Senior Data Center Design Engineer-Amsterdam
Key Skills
Job Description
Alibaba Cloud is seeking a Senior Data Center Design Engineer to support data center projects across the Europe region. In this role, you will serve as a key technical expert responsible for engineering design review, project technical management, commissioning, acceptance, and operational engineering support across the full lifecycle of facilities. You will work closely with internal teams including server, network, security, EHS, operations, and project management, as well as external colocation providers, consultants, and vendors. This role requires strong engineering expertise, cross-functional coordination, and the ability to drive technical quality and standardization across regional projects. Key Responsibilities Technical Assessment and Design Support Support technical assessments of colocation opportunities and review site-related engineering documentation. Evaluate proposed facility designs, equipment submittals, and technical solutions against Alibaba Cloud engineering standards. Develop site-specific design and fit-out solutions based on Alibaba Cloud’s technical and operational requirements. Work closely with internal server, network, security, and EHS teams to incorporate cross-functional technical requirements into project planning and design. Provide engineering input to support discussions related to lease agreements and service levels where needed. Project Technical Management Act as the engineering technical representative in regional project meetings and coordinate technical topics across internal and external stakeholders. Review, comment on, and improve commissioning procedures and scripts to ensure compliance with Alibaba Cloud standards. Witness testing and commissioning activities and follow up on the closure of critical issues identified during the T&C process. Perform technical acceptance of colocation sites based on Alibaba Cloud’s acceptance criteria and support handover to operations teams. Provide technical support throughout the colocation site lifecycle, including decommissioning and restoration activities where required. Operational Engineering Support Own and maintain regional colocation site engineering documentation, including design drawings, as-built drawings, and related technical records. Provide technical support to operations teams, including post-incident investigation, root cause analysis, and corrective action planning. Lead or support upgrade, retrofit, and optimization projects for existing colocation facilities to mitigate risks and improve operational efficiency. Job Requirements Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a related discipline. Minimum 3 years of experience in the design, construction, commissioning, or operation of data center or colocation infrastructure. Strong understanding of critical data center systems, including electrical distribution, mechanical/cooling systems, fire protection, and related MEP infrastructure. Strong communication and coordination skills, with the ability to collaborate effectively across internal stakeholders and external vendors. Familiarity with European building codes, engineering standards, permitting requirements, and local compliance processes. Registered or chartered professional qualification in mechanical or electrical engineering is a plus. Willingness to travel regionally up to 30%. Fluent in English; additional European language skills and/or Chinese/Mandarin are a plus.
Core Responsibilities
Review colocation opportunities, facility designs, equipment submittals, and commissioning activities, ensuring projects meet Alibaba Cloud engineering standards and acceptance criteria. Coordinate technical work across internal teams and external partners, maintain regional engineering documentation, and support operations, incident investigations, upgrades, and decommissioning.
Requirements
A bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, or a related discipline and at least three years of experience with data center or colocation infrastructure are required. Candidates should understand critical MEP systems, communicate effectively with stakeholders, know relevant European codes and compliance processes, and be willing to travel regionally up to 30%; professional registration and additional European languages or Mandarin are advantageous.
About Alibaba Cloud
Industry: IT System Custom Software Development
Company size: 10,001+ employees
Founded in 2009, Alibaba Cloud is a leading cloud computing and artificial intelligence company. Leveraging its proprietary Apsara Cloud operating system, Alibaba Cloud offers a comprehensive suite of cloud services based on a three-tiered architecture of Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) and Model-as-a-Service (MaaS) to customers worldwide. Alibaba Cloud is the largest provider of public cloud services in China and Asia Pacific. With its large scale and strong foundation in IaaS and PaaS infrastructure, Alibaba Cloud provides enterprises with high-performance and low-cost computing resources, and platform services for large-scale model training, fine-tuning, and inference. Alibaba Cloud aspires to become the most open cloud computing company in the AI era. Alibaba Cloud’s proprietary LLM Qwen is one of the world’s leading LLMs, and has open-sourced Qwens of different sizes with multimodalities, supporting more enterprise customers to realize their AI-driven innovation. Follow us: Twitter: www.twitter.com/alibaba_cloud Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alibabacloud/