Senior Mechanical Engineer

Job Description

AECOM is seeking to hire a highly skilled Senior Mechanical Engineer for the Buildings + Places team in our Calgary office. The ideal candidate for this position should be familiar with the tech sector, mission critical and data center industry, understanding the requirements of scale, speed, and consistency in data centers.

This position offers the flexibility of a partially remote work schedule, requiring working from the Calgary office a minimum of 3 days per week. Periodic travel may be required for client meetings, key project milestones, onsite collaboration sessions, or other business‑critical activities. Travel is expected to be occasional and scheduled in advance.

AECOM is a leader in the global data center consulting industry with robust teams in the Americas, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia. In this role, you will have the opportunity to work with our teams on high-profile, fast-paced data center projects. This is a hands-on, client-facing role with an opportunity for upward career mobility.

Responsibilities, required experience, and qualifications are summarized below:

Job Description:

• Act as the primary point of contact for clients, responding to their inquiries and concerns in a timely and professional manner.
• Develop and maintain strong relationships with clients, regularly communicating with them to understand their needs and expectations.
• Coordinating with multiple disciplines and acting as lead mechanical engineer to ensure that projects are delivered within budget and on schedule while managing the mechanical team including HVAC, fire protection, plumbing.
• Develop detailed specifications for mechanical equipment, including pumps, fans, and air handling units.
• Writing reports for internal and external purposes based on findings.
• Ensures discipline plans that are created to meet overall project team requirements for project scope and schedule.
• Stays current on codes and technologies appropriate to the mechanical, plumbing and fire protection systems related to hyperscale data centers.
• Analyze and evaluate mechanical system performance, identifying areas for improvement and making recommendations for upgrades
• Provide technical support during the construction phase, responding to RFIs and addressing any issues that arise.
• Attend job site visits, project meetings, and commissioning activities as needed.
• Ensure compliance with industry standards, codes, and regulations.
• Evaluate and recommend new technologies and equipment to enhance system performance and reduce operational costs.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams, including electrical and mechanical engineers, to ensure seamless integration of the chiller systems with other data center infrastructure.
• Analyze energy usage, identifying opportunities for optimization and cost savings.

Key Technical Focus Areas Include:

• HVAC, Plumbing, Fire Protection System Design: Developing and designing building systems, considering factors such as type of heating and cooling systems such as air cooled or direct fluid cooled, gas-fired vs electrical, future flexibility of the system to accommodate variable heat distribution scenarios, phased construction and operation, airflow management, humidity control, system redundancy providing concurrent maintainability, energy efficiency, and compliance with industry standards and best practices.
• Redundancy and Fault Tolerance: Designing HVAC systems with redundancy and fault-tolerant features to ensure continuous operation in the event of equipment failure or maintenance activities. This includes the design of backup cooling systems, automatic switchover mechanisms, and monitoring systems.
• Load Calculation and Capacity Planning: Performing heat load calculations determine the requirements based on the occupancy, building envelope, equipment power density, anticipated growth, and phasing of the construction and operational steps. Conducting capacity planning to ensure the HVAC and plumbing systems can accommodate future expansions and upgrades.
• Energy Efficiency and Sustainability: Implementing energy-efficient HVAC design strategies, such as utilizing economizers, variable speed drives, energy recovery systems, and optimizing airflow management techniques, to minimize energy consumption and support sustainability initiatives.
• Air Quality and Filtration: Ensuring the data center's air quality is maintained at optimal levels by designing appropriate filtration systems and implementing air quality monitoring mechanisms. Addressing concerns related to particulate matter, humidity control, and contaminant removal to protect sensitive IT equipment.
• Coordination with Other Disciplines: Collaborating with architects and other engineering disciplines to integrate HVAC and plumbing systems seamlessly with other infrastructure components.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications:

• A Bachelor's Degree with six (6) years of HVAC, plumbing, or fire protection design experience or demonstrated equivalency of experience and or education.
• Professional Engineer License (P.Eng.) with APEGA is required

Preferred Qualifications:

• A bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering, 10+ years of HVAC, plumbing, or fire protection design experience, or a related field from an accredited university is typically required. Preference would be given to candidates with a master's degree or advanced coursework in HVAC systems or energy management.
• Strong leadership, communication, and interpersonal skills
• Ability to build and maintain strong relationships with clients
• Ability to think creatively and identify opportunities to enhance the client experience.
• Experience working with computer-aided design (CAD) and building information modeling (BIM) software
• Excellent leadership, communication, and interpersonal skills
• Strong background and experience in data center mechanical and electrical equipment design and construction
• Knowledge of Data Center Standards, such as Tier Standard: Topology per Uptime Institute, TIA 942, and ANSI/BICSI 002
• Professional certifications related to HVAC engineering, such as Certified Energy Manager (CEM), Building Energy Modeling Professional (BEMP), or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) accreditation, would be advantageous.

Additional Information

• Relocation is not available for this position.
• Sponsorship for Canadian employment authorization is not available for this position.

At AECOM, we are committed to maintaining a secure and trustworthy recruitment process and take any fraudulent hiring activity seriously. To support this commitment, all newly hired employees are required to attend an in-person Day 1 onboarding at an AECOM office location as a condition of employment.

About AECOM

AECOM is proud to offer comprehensive benefits to meet the diverse needs of our employees. Depending on your employment status, AECOM benefits may include medical, dental, vision, life, AD&D, disability benefits, paid time off, leaves of absences, voluntary benefits, perks, flexible work options, well-being resources, employee assistance program, business travel insurance, service recognition awards, retirement savings plan, and employee stock purchase plan.

AECOM is the global infrastructure leader, committed to delivering a better world. As a trusted professional services firm powered by deep technical abilities, we solve our clients’ complex challenges in water, environment, energy, transportation and buildings. Our teams partner with public- and private-sector clients to create innovative, sustainable and resilient solutions throughout the project lifecycle – from advisory, planning, design and engineering to program and construction management. AECOM is a Fortune 500 firm that had revenue of $16.1 billion in fiscal year 2025. Learn more at aecom.com.

What makes AECOM a great place to work

You will be part of a global team that champions your growth and career ambitions. Work on groundbreaking projects - both in your local community and on a global scale - that are transforming our industry and shaping the future. With cutting-edge technology and a network of experts, you’ll have the resources to make a real impact. Our award-winning training and development programs are designed to expand your technical expertise and leadership skills, helping you build the career you’ve always envisioned. Here, you’ll find a welcoming workplace built on respect, collaboration and community - where you have the freedom to grow in a world of opportunity.

As an Equal Opportunity Employer, we believe in your potential and are here to help you achieve it. All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines. Artificial intelligence will be used to support the screening, assessment, and selection of applicants for this role. Final hiring decisions are made by the hiring team.