Director, solution architect-hyperscale thermal

The Director Solution Architect, Hyperscale Power serves as Vertiv's primary technical partner for an assigned strategic hyperscale customer, working directly with the customer’s engineering organization providing design assistance to current and next-generation power infrastructure architectures enabling best in class engineered solution from creation to deployment.

Aligned one-to-one with a strategic customer, the Solution Architect develops a deep understanding of the customer's technology roadmap, design standards, operating requirements, and future infrastructure strategies, and drives alignment with Vertiv product development requirements. The role owns the end-to-end thermal architecture vision for the customer and provides continuity from early concept development through prototype, first-of-kind deployment, product development, and scaled production adoption. Success will be measured by product penetration, orders and market share growth.

The Solution Architect partners closely with Global Account Directors, Power and Rack Solution Architects, Business Unit engineering teams, Technical Sales, and Application Engineering to translate customer requirements into differentiated Vertiv solutions and long-term portfolio opportunities.

Key Responsibilities

Customer Engineering Leadership

• Build trusted relationships with customer engineering, infrastructure, and design leaders, serving as Vertiv's primary technical advisor for future power architecture decisions.
• Develop deep understanding of customer technology roadmaps, design standards, operational requirements, and long-term infrastructure strategies.
• Represent customer technical priorities within Vertiv, ensuring stakeholders remain aligned to customer objectives and evolving requirements.

Architecture & Solution Development

• Own the customer's end-to-end power architecture strategy from concept through deployment.
• Lead development of future-state thermal architectures and scalable reference designs with customer engineering teams.
• Translate customer objectives and roadmaps into system requirements, reference architectures, and design principles.
• Evaluate technology alternatives, design tradeoffs, and long-term operational impacts to support customer and Vertiv decision-making.

Innovation & Future Technologies

• Lead technical discovery of emerging customer challenges, requirements, and opportunities.
• Identify portfolio gaps, innovation opportunities, and future technology needs aligned to customer roadmaps.
• Develop first-of-kind concepts supporting customer’s next-generation data center architectures.
• Influence Vertiv product roadmaps and technology investments through customer and industry insights.

Development & Lifecycle Ownership

• Maintain architectural continuity from concept through production deployment.
• Lead prototype, validation, and first-of-kind solution activities through key development milestones.
• Coordinate system-level design reviews and critical technical decisions.
• Resolve architecture, integration, and performance challenges across customer and Vertiv stakeholders.
• Capture customer insights and technical learnings to improve future solutions.

Cross-Functional Leadership

• Partner with fellow Solution Architects, Technical Sales and Application Engineering to translate customer architectures into differentiated, executable solutions, and own Vertiv technical solution from concept to delivery.
• Coordinate GBU engineering, product management, and systems teams to deliver customer-driven development priorities.
• Support Global Account Directors in strategic customer engagements and planning activities.
• Drive alignment across customer and Vertiv stakeholders to accelerate solution development and deployment.

Qualifications

Required

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering or related discipline
• Experience leading architecture, design, or technical solution development for large-scale mission-critical power infrastructure deployments
• Deep expertise across data center thermal architectures and operations, including chilled water, air handling, direct expansion (DX), liquid cooling, direct-to-chip cooling, CDUs, heat rejection, and controls
• Demonstrated success working directly with hyperscale customer engineering organizations
• Strong understanding of power distribution, protection, controls, and power quality systems
• Experience translating customer requirements into scalable technical solutions
• Ability to influence multidisciplinary teams without direct authority
• Strong technical communication and presentation capabilities

Preferred

• Advanced engineering degree, Professional Engineer (PE) license or equivalent technical credentials
• Experience supporting major hyperscale cloud providers
• Experience developing first-of-kind infrastructure solutions
• Experience influencing product roadmaps and technology investments
• Experience bringing concepts from architecture through production deployment
• Participation in industry standards bodies or technical forums (e.g., OCP, IEEE)
• Recognized expertise in data center thermal architecture or mission-critical electrical systems

Measures of Success

• Customer adoption of Vertiv-supported power architectures and basis-of-design
• Growth enabled by the technical organization
• Portfolio alignment with strategic customer requirements
• Successful advancement of first-of-kind concepts to deployment
• Strength of customer engineering relationships

Location and Travel

• Location aligned with business and organizational requirements
• >50% travel based on customer and industry needs.

Pay Transparency

The overall anticipated total compensation package for this role in CA is between $253k to $337k per year inclusive of base salary and eligibility for a monthly sales incentive plan. Since monthly incentive compensation is variable, performance-based, and not guaranteed, the estimated base salary range for this role in the CA locality is between $201k to $269k per year and in salary ranges for other geographic localities may vary. Certain roles are eligible for additional rewards, including merit increases, annual bonus and stock. These awards are allocated based on individual performance and are role based. In addition, certain roles also have the opportunity to earn sales incentives based on revenue or utilization, depending on the terms of the plan and the employee’s role. The role is eligible to participate in a comprehensive and competitive benefits program, including medical, dental, vision, disability, PTO, holiday pay, and 401k. Additional details about total compensation and benefits will be provided during the hiring process.

The overall anticipated total compensation package for this role in WA is between $253k to $337k per year, inclusive of base salary and eligibility for a monthly sales incentive plan. Since monthly incentive compensation is variable, performance-based, and not guaranteed, the estimated base salary range for this role in the WA locality is between $201k to $269k per year; salary ranges for other geographic localities may vary. Certain roles are eligible for additional rewards, including merit increases, annual bonus and stock. These awards are allocated based on individual performance and are role based. In addition, certain roles also have the opportunity to receive and/or participate in profit sharing, allowances, travel and/or car expenses, and earn sales incentives based on revenue or utilization depending on the terms of the employee’s role and individual offer details. The role is eligible to participate in a comprehensive and competitive benefits program, including medical, dental, vision, disability, FLEX PTO, holiday pay (9 days), and 401k. Additional details about total compensation and benefits will be provided during the hiring process.

The overall anticipated total compensation package for this role in TX & DC is between $241k to $321k per year, inclusive of base salary and eligibility for a monthly sales incentive plan. Since monthly incentive compensation is variable, performance-based, and not guaranteed, the estimated base salary range for this role in the CO locality is between $192k to $256.8k per year; salary ranges for other geographic localities may vary. Certain roles are eligible for additional rewards, including merit increases, annual bonus and stock. These awards are allocated based on individual performance and are role based. In addition, certain roles also have the opportunity to earn sales incentives based on revenue or utilization, depending on the terms of the plan and the employee’s role. The role is eligible to participate in a comprehensive and competitive benefits program, including medical, dental, vision, disability, PTO, holiday pay, and 401k. Additional details about total compensation and benefits will be provided during the hiring process.

The successful candidate will embrace Vertiv’s Core Principles & Behaviors to help execute our Strategic Priorities.

OUR CORE PRINCIPLES:

• Safety.
• Integrity.
• Respect.
• Teamwork.
• Inclusion.

OUR STRATEGIC PRIORITIES

• High-Performance Culture
• Customer Focus
• Operational Excellence
• Innovation
• Financial Strength

VERTIV BEHAVIORS

• Own it
• Act with urgency
• Foster a customer-first mindset
• Think big and execute
• Lead by example
• Drive continuous improvement
• Learn and seek out development
• Promote transparent & open communication

About Vertiv

Vertiv (NYSE: VRT) brings together hardware, software, analytics and ongoing services to enable its customers’ vital applications to run continuously, perform optimally and grow with their business needs. Vertiv solves the most important challenges facing today’s data centers, communication networks, and commercial and industrial facilities with a portfolio of power, cooling and IT infrastructure solutions and services that extend from the cloud to the edge of the network. Headquartered in Westerville, Ohio, USA, Vertiv employs around 34,000 people and does business in more than 130 countries. Visit Vertiv.com to learn more.

Work Authorization

No calls or agencies please. Vertiv will only employ those who are legally authorized to work in the United States. This is not a position for which sponsorship will be provided. Individuals with temporary visas such as E, F-1, H-1, H-2, L, B, J, or TN or who need sponsorship for work authorization now or in the future, are not eligible for hire.

Equal Opportunity Employer

Vertiv is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer. We promote equal opportunities for all with respect to hiring, terms of employment, mobility, training, compensation, and occupational health, without discrimination as to age, race, color, religion, creed, sex, pregnancy status (including childbirth, breastfeeding, or related medical conditions), marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity / expression (including transgender status or sexual stereotypes), genetic information, citizenship status, national origin, protected veteran status, political affiliation, or disability. If you have a disability and are having difficulty accessing or using this website to apply for a position, you can request help by sending an email to help.join@vertiv.com.