Insights
Hiring research and market notes
Research and market notes on data center and AI infrastructure hiring, for the people who own the hiring plan.
Quarterly market briefs
Talent market briefs
Updated quarterly, covering the markets and roles we recruit.
Q4 2026 is live now. The Q1 2027 brief publishes in January 2027. Trade wages for each of our nine markets: market trends by city.
Published
Articles
Market data
Phoenix: 7 approved projects, 15 agents
The most approved projects of the nine metros we track, the local commissioning headcount, and when to book the commissioning lead.
By Czarina Tabayoyong ·
Market data
San Antonio: 2 sites in commissioning, 5 agents
The only metro we track with two sites in their commissioning window this quarter, the local commissioning headcount, and where to hire.
By Czarina Tabayoyong ·
Market data
Columbus: 5 builds, 3 commissioning agents
Our Columbus tracker and talent counts side by side, and where a contractor or owner can hire the commissioning team.
By Czarina Tabayoyong ·
Market analysis
Why commissioning agents are hard to hire
Why Level 4 and 5 experience takes years of live projects to build, and when to start the CxA search on a new build.
By Czarina Tabayoyong ·
Methodology
How to model the cost of a vacant data center role
The four inputs behind a vacancy number, why schedule risk is usually the largest in infrastructure, and how to compare it with what a search costs.
By Czarina Tabayoyong ·
Playbook
Hiring sequence for data center roles
How to plan hiring backward from a turnover date by role family, and the four places searches stall.
By Czarina Tabayoyong ·
Playbook
Critical facilities team retention
How to set up shifts, screen for incident judgment, and keep technicians at a 24/7 site past year two.
By Czarina Tabayoyong ·
Role analysis
Why a GPU cluster engineer and an AI engineer are different hiring markets
How to tell the two roles apart on a scorecard, and how pay and sourcing differ for each.
By Czarina Tabayoyong ·
Role analysis
CxA, QCxP, controls engineer and startup technician
What each commissioning role owns and the order to hire them in, working back from turnover.
By Czarina Tabayoyong ·
Market analysis
Controls and BMS engineer hiring for data centers
What to ask controls and BMS candidates about platforms, protocols and point-to-point checkout.
By Czarina Tabayoyong ·
Hiring strategy
How to scope a Head of Infrastructure for a GPU cloud
Whether the role should own fleet operations, platform, networking or all of it at your stage, and how to write the scorecard.
By Czarina Tabayoyong ·
Hiring strategy
Why a critical facilities req stays open
The four causes behind an aging facilities req, how to diagnose which one you have, and what to change before more sourcing spend.
By Czarina Tabayoyong ·
Market analysis
Data center hiring in Phoenix and competition from semiconductor fabs
Which Phoenix roles are easier to fill, which are hard, and what order to hire in for a build.
By Czarina Tabayoyong ·
Hiring strategy
AI infrastructure team design
What each of the five infrastructure functions owns, how to tell candidates apart in interviews, and what to hire first.
By Czarina Tabayoyong ·
Trends
AI hiring trends in data center teams
What AI buildouts changed about scope, sequence and screening, and which roles employers now compete hardest for.
By Czarina Tabayoyong ·
Market analysis
Data center recruitment in 2026
Why job postings stopped working, which adjacent industries the bench comes from, and how to plan hiring against a construction schedule.
By Czarina Tabayoyong ·
Role guide
What is a commissioning engineer?
The role in plain terms, the five commissioning levels, how it differs from a CxA or QCxP, and what to screen for.
By Czarina Tabayoyong ·
Compensation
What does a commissioning engineer earn in 2026?
Pay by commissioning level, how employer type changes the number, which markets pay a premium, and what moves an offer past the band.
By Czarina Tabayoyong ·
Role guide
The AI infrastructure engineer role
What the role covers, the four places these engineers work today, and how pay varies by market.
By Czarina Tabayoyong ·
Market analysis
AI infrastructure hiring trends for late 2026
Which roles are getting harder to fill, where employers aren't looking, and why some searches close while others sit open.
By Czarina Tabayoyong ·
Candidate guide
Candidate questions on AI infrastructure roles
Pay, remote work, converting from adjacent fields, certifications, and how these roles get filled.
By Czarina Tabayoyong ·
Candidate guide
Data center commissioning contract terms
A plain explanation of hourly W2 rates, per diem, heavy travel and conversion terms on commissioning contracts.
By Czarina Tabayoyong ·
New build
PowerHouse Circle T and DFW data center hiring
The project, the roles it will need building by building, and the other DFW campuses hiring the same people.
By Czarina Tabayoyong ·
Market analysis
Senior data center technician hiring
Why senior technicians are the hard hire, what they are paid, and public data on staffing and turnover.
By Czarina Tabayoyong ·
Market analysis
Trades pay in data center markets
Six years of BLS wage and employment data for electricians, HVAC mechanics and line workers in four data center metros.
By Czarina Tabayoyong ·
New build
Stack Stafford Technology Campus and Northern Virginia data center hiring
The project, the roles it will need building by building, and the other Northern Virginia campuses hiring the same people.
By Czarina Tabayoyong ·
Hiring strategy
How to hire a GPU cluster operations team
Network, storage, systems and cluster operations: where each seat's candidates come from, the screening questions we use, and posted pay with dates.
By Czarina Tabayoyong ·
Playbook
How to tell if a candidate has actually run a liquid cooling loop
The screening questions we use on liquid cooling searches, with what a strong answer includes and the red flags.
By Czarina Tabayoyong ·
Hiring strategy
Where liquid cooling technicians come from
The five backgrounds that already run pumps, heat exchangers and water chemistry, the gap each one has to close, and posted pay.
By Czarina Tabayoyong ·
Methodology
AI in screening
How AI tools are used in sourcing and screening, and where a person makes the decision.
Playbook
Site launch sequence
Which searches must be open at each milestone, and the staffing risks to raise before they affect launch.
Playbook
Talent market maps
Named target companies, candidate counts by metro, observed pay ranges and adjacent talent pools.
Reference
Engagement scopes
Homepage scopes for talent intelligence, embedded search, team builds and leadership search.
Working notes
Recurring patterns
Observations from live searches and market research. Estimates are labeled as estimates.
Regional supply
Critical facilities and commissioning talent clusters around existing campuses. A U.S. average does not show whether a given metro can staff a given site.
Scope problems
Roles that stall usually have a constraint in the job description: travel, shift, certification, or a comp band written before the last build cycle.
Outside competition
Platform, SRE and MLOps candidates benchmark against product companies. Infrastructure employers attract them with the size of the problem and a clear mission.
Interview speed
Interview feedback speed is the easiest thing to control. Candidates who hear back within 48 hours stay in the process; a two-week loop loses them.
Critical Path Search
A newsletter on hiring for data center builds. The first issue goes out with our first Data Center Commissioning Workforce Report.