Principal or Associate Electrical Engineer (Data Centres and Mission Critical)

About the Company

Hoare Lea is a human‑centric and planet‑conscious engineering consultancy that offers intelligent and sustainable solutions to complex design challenges in the built environment across the UK and beyond.

About the Role

We are looking for a Principal / Associate Electrical Engineer to join our Data Centre & Mission Critical (MCDC) team. The position involves working across the full spectrum of the data‑centre sector—from early‑stage site appraisal and masterplanning through detailed design, live plant upgrades, test‑fits, commissioning and operational optimisation.

Responsibilities

• Own day‑to‑day technical delivery of electrical design services for data centre and mission‑critical projects.
• Lead development of initial strategic concepts that meet the brief and regulatory requirements.
• Act as a client‑facing engineer: attend project meetings, interpret and communicate the brief, and maintain stakeholder relationships.
• Coordinate multidisciplinary inputs (sustainability, acoustics, fire engineering, security, etc.) to deliver integrated building and campus solutions.
• Prepare and review design deliverables, specifications and technical reports, and contribute to proposals, scope development and bid content.
• Provide pragmatic technical input during early‑stage site appraisals, masterplanning and test‑fit studies.
• Oversee testing, commissioning and handover activities to maintain resilience and uptime.
• Support monitoring of fee expenditure, resource allocation and project delivery alongside the team leader.
• Mentor and develop ‘next‑gen’ professionals, including apprentices and graduates.

Qualifications

• Proven experience as an Electrical Engineer (or closely related role) delivering Mission Critical and Data Centre projects.
• Experience with modern technical delivery processes and software/tools such as Revit, BIM workflows, Electrical OM, Dialux and Relux.
• Demonstrable client‑facing consultancy experience working with clients, contractors and architects on design‑led projects.
• Strong technical judgement, self‑awareness, a collaborative mindset and an open, generous approach to teamwork.
• Experience mentoring and supporting others to develop knowledge, skills and confidence.

Desired Specialist Experience

• Experience in mission critical and data centre engineering across new‑build, live operational upgrades, technical due diligence, feasibility studies and test fits.
• Exposure to large‑scale, multi‑megawatt data centre developments — from single 30–40MW buildings through to campus schemes in the 100–600MW range.
• Understanding of hyperscale, colocation and enterprise/research data centre environments and differing client drivers around resilience, flexibility, speed to market and scalability.
• Experience of early‑stage site appraisal, masterplanning and test‑fit studies, assessing site constraints, utility availability, incoming power, planning, topography, flood risk and plant strategy.
• Knowledge of critical power and cooling infrastructure including HV/MV systems, substations, UPS, generators, PDUs, cooling plant and resilient distribution strategies.
• Experience designing for resilience and uptime, including single points‑of‑failure reviews, FMEA, concurrent maintainability and Tier‑aligned design thinking.
• Interest or practical experience in high‑density and AI‑ready infrastructure (liquid cooling, direct‑to‑chip, immersion cooling, hybrid air/water solutions).
• Capability delivering works in live operational environments — plant replacement, refurbishment and phased upgrades while maintaining critical services and uptime.
• Experience of complex campus‑scale developments and coordinating multidisciplinary inputs (planning, utilities, sustainability, acoustics, air quality, fire engineering, security, infrastructure).
• Appreciation of energy efficiency and sustainability in mission‑critical design — PUE reduction, low‑carbon strategies, renewables integration, heat reuse, water efficiency and BREEAM / net‑zero objectives.
• Experience working across the UK; interest or experience in international markets (particularly mainland Europe and the Nordics) is desirable.

Benefits

We offer an extensive benefits package including private medical cover, an electric vehicle salary sacrifice scheme, stock options, 25 days of annual leave (increasing with service) and flexible and hybrid working.

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