Principal, Controls SME

Hut 8
St. Francisville, LA

Who this role is best for

Aimed at experienced controls professionals who thrive in on-site, collaborative environments and have a strong operations mindset.

Best fit for

  • Candidates with 7+ years of experience in complex control systems and a deep understanding of critical facility operations
    — “7+ years of controls experience in programming, start-up, and commissioning of complex systems”
  • Individuals who have worked on construction projects and can provide QA/QC oversight of controls systems
    — “Provide QA/QC oversight of controls scope for new construction and retrofits”
  • Professionals with a strong emphasis on documentation and version control of control system configurations
    — “Turnover documentation rigor, especially programming backups, configuration files, and version control”

Things to consider

  • This is a full-time on-site role with no remote flexibility indicated
    — “Full time on-site role.”
  • The role requires working closely with construction teams and maintaining operational standards
    — “Comfortable embedded with a construction team while holding the operations line”

How to stand out

  • Highlight experience in commissioning Level 3-5 systems and testing failover scenarios
    — “Witness Level 3-5 commissioning of controls and automation: point-to-point verification, sequence-of-operations testing, controller, server, and network failover”
  • Emphasize your ability to identify operational gaps in control sequences during design reviews
    — “Review controls designs ... Push back where the design assumes an operator will understand or recover something the system never tells them.”
  • Showcase your history of training facility operators on control systems and validating their proficiency
    — “Provide technical controls training and support to Facility Operations staff, and validate that operator training equips the team to use the systems”
Pace · Fast PacedCollaboration · HighAutonomy · MediumDecision Impact · Team

Derived from job-description analysis by Serendipath's career intelligence engine.

What success looks like

  • Ensuring control systems are operable and maintainable
Typical background
Experience in data center builds

Skills & requirements

Required

Operability Design ReviewControls Qa/qcCommissioningTurnover ReadinessVendor OversightConstruction-phase Verification

Preferred

Data Center BuildFacility Nervous System

Stack & domain

Controls DesignBms/basEPMSScadaPlc-based Plant ControlsCDUCooling Plant ControlsGeneratorUPSSwitchgear Controller IntegrationOperability Design ReviewControls Qa/qcVendor OversightCommissioningPoint-to-point VerificationSequence-of-operations TestingControllerServerNetwork FailoverAlarm VerificationTrend ValidationIntegrated Systems TestingLoss-of-communicationLoss-of-bmsControls Turnover PackagesAs-built SequencesPoint ListsControl And Network DrawingsProgramming BackupsConfiguration FilesLicensesCredentialsAlarm SetpointPriority MatricesTrend BaselinesSpare ControllersCritical ModulesPMCommunicationProblem-solvingLeadershipTeamworkCoordinationTechnical GuidanceClient Satisfaction

About the role

Original posting from Hut 8 via Greenhouse

Hut 8 brings exceptional people together to solve the world’s most consequential problems at the intersection of energy and technology. Today, that means building infrastructure for AI at a pace and scale without precedent. Tomorrow, it could mean powering a new era of innovation through robotics, advanced manufacturing, or an industry that does not yet exist. Whatever the technology demands, our ambition holds: to build the defining physical infrastructure company of our generation.

We look for thinkers and builders with the rigor, humility, and ownership to solve problems at this scale. They start from zero and choose truth over tradition. They back the best idea, whatever its source. They bet on themselves and embrace the hard truths that force them to grow. Our commitment is to keep the path from idea to execution short, trust them with critical decisions and the work that follows, and surround them with colleagues whose curiosity extends beyond their expertise.

ABOUT THE ROLE

The Controls SME is Managed Services' controls and automation expert, embedded in a data center build. The role supports design review, vendor oversight, and commissioning to make sure the control systems are operable, maintainable, and trustworthy at turnover. Controls are the facility's nervous system: when they fail or mislead, operators lose sight of everything else.

Some of the key responsibilities you should expect are the following:

Operability Design Review

Review controls designs, including BMS/BAS, EPMS, SCADA, PLC-based plant controls, CDU and cooling plant controls, and generator, UPS, and switchgear controller integration, through an operations lens. Sequences of operations, failure-mode and fail-safe behavior, loss-of-network and loss-of-controller response, manual and local override, point lists and instrumentation adequacy, alarm philosophy and prioritization, graphics clarity, and OT network architecture and access control. Push back where the design assumes an operator will understand or recover something the system never tells them.

Controls QA/QC and Vendor Oversight

Provide QA/QC oversight of controls scope for new construction and retrofits: review vendor proposals and programming, directly oversee system configuration and component upgrades, and witness factory tests. Hold controls vendors to Hut 8 standards and to the approved sequences, and make sure every modification to a system follows change control.

Construction-Phase Verification

Walk controls installations at key milestones. Flag operability and quality issues to the MEP superintendent early, while they are still cheap to fix.

Commissioning

Witness Level 3-5 commissioning of controls and automation: point-to-point verification, sequence- of-operations testing, controller, server, and network failover, alarm verification, trend validation, and integrated systems testing across mechanical, electrical, and controls, including loss-of- communication and loss-of-BMS scenarios. Review programming through the commissioning process, drive operational findings into the Cx log with clear acceptance criteria, and verify closure personally.

Turnover Readiness

Verify controls turnover packages: as-built sequences of operation, point lists, control and network drawings, programming backups and configuration files under version control, licenses and credentials transferred to Hut 8, alarm setpoint and priority matrices, trend baselines, spare controllers and critical modules, and PM program inputs such as backup routines, firmware updates, and panel power health. Confirm the backups actually restore.

Training

Provide technical controls training and support to Facility Operations staff, and validate that operator training equips the team to use the systems, not just look at them.

Program Feedback

Feed operational lessons into Hut 8 controls standards, point naming and alarm conventions, and the next project's basis of design, and work with other Hut 8 sites and teams to carry standards across the portfolio.

ABOUT YOU

What we're looking for:

7+ years of controls experience in programming, start-up, and commissioning of complex systems such as central plants, air handling units, and evaporative cooling and humidification systems. A bachelor's degree or trade certification in a related field plus 3+ years of controls industry experience will be considered in lieu.

Experience in critical environments, with a working knowledge of critical facility operations and procedure-based work.

Theoretical and practical understanding of control equipment and systems: design, maintenance, troubleshooting, testing, and construction.

Working knowledge of the mechanical, electrical, and life safety systems found in critical facilities.

Sequence-of-operations fluency: you can read one critically, catch the gaps and failure modes, and test whether it behaves as written.

Experience interpreting blueprints, CAD drawings, and controls diagrams.

Turnover documentation rigor, especially programming backups, configuration files, and version control.

Comfortable embedded with a construction team while holding the operations line, and effective in a highly collaborative, cross-functional environment.

Preferred:

Data center experience.

PLC programming experience

IT or networking certification

Equipment field service engineering or manufacturer representative experience.

Demonstrated use of AI tools to improve workflows with measurable results, such as efficiency gains or quality improvements.

ABOUT THE WORK ENVIRONMENT

  • Full time on-site role.

Source: Hut 8 careers (Greenhouse)

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