Anthropic· Compute· Sydney, Australia
Data Center Mechanical Engineer
Classified Tasks (15)
Automate 0%Augment 73%Human-Only 27%
Augment (11)
AI assists, human decides
Drive and review mechanical design from concept through detailed design and construction documentation produced by external engineering firms and development partners.
technical
Drive mechanical design concepts for data center cooling plants, chilled-water distribution, liquid cooling (direct-to-chip and CDUs), plumbing, and fire protection systems.
technical
Review and direct design drawings, specifications, and construction documentation produced by external engineering firms, ensuring alignment with Anthropic’s Basis of Design and owner requirements.
technical
Evaluate design submittals, shop drawings, and equipment selections.
analytical
Respond to RFIs with clear technical direction.
communication
Identify design conflicts and drive resolution across mechanical, electrical, and controls disciplines.
technical
Maintain and evolve Anthropic’s internal mechanical design standards and reference configurations.
operational
Drive Anthropic’s prefabricated and modular mechanical strategy (modular cooling skids, prefabricated piping and pump assemblies, design for offsite manufacture and onsite assembly) to accelerate deployment and reduce onsite labor.
leadership
Drive standardization of modular mechanical designs across sites while preserving flexibility for site-specific constraints and evolving hardware generations.
operational
Ensure mechanical designs comply with Australian mechanical, hydraulic, and fire codes and local regulatory requirements.
administrative
Ensure cooling architecture evolves to support increasing rack densities and the transition to direct-to-chip liquid cooling.
technical
Human-Only (4)
Requires human judgment
Lead design direction and provide technical oversight for mechanical systems (cooling, chilled-water distribution, liquid cooling, plumbing, fire protection) across the APAC portfolio.
leadership
Own mechanical design direction from Basis of Design through construction and commissioning.
leadership
Serve as the primary technical interface between Anthropic’s internal teams and external engineering and development partners.
communication
Ensure every facility meets Anthropic’s standards for reliability, efficiency, and scalability.
operational
Job description
About Anthropic Anthropic’s mission is to create reliable, interpretable, and steerable AI systems. We want AI to be safe and beneficial for our users and for society as a whole. Our team is a quickly growing group of committed researchers, engineers, policy experts, and business leaders working together to build beneficial AI systems. About the role Training and serving frontier AI models requires compute infrastructure at a scale and density that pushes past what conventional data center designs were built to handle. Anthropic’s Data Center team is responsible for delivering that physical infrastructure — partnering with build partners, equipment manufacturers, and vendors to stand up facilities that can reliably cool some of the largest accelerator clusters in the industry. As a Senior Data Center Mechanical Engineer based in Sydney, you’ll lead the design direction and technical oversight of building mechanical systems — cooling, chilled-water distribution, liquid cooling, plumbing, and fire protection — across our rapidly expanding Asia Pacific (APAC) portfolio. This is a senior individual contributor role focused on driving and reviewing mechanical design from concept through detailed design and construction documentation produced by external engineering firms and development partners, ensuring every facility meets Anthropic’s standards for reliability, efficiency, and scalability. You’ll own the mechanical design direction from Basis of Design through construction and commissioning, serving as the primary technical interface between Anthropic’s internal teams and our external engineering and development partners. A central part of this role is speed-to-capacity through prefabrication and modular construction — modular cooling skids, prefabricated piping assemblies, and design for offsite manufacture that compress schedules and reduce onsite labor. You’ll bring deep familiarity with Australian mechanical, hydraulic, and fire codes and the local regulatory environment, and ensure the cooling architecture keeps pace with rapidly increasing rack densities and the shift toward direct-to-chip liquid cooling. Strong candidates will bring deep mission-critical mechanical design experience and the judgment to make sound trade-offs when the standard playbook doesn’t apply. Responsibilities Design direction & review Drive mechanical design concepts for data center cooling plants, chilled-water distribution, liquid cooling (direct-to-chip and CDUs), plumbing, and fire protection systems. Review and direct design drawings, specifications, and construction documentation produced by external engineering firms, ensuring alignment with Anthropic’s Basis of Design and owner requirements. Evaluate design submittals, shop drawings, and equipment selections; respond to RFIs with clear technical direction. Identify design conflicts and drive resolution across mechanical, electrical, and controls disciplines. Maintain and evolve Anthropic’s internal mechanical design standards and reference configurations. Prefabrication & modular delivery Drive Anthropic’s prefabricated and modular mechanical strategy — modular cooling skids, prefabricated piping and pump assemblies, and design for offsite manufacture and onsite assembly — to accelerate deployment and reduce onsite labor. Drive standardization of modular mechanical designs across sites while preserving flexibility for site-specific constraints and evolving hardware generations. External partner & vendor coordination Serve as the primary mechanical engineering point