporative approaches based on site water and climate
• Own and evolve the firm’s technical position on liquid cooling as AI and HPC density reshape client requirements
• Direct discipline utilization, fee development, and project profitability
• Represent mechanical in go/no-go decisions and pursuit strategy, including interviews and proposal narratives
• Build and grow the mechanical team by defining roles, running hiring, and mentoring engineers toward their own licensure
• Author Basis of Design documents and respond to Owner’s Project Requirements

Engineering and compliance scope

• Lead load, psychrometric, hydraulic, and CFD analysis, and own PUE and WUE targets and the tradeoffs between them
• Ensure compliance with the IMC, IECC, and applicable NFPA standards including NFPA 75, NFPA 855, NFPA 2001, and NFPA 92 as adopted and amended per jurisdiction, including correct code edition selection on each project
• Apply ASHRAE TC 9.9 Thermal Guidelines and ASHRAE standards 90.1, 90.4, 62.1, 15, and 188, including leading 90.4 compliance through the Mechanical Load Component path
• Navigate the AIM Act A2L refrigerant transition and its effect on DX and CRAC equipment selection
• Validate designs against Uptime Institute Tier objectives and lead Tier Certification of Design Documents submissions where clients pursue them
• Lead water strategy including withdrawal permitting, drought contingency, and the WUE vs. PUE argument across differing regional requirements
• Direct generator air permitting with the relevant state environmental agency (including Virginia DEQ and counterparts elsewhere)
• Support commissioning through Level 4 functional performance testing and Level 5 integrated systems testing, including load bank and failure-mode scenarios

Licensure, experience, and travel

• Active Professional Engineer license in Virginia (Virginia licensure required on day one; comity support available via DPOR’s APELSCIDLA board if licensed elsewhere)
• Ability and willingness to pursue additional state licensure as project geography demands (fees and administrative lift covered)
• 15+ years of consulting or design-build experience, including 8+ years in mission-critical facilities
• Engineer-of-record experience on at least one data center at Tier III-equivalent concurrent maintainability or better, with sealed responsibility you can explain, including decisions and what you would change
• Demonstrated ownership of technical standards and a discipline QA/QC process
• Central utility plant design experience at campus scale
• Clean licensure record in every state you hold, verifiable through the applicable board
• Travel willingness for project sites in Virginia and out of state (approximately 20–25%)

Strong fit (not required)

• Licensure in additional states and an active NCEES Record, plus experience sealing in multiple jurisdictions with divergent adopted code editions and state amendments
• Accredited Tier Designer (ATD), current
• Commissioning credential (ACG CxA or ASHRAE BCxP) and field time during integrated systems testing
• Liquid cooling design experience for AI/HPC deployments (direct-to-chip, CDUs, hybrid air/liquid topologies)
• Design experience in major data center markets including Central Ohio, Atlanta, North and Central Texas, Phoenix, Salt Lake, or the Chicago corridor
• Named participation in a completed TCDD submission
• CEM (Certified Energy Manager)
• Existing client relationships in hyperscale, colocation, or enterprise data center ownership

Compensation and benefits

• Base salary: $158,000–$195,000 per year (depending on experience, breadth of licensure, and depth of mission-critical portfolio)
• Annual performance bonus: target 15–25% of base
• Ownership track: principals have a defined path to equity, discussed openly at offer stage
• Medical, dental, and vision coverage; HSA
• 401(k) with company match
• Life insurance
• Paid time off and paid holidays
• Relocation assistance
• Employer-paid licensure in every state you are asked to seal in, including application fees, renewals, and NCEES Record maintenance, plus professional society dues and continuing education across jurisdictions
• Employer-paid ATD certification and renewal, plus commissioning credentials
• Hybrid schedule from the Ashland/Richmond office

Location, role type, and eligibility

• Location: Ashland, VA (hybrid)
• Employment: Full-time, exempt
• Reports to: Head of Engineering
• Direct reports: a team of engineers (to be built)
• Work authorization: Due to client contractual obligations, applicants must be US Citizen or Permanent Resident

For application review, include your resume, the full list of states you’re licensed in (and any in progress), and a short note on the most technically interesting mission-critical failure you have seen and what it changed about how you design. Sealed drawing sets are also requested (redact freely).