Why your electrical engineers keep leaving for data centers (an engineering recruitment perspective)

Written by: Jamie Blackburn, TYG Principal Consultant

There’s been a real shift across the MEP construction and engineering world over the past few years, and pretty much every client I speak to is starting to feel it.

I was on the phone with one yesterday and they put it simply. Grads are fine. Leadership is manageable. But that mid to senior level engineer is where things are getting… painful.

And that’s exactly what we’re seeing across engineering recruitment right now.

Good electrical engineers are harder to find, commissioning professionals are juggling multiple offers, and more often than not, when someone resigns, they’re not disappearing, they’re just heading straight into data center work.

So what’s actually driving it?

The money plays a big part

No surprise here.

Data center projects are paying more, and in some cases, quite a bit more.

A five-year electrical engineer in traditional MEP might be sitting around $95k to $110k. Move into data centers and suddenly that jumps to $140k to $160k, sometimes without a PE, which tends to get people’s attention fairly quickly.

Add in bonuses and long-term project pipelines, and it becomes a pretty easy conversation for candidates to have with themselves.

The work is more interesting

It’s not just about money though.

Engineers want to solve complex problems, and data centers offer that in a way most commercial projects don’t.

24/7 uptime, high-density power systems, real redundancy, and commissioning that actually impacts performance. It’s technical, high stakes, and that naturally pulls in strong talent.

Growth feels faster

This is something that comes up a lot.

Traditional MEP can feel quite linear in terms of progression, whereas in the data center space, engineers are getting real technical ownership much earlier.

I spoke to someone recently, five years out of college, already leading design on a hyperscale project. That kind of exposure is hard to ignore… and even harder to compete with.

There just aren’t enough people

This is the underlying issue.

There aren’t enough mid to senior electrical engineers with strong power systems experience, and demand is only going up.

So you end up with data center developers, engineering recruiters, and construction staffing agencies all circling the same small group of people.

And right now, traditional MEP firms are often losing out.

So what can MEP firms do?

Saying it’s just about money doesn’t really get you very far. The firms that are holding onto people, or at least putting up a good fight, are doing a few things differently.

• They’re treating mission-critical work as a real focus, not just the occasional project.

  
  

• They’re creating technical career paths for engineers who don’t want to go into management.

• They’re being more realistic about compensation where it matters, rather than finding out too late during a resignation call.

• And importantly, they’re investing in development, whether that’s power systems, commissioning, or specialist training.

The other piece that often gets missed is how the story is told.

Data centers have a very clear narrative. They power the digital world, support AI, all the big, exciting stuff.

Traditional MEP firms don’t always sell their impact as well, even though they’re designing the buildings and infrastructure people rely on every day. Hospitals, labs, universities… not exactly small stuff.

Final thought

This isn’t really about data centers versus MEP.

It’s more a case of where opportunity, complexity, and money are flowing right now.

Engineers are moving because the work is interesting, the pay is competitive, and the growth feels real.

The opportunity is still there for MEP firms, but it does mean adapting, moving a bit faster, and being clearer about what you offer, both technically and financially.

From what we’re seeing across construction recruitment and engineering staffing, the firms that do that are the ones building stronger teams right now.

Are you losing people to data centers, or starting to hire from them? Reach out!