Sr. Data Center Infrastructure Specialist

Southwest Power Pool (SPP) is about more than power. We’re about the power of relationships. Our employees have the opportunity to work together to ensure electricity is delivered reliably and affordably to the millions of people living in our service territory. We have been voted one of Arkansas’ Best Places to work by Arkansas Business and we are looking for a member of our team who is passionate about our mission to keep the lights on!

We have a core ideology here at SPP that we stand by: Do the right thing, for the right reason, in the right way.

We believe in supporting our employees through a fantastic benefits package:

- Competitive and transparent pay with bonus opportunities

- Excellent insurance package including three great medical plans to choose from, employer-paid short-term disability, long-term disability, and life insurance

- Relocation bonus (if applicable)

- Hybrid working environment for positions that are eligible

- Fantastic contributions to your retirement through a 401(k) savings plan with employer-match benefits and a pension (defined benefit plan) fully funded by SPP

PLEASE NOTE: SPP is not able to sponsor employment visas or student-work authorizations (STEM OPT) for this position. Please ensure you are eligible to work in the U.S. without sponsorship prior to applying.

Compensation Information

The salary range(s) represents our good faith estimate for the role at this time. While we strive to provide competitive and transparent compensation, there may be circumstances where an offer is above or outside of the listed range. We are open to discussing salary expectations with qualified candidates considering factors such as the candidate's qualifications, skills, competencies, experience and geographic location will all be considered during the hiring process.

Sr. Data Center Infrastructure Specialist| Pay Range: $87,950.00 -$112,190.00

Join our Dynamic Facilities Team!

Southwest Power Pool is seeking a Senior Data Center Infrastructure Specialist to join our dynamic Facilities team. In this hands-on technical role, you will support the day-to-day operation, reliability, and optimization of mission-critical data center infrastructure that powers production IT workloads across the organization.

This position serves as the subject matter expert for electrical power systems, cooling and thermal management, building automation platforms, and Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM). You will ensure the availability, resilience, and capacity alignment of power, space, and environmental systems to meet both current and future IT demand.

The Senior Data Center Infrastructure Specialist independently executes complex live infrastructure operations, leads incident response and recovery efforts, evaluates and mitigates operational risk, and partners closely with IT operations, network, and hardware teams to maintain safe, efficient, and highly available data center operations.

What You'll Do

- Ensure continuous availability of mission-critical electrical, cooling, and environmental systems

- Optimize building automation and monitoring systems through configuration, alarm management, and proactive tuning

- Administer and maintain DCIM for accurate capacity modeling, monitoring, and reporting

- Conduct infrastructure capacity planning aligned with IT deployment needs

- Identify and mitigate operational risks, including capacity constraints and single points of failure

- Lead root cause analysis and implement corrective and preventive actions following incidents or near misses

- Develop and execute MOPs and EOPs to reduce risk during maintenance and emergency activities

- Support safe, standards-compliant hardware deployments through cross-functional coordination

- Optimize cooling and airflow management to support high-density compute environments

- Maintain audit-ready infrastructure documentation

- Provide senior-level technical guidance to Facilities and IT stakeholders

If you thrive in high-impact environments where reliability, safety, and operational continuity matter, we invite you to apply and help power the future with us at Southwest Power Pool.

To be successful as Sr. Data Center Infrastructure Specialist, we're looking for: Education Requirements

- High School diploma

Experience Requirements

- 8+ years of progressive experience in mission-critical commercial or industrial environments supporting electrical and mechanical infrastructure systems

- Demonstrated expertise with electrical power distribution systems, including utility services, switchgear, UPS systems, generators, PDUs, and redundant power architectures

- Proven experience operating and optimizing cooling and thermal management systems, including CRAC/CRAH units, chillers, pumps, airflow containment, and high-density environments

- Advanced working knowledge of building automation and monitoring platforms, including BMS, EPMS, and environmental monitoring systems

- Experience administering or serving as a technical owner of a DCIM or comparable infrastructure management platform

- Ability to identify, assess, and mitigate infrastructure risks and single points of failure

- Experience developing, reviewing, and executing Methods of Procedure (MOPs) and Emergency Operating Procedures (EOPs)

- Strong understanding of data center safety practices, electrical safety, and change management processes

- Ability to work independently with minimal supervision and exercise sound technical judgment in high-impact environments

- Proven capability to collaborate effectively with IT operations, network, hardware, and facilities teams

- Willingness and ability to work on-site and participate in on-call rotations and after-hours activities as required

- Demonstrated ability to manage competing priorities and perform effectively in dynamic, high-availability environments

- Flexibility and the ability to function with constantly changing and multiple priorities

- Demonstrated commitment to compliance with organizational policies, procedures, and safety standards

Preferred

- Bachelors degree in electrical, mechanical, facilities technology, or related field

- Uptime Institute - Accredited Tier Specialist (ATS)

- Schneider Electric – Data Center Certified Professional (DCCP) Certification

- Demonstrated ability to independently execute complex live infrastructure operations, maintenance activities, and infrastructure restoration

- Proven experience supporting and approving hardware placement based on power, cooling, redundancy, and physical layout constraints

- Demonstrated ability to perform root cause analysis and implement corrective and preventive actions

- Knowledge of, and hands on experience with Eaton PowerXpert/Foreseer, and Liebert SiteScan

- Data Center, hospital, or power plan experience

Position Type, Location, and Expected Hours of Work:

- This is a full-time, onsite position based in Little Rock, Arkansas. The standard schedule is Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Overtime may be required and availability for after-hours call out.

Travel Requirement

This position requires minimal travel (5-15%).

SPP is an Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity Employer of individuals with disabili ties and protected veterans and is committed to excellence. If you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the employment process, please contact us at HR@spp.org and let us know the nature of your request. We will only respond to messages left that involve a request for a reasonable accommodation in the application process. We will accommodate the needs of any qualified candidate who requests a reasonable accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

At SPP we believe in a culture of belonging. Learn more here: Culture of Belonging - Southwest Power Pool.

Equal Opportunity Employer/Protected Veterans/Individuals with Disabilities

This employer is required to notify all applicants of their rights pursuant to federal employment laws. For further information, please review the Know Your Rights notice from the Department of Labor.