Data center jobs · Critical facilities and operations
Chief Engineer job
What a data center chief engineer does day to day, the Monday to Friday plus on-call schedule, and how critical facilities engineers and shift leads move up to lead the facilities team.
By Czarina Tabayoyong, Founder, Critical Path Hiring
Last reviewed · First published
Reviewed as terms, pay and markets change.
The job
A chief engineer leads the facilities team and the vendors at a data center, and owns its electrical and mechanical systems. They set the maintenance plan and review work on critical equipment before it is approved.
A typical day
- Lead the facilities team and set the maintenance plan
- Direct the vendors working on site
- Review work on critical equipment before it is approved
- Review the write-up after a failure and decide what changes
- Take escalations outside weekday hours while on-call
Location and schedule
Inside a live data center, leading the facilities team. The schedule is days Monday to Friday plus on-call.
Skills and certifications
Required
- Experience leading a facilities team and its vendors
Routes in
Critical facilities engineers and shift leads move into this role.
Next roles
This role leads to facility or site operations manager.
Pay
Pay varies by market and level, and the current ranges are in our data center salary guide.
Questions
- What is the schedule for a chief engineer?
- Days Monday to Friday plus on-call.
- What does a chief engineer lead?
- The facilities team and the vendors.
- How do I become a chief engineer?
- Critical facilities engineers and shift leads move into the role. Facility or site operations manager is the next step.
Next steps
- Join the talent network and tell us your discipline, market and availability
- Look up a term in the data center glossary
- Back to data center jobs explained