Lead Data Centre Commissioning Engineer & Project Manager — Toronto, ON

The Position

Mission Critical Engineers is seeking a technically strong Lead Data Centre Commissioning Engineer & Project Manager to lead commissioning activities on complex data centre and mission-critical projects.

This is a site-based technical leadership position supporting data centre and mission-critical projects in Toronto, Ontario. The successful candidate will maintain a strong field presence and lead commissioning execution from system startup through integrated testing and turnover.

This role requires deep knowledge of critical electrical and mechanical systems, redundancy, availability, resilience, maintainability, and failure modes, combined with the ability to coordinate technical delivery across owners, contractors, OEMs, engineers, and operations teams.

Responsibilities

• Lead, coordinate, and actively participate in commissioning activities throughout the L1–L5 commissioning lifecycle.
• Provide hands-on field leadership during equipment startup, test preparation, functional testing, integrated systems testing, failure-mode testing, and system turnover.
• Lead the technical delivery of commissioning programs for data centres and high-availability facilities.
• Review electrical, mechanical, controls, and life-safety designs to assess redundancy, availability, maintainability, resiliency, constructability, and commissionability.
• Identify single points of failure, common-mode failures, control-system dependencies, maintainability constraints, and gaps between design intent and demonstrated performance.
• Assess critical infrastructure topology, including N, N+1, 2N, distributed redundancy, block redundancy, and concurrently maintainable configurations.
• Lead and execute L1–L5 commissioning activities, including factory acceptance testing, site acceptance testing, installation verification, pre-functional testing, functional performance testing, and integrated systems testing.
• Develop, review, and execute test plans, test scripts, failure-mode scenarios, test matrices, sequences of operation, and acceptance criteria.
• Participate in the verification, testing, troubleshooting, and documentation of critical systems; review and validate test results and system response.
• Lead testing of critical electrical systems, including utility service, medium- and low-voltage distribution, switchgear, transformers, generators, ATS/STS, UPS systems, battery systems, PDUs, grounding, protection, and EPMS.
• Lead testing of critical mechanical systems, including chillers, cooling towers, pumps, CRAH/CRAC units, air-handling systems, CDUs, liquid cooling infrastructure, hydronic systems, BMS, controls, and associated alarms and interlocks.
• Verify the performance of controls, monitoring, alarms, interlocks, automatic sequences, system failover, and recovery following abnormal operating conditions.
• Coordinate owners, contractors, OEMs, consulting engineers, and MCE technical personnel during design review, construction verification, testing, issue resolution, and handover.
• Lead commissioning, test-readiness, and technical coordination meetings; communicate requirements, decisions, risks, deficiencies, and accountabilities clearly.
• Develop and maintain commissioning plans, schedules, test matrices, resource plans, readiness criteria, risk registers, deficiency logs, and reporting deliverables.
• Review construction submittals, RFIs, equipment selections, change requests, sequences of operation, and test procedures for technical and commissioning impact.
• Ensure systems are installed, tested, and documented in accordance with the Owner’s Project Requirements, Basis of Design, specifications, contract documents, and intended operating strategy.
• Manage test readiness, including safety controls, site access, equipment availability, temporary loads, OEM attendance, system status, and test-day logistics.
• Drive the resolution and verification of deficiencies, test exceptions, control issues, and open items.
• Prepare clear, technically rigorous reports covering testing outcomes, system performance, risks, deficiencies, recommendations, and closeout requirements.
• Support owner training, operational turnover, warranty documentation, and transition to the facility operations team.
• Mentor commissioning staff and contribute to the development of MCE technical standards, test procedures, and quality practices.
• Work primarily from the Toronto project site and travel to other client and project locations across Canada, as required.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a related engineering discipline.
• Significant experience in data centre, mission-critical, industrial, healthcare, utility, or similarly complex infrastructure environments.
• Demonstrated hands-on field experience leading commissioning activities for critical electrical and mechanical systems.
• Strong L1–L5 commissioning experience, including functional performance testing, integrated systems testing, failure-mode testing, and operational readiness.
• Deep technical knowledge of critical electrical infrastructure, mechanical cooling systems, controls, and system interdependencies.
• Demonstrated understanding of redundancy, availability, resilience, fault tolerance, concurrent maintainability, and recovery from equipment or system failures.
• Ability to read and critically review single-line diagrams, mechanical drawings, P&IDs, control diagrams, sequences of operation, specifications, and test procedures.
• Ability to identify technical risk, challenge incomplete or unsupported assumptions, and make sound recommendations based on evidence.
• Strong project-management skills, including scheduling, resource coordination, test planning, reporting, risk management, and closeout.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills, with the ability to explain complex technical matters clearly to owners, contractors, OEMs, engineers, and operations personnel.
• Collaborative, dependable, and professional approach; able to lead independently while working effectively within a multidisciplinary team.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office and project-scheduling tools such as Microsoft Project, Primavera P6, or equivalent.
• Valid driver’s licence and ability to travel 15–50% as required.

Preferred Qualifications

• P.Eng. designation or eligibility for registration with Professional Engineers Ontario.
• PMP, PMI-SP, CxA, BCxP, CCP, LEED AP, or comparable credential.
• Experience acting as an independent Commissioning Authority or owner’s representative.
• Experience with high-density, AI-ready, hyperscale, colocation, or enterprise data centres.
• Experience with liquid cooling systems, dynamic load testing, factory acceptance testing, and critical-facility failure-mode testing.

About Mission Critical Engineers

Mission Critical Engineers is an independent Commissioning Authority for data centres and other high-availability infrastructure. We represent owners through design and construction verification, functional and integrated systems testing, and operational handover.

Our work covers the complete critical infrastructure stack: electrical distribution, standby generation, UPS and battery systems, air and liquid cooling, BMS and controls, fire suppression, and life-safety systems.