Director of Conceptual Design and Innovation

About Nscale

Nscale is the GPU cloud engineered for AI. We provide cost-effective, high-performance infrastructure for AI start-ups and large enterprise customers. Nscale enables AI-focused companies to achieve superior results by reducing the complexity of AI development. Our GPU cloud bolsters technical capabilities and directly supports strategic business outcomes, including cost management, rapid innovation, and environmental responsibility.

We thrive on a culture of relentless innovation, ownership, and accountability, where every team member takes pride in their work and drives it with excellence and urgency. As an Nscaler, you'll build trust through openness and transparency, where everyone is inspired to do their best work. If you join our team, you'll be contributing to building the technology that powers the future.

About the Role

Nscale is looking for a Director of Conceptual Design and Innovation to own our conceptual design portfolio, visual infrastructure strategy, Basis of Design templates, design standards, site master planning concepts, and global catalog of datacenter form factors.

This role transforms ideas into compelling visual concepts that accelerate decision-making, business development, site planning, and design execution, operating primarily at the 30% planning level to create the conceptual framework that downstream design execution teams and A/E partners use to develop full project designs.

This is a highly creative, visually driven role at the intersection of infrastructure design, 3D modeling, graphic communication, innovation, and strategic planning. The successful candidate must be exceptionally skilled with at least one professional 3D design platform and capable of rapidly producing concepts, graphics, models, and visual collateral with limited direction. This role is expected to help Nscale develop the most innovative AI datacenter infrastructure concepts in the world.

What You'll be Doing

Concept Development & Design Innovation
- Own and continuously develop Nscale's catalog of conceptual datacenter designs, reference layouts, and standardized form factors
- Create planning-level design packages that support site evaluation, business development, project initiation, and design execution
- Translate strategic ideas into visual infrastructure concepts applicable across Nscale's global portfolio
- Develop conceptual layouts for buildings, sites, campuses, equipment zones, utility corridors, circulation, and future expansion
- Challenge traditional datacenter design approaches and explore new ways to improve speed, scalability, performance, and visual clarity

Basis of Design, Standards & Templates
- Own and maintain Nscale's Basis of Design templates and planning-level design standards
- Establish consistent visual and dimensional frameworks for early-stage datacenter planning
- Develop reusable templates for site master planning, concept packages, internal reviews, and executive presentations
- Maintain a library of standard design assumptions, equipment sizing references, planning modules, and visual components

3D Modeling, Graphic Design & Visualization
- Serve as Nscale's lead creator of 3D conceptual models and visual design collateral
- Rapidly develop concepts using SketchUp, Rhino, Blender, Revit, or similar professional 3D platforms
- Produce high-quality renderings, diagrams, site plans, massing studies, visual narratives, and presentation graphics
- Build reusable digital libraries of 3D components, design modules, graphics, and planning assets

3D Printing, Scanning & Emerging Design Technology
- Leverage 3D printing to create physical models for executive reviews, customer engagement, and strategic planning
- Use 3D scanning, reality capture, and digital visualization tools to improve planning and communication where appropriate
- Explore AI-assisted design workflows to accelerate concept generation, graphics production, and design iteration

Executive, Commercial & Public-Facing Support
- Develop executive-ready design collateral for board materials, investor discussions, customer presentations, and partner engagement
- Create visuals suitable for conferences, social media, marketing, and public-facing communications
- Help establish Nscale's external design identity as a leader in AI datacenter infrastructure innovation

Field & Project Support
- Provide rapid-response graphics, diagrams, sketches, and 3D views to help resolve field conflicts
- Assist design execution teams by providing concept-level direction that A/E firms can develop into full design packages

Team & Consultant Network Development
- Operate initially as a high-performing individual contributor, building a small internal team over time as workload and portfolio complexity increase
- Develop a trusted network of external consultants, visualization experts, modelers, designers, and specialty partners

About You

- 15+ years of experience in architecture, design, visualization, industrial design, graphic development, infrastructure planning, or related creative design disciplines
- Expert-level proficiency in at least one professional 3D modeling platform — SketchUp, Rhino, Blender, Revit, or equivalent; this is non-negotiable
- Demonstrated ability to rapidly create conceptual designs, 3D models, graphics, and presentation-quality visuals
- Strong portfolio showing creativity, spatial thinking, visual storytelling, design quality, and rapid concept development
- Experience developing conceptual site plans, building layouts, campus plans, equipment layouts, or infrastructure graphics
- Strong graphic design sensibility and ability to communicate complex technical ideas visually
- Experience producing executive-level presentation materials and public-facing visual collateral
- Familiarity with AI-enabled design tools, rendering tools, visualization platforms, and rapid prototyping workflows
- Ability to work independently in ambiguous, fast-moving environments with limited direction
- Strong collaboration skills with leadership, design execution teams, field teams, A/E firms, and external consultants

Nice to Have

- Experience with datacenters, mission-critical facilities, AI infrastructure, HPC environments, industrial campuses, or advanced manufacturing
- Experience with 3D printing and physical model development
- Experience with 3D scanning, reality capture, digital twins, or immersive visualization
- Familiarity with modular design, prefabrication, or productized infrastructure concepts
- Experience creating graphics or visuals used in investor, customer, conference, marketing, or social media settings
- Architecture, engineering, industrial design, or related design background preferred
- Bachelor's degree in Architecture, Industrial Design, Engineering, Graphic Design, Construction, Planning, or related field preferred (equivalent professional experience and a strong design portfolio may be considered in place of formal education)

Why this role matters

Nscale requires a single creative owner for conceptual design, Basis of Design templates, visual standards, and repeatable datacenter form factors. Global development speed depends on having reusable planning-level design concepts that can be quickly adapted across sites and markets, while design execution teams and A/E firms need clear, high-quality conceptual packages to reduce ambiguity and accelerate detailed design. Senior leadership needs compelling visual collateral for board materials, customer discussions, partner engagement, public-facing presentations, and market positioning — and Nscale needs a creative design innovation leader who can leverage AI, 3D modeling, 3D printing, and 3D scanning to push the boundaries of datacenter infrastructure.

What We Can Offer You

At Nscale, you'll find a collaborative, supportive, and innovative environment where your contributions spark real impact. We're building something extraordinary, and we want you at the core.

- Highly competitive package (base + equity) with reviews every 12 months. 🚀
- Join the fastest-growing tech startup, your chance to push boundaries, collaborate with brilliant minds, and make your mark on cutting-edge AI. ✨
- Expect a dynamic progression plan tailored to your ambitions. Grow by trying new things, leading, challenging the status quo, and owning your impact, always with our full support.
- Human-First Flexibility: We treat you as humans first. 🫶🏽 Our flexible workplace trusts Nscalers to deliver, giving you the autonomy to shape your day around life's moments.

Equal Opportunities Statement

At NScale, we are committed to fostering an inclusive, diverse, and equitable workplace. We believe that a variety of perspectives enriches our work environment, and we encourage applications from candidates of all backgrounds, experiences, and abilities. We strongly encourage applications from people of colour, the LGBTQ+ community, people with disabilities, neurodivergent people, parents, carers, and people from lower socio-economic backgrounds.

If there's anything we can do to accommodate your specific situation, please let us know.

For information on how Nscale handles candidate personal data, please see our Employee & Candidate Privacy Notice: Here.