# Data Center Controls Network Engineer

**Company:** [OpenAI](https://hotfix.jobs/companies/openai)
**Location:** San Francisco, CA
**Role:** DevOps / SRE
**Salary:** $257k – $327k/yr
**Experience:** 8+ years
**Skills:** Cisco Ios, Juniper Junos, Palo Alto Networks, Bacnet/Ip, Modbus Tcp, Opc Ua, Iec 61850, Ntp/Ptp, Prp, Hsr, Rstp/Mstp, Vrrp/Hsrp, Ansible, Terraform, Python
**Posted:** 2026-04-20

> Designs, validates, and scales secure OT network architectures for high-density AI data centers, including controls systems, telemetry, and integration with IT infrastructure. Requires 8+ years in OT networking, industrial protocols, and resilient topologies in mission-critical environments.

## Job Description

## Key Responsibilities
- Define controls, automation, and OT network requirements for AI data center campuses.
- Develop reference architectures, engineering standards, and reusable design templates.
- Review and develop basis-of-design and functional design documents, including OT network diagrams, IP/VLAN schemes, telemetry architectures, data flow diagrams, and commissioning requirements.
- Design OT and infrastructure network architectures, including physical topology, logical topology, IP addressing, subnetting, VLANs, routing, switching, redundancy, segmentation, firewall policy coordination, out-of-band management, monitoring, and remote access patterns.
- Develop day-two network operations requirements, including change management, configuration backups, golden configurations, monitoring thresholds, firmware lifecycle, rollback plans, and post-change validation.
- Partner with electrical, mechanical, IT/networking, security, and operations teams to ensure OT network systems align with GPU deployments, campus-wide telemetry, and failure-domain isolation requirements.
- Define integration patterns and protocol requirements across **BACnet/IP**, **BACnet MSTP**, **Modbus TCP/RTU**, **OPC UA**, **IEC-61850 MMS/GOOSE**, **MQTT**, **SNMP**, **syslog**, **NTP/PTP**, **IRIG-B**, and vendor-specific interfaces.
- Lead technical evaluation of controls integrators, network equipment suppliers, design consultants, contractors, and commissioning agents.
- Review network equipment submittals, configurations, firmware assumptions, certifications, test reports, and quality documentation.
- Support factory witnessed testing (FWT), site acceptance testing, network readiness checks, failover testing, and integrated systems testing.
- Troubleshoot complex controls network issues including packet loss, latency, duplicate IPs, routing errors, firewall drops, protocol incompatibilities, time synchronization drift, and intermittent device communication failures.

## Qualifications
- 8+ years of relevant experience in controls engineering, industrial automation, OT networking, mission-critical facilities, or similar critical infrastructure environments.
- Strong expertise in resilient OT network architecture, implementation, troubleshooting, and lifecycle support.
- Experience with OT/IT boundary design, secure enterprise integration, firewall policy design, redundant topologies, out-of-band management, and monitoring.
- Hands-on experience with Layer 3 OT network design, including IP addressing, subnetting, routing, **VRFs**, **ACLs**, inter-VLAN traffic control, and network segmentation.
- Hands-on experience with Layer 2 security and switching controls, including **MACsec**, port security, loop prevention, and switch-level access control.
- Hands-on experience in designing resilient OT network topologies using industrial redundancy protocols and architectures such as **PRP**, **HSR**, **Cisco REP**, **RSTP/MSTP**, and ring or star topologies.
- Hands-on experience in designing resilient infrastructure network architectures using **HSRP/VRRP**, spine-leaf topologies, redundant uplinks, and failure-domain isolation.
- Hands-on experience with industrial and infrastructure network equipment such as **Cisco** switches/routers, **Juniper** switches/routers, **Palo Alto** firewalls, **Rockwell Automation Stratix** switches, **Siemens Ruggedcom** or comparable industrial networking platforms.
- Experience with network management and observability platforms such as **Cisco Catalyst Center (DNA Center)**, **Palo Alto Panorama**, **Juniper Mist**, industrial NMS tools, packet brokers, and OT monitoring platforms.
- Hands-on experience with industrial Ethernet, VPN tunneling, **IPsec**-based connectivity, and secure remote access.
- Hands-on experience with virtualized OT or controls server environments such as **VMware vSAN**, **Microsoft Azure Stack HCI / Hyper-V**, or comparable infrastructure platforms.
- Experience with industrial communication and OT infrastructure protocols, including **BACnet/IP**, **BACnet MSTP**, **Modbus TCP/RTU**, **OPC UA**, **IEC-61850 MMS/GOOSE**, **MQTT**, **SNMP**, **syslog**, **NTP/PTP**, **IRIG-B**, and vendor-specific interfaces.
- Experience reviewing and producing technical design documentation, commissioning plans, and acceptance test procedures.
- Experience with factory witnessed testing, site acceptance testing, failover testing, telemetry validation, protocol compatibility testing, and root-cause analysis.
- Ability to use logs, packet captures, and field observations to make sound technical decisions and communicate risk clearly.

## Preferred Skills
- Master's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Network Engineering, Systems Engineering, or a related discipline.
- Experience leading multi-campus OT network integration, commissioning, and operations across cross-functional teams, contractors, vendors, and delivery partners.
- Relevant networking certifications such as **Cisco CCNA/CCNP**, **Palo Alto PCNSA/PCNSE**, **Juniper JNCIA/JNCIS**, or similar networking credentials.
- Cybersecurity certifications such as **CISSP**, **GICSP**, **ISA/IEC 62443**, **CompTIA Security+**, or similar cybersecurity credentials.
- Experience with network automation, Git-based configuration management, and Infrastructure as Code (**IaC**) using tools such as **Ansible**, **Terraform**, **Python**, or similar to support scalable OT network deployment and lifecycle management.
- Experience with scripting, APIs, and automation workflows that improve OT network operations.
- Experience using AI agents or MCP-connected tools to support telemetry analysis and troubleshooting.
- Experience with relational database systems such as **PostgreSQL**, **SQL Server**, **MySQL**, or similar platforms used for OT telemetry, historian integrations, troubleshooting, and reporting.

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