Principal Sustaining Engineering Manager - Spark

Responsibilities

• I. Fleet Ownership, Facility Ops Interface & Field Issues

Year 1 Ramp & Handover

• Participate in production release and ramp readiness reviews for deploying generations as the receiving organization. Establish as-built baselines, spares strategies, service intervals, and repair-vs-replace policies prior to initial fleet launch.
• Stand up and run the Failure Reporting, Analysis, and Corrective Action System (FRACAS
• function. Drive root-cause analysis to closure with verified fixes, containing safety or fleet-wide risks immediately when issues arise.

II. Change, Configuration & Obsolescence

• Own engineering change orders (ECOs) for fielded generations, quantifying cost and fleet impacts prior to approval.
• Maintain as-built and as-maintained configuration baselines, ensuring field retrofits precisely target affected units.
• Manage component lifecycles using Diminishing Manufacturing Sources and Material Shortages (DMSMS) practices - modeling last-time buys against fleet demand and qualifying alternate parts before component shortages occur.
• Issue change packages, preventive maintenance schedules, and acceptance criteria for Field Operations execution.

III. Feedback Loop to Product Management & NPI

• Convert fleet and facility operations data into quantified design requirements for future Product Requirement Document (PRD) iterations.
• Represent maintainability and serviceability in design reviews, using field data to influence future hardware architecture.

Preferred

• Experience with modular, containerized, or prefabricated infrastructure products in the field.
• Direct familiarity with liquid-cooled data center hardware.
• The persistence to chase root causes past obvious answers, paired with the practical judgment needed to manage fleet disruptions.

About the Role

Crusoe is a vertically integrated AI Factory company accelerating energy and compute infrastructure. We believe that “speed is the only moat” and our vertical integration allows us to design, manufacture, and deploy modular power and compute infrastructure at market leading speed and cost.

We are seeking a Sustaining Engineering Leader to own how Spark physical modules perform post-deployment and drive continuous improvement. While Product Management defines future generations and NPI delivers them for production, you own each generation once it ramps: fleet reliability, field failures, configuration, component obsolescence, and the design modifications required for full service life performance.

In this role, “hardware” and “product” refers to the physical infrastructure of the Spark module: structural steel modules, RPPs, DLC cooling loops, CDUs, chillers, piping headers, electrical and mechanical systems, and power distribution gear. Compute hardware (servers, GPUs, storage, networking, and rack specifications) is owned by Cloud Product. Sitting on the Spark design engineering team, you capture how deployed Spark modules perform in service and aggregate the lessons learned and required changes into the design process, so the next version is more reliable, serviceable, and cost-effective. Working with Data Center Facility Operations and Field Operations, you are the definitive evidence source for Product Management and NPI, turning field data into design requirements and acceptance criteria. You start as the single-threaded leader of this function and build the team as the fleet expands.

Facility Operations Feedback Loop

Serve as the primary engineering interface with the Data Center Facility Operations team. Gather site-level field feedback across broader facility power, thermal, and environmental systems to analyze how site-wide operational dynamics impact individual Spark modules.

Fleet Reliability

Own subsystem failure rates, mean time between failures (MTBF), and repeat failure metrics. Define the required telemetry every deployed unit must report to ensure operational visibility.

Qualification into NPI

Supply field-derived acceptance criteria to NPI, ensuring historical failure modes are designed out of future module generations before release.

Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)

Own reliability, serviceability, and maintenance inputs driving Spark unit economics and long-term TCO.

Required

Bachelor's degree in Mechanical, Electrical, Reliability, or a closely related engineering discipline.

Experience

• 10 to 15 years in sustaining, reliability, or product support engineering for deployed capital hardware or infrastructure assets.
• Track record of converting field performance data into design changes that measurably reduce failure rates and service costs.
• Experience building sustaining engineering processes (root-cause analysis frameworks, review boards, spares policies) from the ground up.
• Hands-on management of component obsolescence and supplier end-of-life transitions for long-lifecycle hardware.
• Technical Depth

Reliability Engineering

Failure Reporting, Analysis, and Corrective Action Systems (FRACAS), structured root-cause analysis (8D, 5-Why), MTBF modeling, and population failure rate analysis.

Configuration Management

PLM workflows, serial-level effectivity, change order management, and as-built control.

Obsolescence & Service Economics

Diminishing Manufacturing Sources and Material Shortages (DMSMS) practices, last-time buy modeling, spares planning, and unit service cost drivers.

Competitive compensation and equity packages

Restricted Stock Units

• Paid time off, paid holidays & leave of absence programs
• Comprehensive health, dental & vision insurance
• Employer contributions to HSA account
• Paid parental leave
• Paid life insurance, short-term and long-term disability
• Professional development & tuition reimbursement
• Mental health & wellness support
• Commuter benefits (parking & transit)

Cell phone stipend

• 401(k) Retirement plan with company match up to 4% of salary
• Volunteer time off
• Global travel insurance & emergency assistance
• Daily meals allowance
• Additional perks & programs specific to location

Compensation Range

Compensation will be paid in the range of up to $225,000 -$255,000 + Bonus. Restricted Stock Units are included in all offers. Compensation to be determined by the applicant's knowledge, education, and abilities, as well as internal equity and alignment with market data.

Crusoe is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, religion, disability, genetic information, pregnancy, citizenship, marital status, sex/gender, sexual preference/ orientation, gender identity, age, veteran status, national origin, or any other status protected by law or regulation.