Principal Electrical Design Engineer | Data Centres
Abu Dhabi
Role Summary:
A leading international engineering consultancy is seeking a Principal Electrical Engineer to join its growing Data Centre team in the UAE.
This is a senior leadership opportunity for an experienced electrical design professional with a strong background in mission critical facilities, hyperscale data centres, and MEP consultancy environments. You will play a key role in delivering complex, high-value projects across the Middle East while leading electrical design from concept through to construction.
Key Responsibilities
- Lead the electrical design and technical delivery of hyperscale, colocation, and mission-critical data centre projects from concept design through construction and commissioning.
- Undertake and review data centre electrical load assessments, power demand calculations, capacity planning and infrastructure sizing for critical and non-critical systems.
- Perform and review power supply and power distribution calculations, ensuring electrical infrastructure is designed to meet resilience, redundancy and scalability requirements.
- Carry out and validate fault current, short-circuit and protection coordination studies to ensure system safety, reliability and compliance.
- Develop robust and resilient electrical infrastructure solutions, including HV/LV distribution, UPS systems, standby generation, grounding, and power monitoring systems.
- Provide technical leadership on complex engineering challenges, ensuring designs meet performance, reliability, sustainability, and operational requirements.
- Coordinate closely with mechanical, structural, civil, ICT, and specialist data centre disciplines to deliver fully integrated design solutions.
- Review and approve engineering calculations, specifications, drawings, reports, and technical submissions to ensure compliance with project standards and international codes.
- Act as a key point of contact for clients, contractors, vendors, and project stakeholders throughout the project lifecycle.
- Support project delivery teams in managing programme, resource allocation, design budgets, and technical risk throughout multiple concurrent projects.
- Provide technical guidance during testing, commissioning, integrated systems testing, and operational readiness phases.
- Mentor, develop, and support junior and intermediate engineers, fostering technical excellence and knowledge sharing across the team.
- Support the development of engineering standards, design methodologies, and innovation initiatives aimed at improving project efficiency and sustainability.
Requirements
- Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering or a related discipline.
- 12+ years of experience in electrical design engineering within an MEP consulting or engineering consultancy environment.
- Minimum 5 years of experience delivering data centre, mission-critical, or other highly resilient infrastructure projects.
- Proven experience designing electrical systems for Tier III and/or Tier IV data centre facilities, including redundancy and resilience strategies.
- Professional memberships and certifications such as CEng, PE, ATD, CDCDP, AOS, or equivalent are highly desirable.
- Proficient in industry-standard design software, including AutoCAD, Revit, and electrical calculation/modelling tools.
- Familiarity with international design standards and best practices, including IEC, IEEE, NFPA, ASHRAE, TIA, and Uptime Institute guidelines.
- Proven experience undertaking or reviewing electrical load calculations, power distribution calculations and fault current studies for mission-critical facilities.
- Experience performing or reviewing short-circuit, protection coordination and power system analysis studies.
- Strong technical knowledge of HV/LV power distribution systems, UPS systems, standby generators, busbar systems, earthing, and lightning protection.
- Strong client-facing, communication, and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to lead technical discussions and present design solutions.
- Demonstrated ability to review technical deliverables, manage design quality, and support project delivery across multiple concurrent projects.
- Experience supporting construction, testing, commissioning, and handover activities for complex engineering projects is advantageous.
- Previous Middle East/GCC project experience and knowledge of regional utility requirements would be beneficial.
- A proactive and solutions-oriented approach, with a passion for innovation, sustainability, and technical excellence within the data centre sector.
What's on Offer?
- Opportunity to work on large-scale hyperscale and cloud infrastructure developments.
- Exposure to market-leading data centre clients and projects.
- Senior-level technical leadership role.
- Collaborative international engineering environment.
- Long-term career progression within a rapidly growing sector.
