Talent Maps / Greenville-Spartanburg / Data Center Engineers

Greenville-Spartanburg Data Center Engineer Talent Map (2026)

What data center engineers earn in Greenville and Spartanburg, who employs them, where in the Upstate they work, and the colocation, self-powered and proposed campus projects competing for them.

Staffing a data center project?

A talent map shows where a group of professionals works, what they are paid and who else is trying to hire them. This one covers data center engineers in the Upstate’s two federal metro areas: Greenville-Anderson-Greer, which spans Greenville, Anderson, Pickens and Laurens counties, and Spartanburg, which covers Spartanburg and Union counties. Pay figures come from the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics wage survey (May 2025), and the project picture uses news and filings published from 2025 to 2026. Our data center recruiters update it as new data comes out. See also our Greenville-Spartanburg electrical, mechanical and controls engineer talent maps.

$101,620Median electrical engineer pay in metro Greenville, the main code for data center engineersBLS, May 2025

$101,570Median mechanical engineer pay in metro Greenville, the cooling side of the workBLS, May 2025

$2.8BValara computing center on a former Kohler plant site in Spartanburg CountySC Daily Gazette, 2026

450 MWTotal onsite gas generation Valara has asked state regulators to permitSC Daily Gazette, 2026

12.5 MWDartPoints’ Greenville data center after its $125M expansion, due July 2027Upstate Business Journal, 2025

1 yearSpartanburg County moratorium on most new data centers, approved September 2026WYFF, 2026

Data center engineer salaries in Greenville-Spartanburg

BLS has no data center engineer code. Most data center engineers are counted as electrical engineers (SOC 17-2071), with mechanical engineers (SOC 17-2141) covering cooling. The median electrical engineer in the Greenville-Anderson-Greer metro earns $101,620 a year. That is $3,180 above the South Carolina median of $98,440 and $19,010 below the national median of $120,630. The hourly median is $48.85.

Annual pay percentile	Greenville metro	Spartanburg metro	South Carolina	United States
10th percentile	$73,800	$72,800	$69,260	$76,550
25th percentile	$83,300	$87,360	$75,540	$92,830
Median	$101,620	$103,390	$98,440	$120,630
75th percentile	$128,650	$127,000	$128,060	$152,950
90th percentile	$165,270	$147,170	$156,330	$184,300

Electrical Engineers (SOC 17-2071). Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS, May 2025, via O*NET OnLine. Wage surveys run about a year behind current offers.

Mechanical engineers in metro Greenville earn a median of $101,570, which is $3,010 below South Carolina’s $104,580 and $2,540 below the national $104,110. The 10th percentile of $78,820 is higher than the national $73,990, and the 90th percentile is $165,710.

Mechanical engineers, annual pay	Greenville metro	Spartanburg metro	South Carolina	United States
10th percentile	$78,820	$76,250	$74,260	$73,990
25th percentile	$84,160	$85,620	$84,810	$84,130
Median	$101,570	$104,990	$104,580	$104,110
75th percentile	$133,560	$127,030	$133,480	$132,590
90th percentile	$165,710	$136,160	$166,340	$164,340

Mechanical Engineers (SOC 17-2141). Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS, May 2025, via O*NET OnLine. Wage surveys run about a year behind current offers.

Charlotte pays slightly more in the middle. Its electrical median is $103,360, $1,740 above Greenville’s, and its mechanical median is $101,950, $380 above. The gap is widest at the top, where Charlotte’s electrical 90th percentile is $213,210. The Upstate has a handful of colocation sites and one large self-powered campus under construction, so much of the local hiring is for critical power, onsite generation and facilities roles.

Where Greenville-Spartanburg’s data center work is

Colocation operators

DartPoints is adding 88,000 square feet to its data center at 78 Global Drive in Greenville and raising capacity from 2.5 MW to 12.5 MW. It owns four data centers in South Carolina.

DC BLOX’s Greenville site at 33 Global Drive offers up to 3 MW of critical load in phase one, expandable to 18 MW, and was the first multi-tenant data center in the state to earn Uptime Institute Tier III certification for a constructed data hall.

Large self-powered campus

NorthMark Strategies and its subsidiary Valara Holdings are converting a former Kohler plant on about 300 acres southeast of Spartanburg into a $2.8 billion computing center. NorthMark says it will not be used to train or run large language models.

The project is projected to use 460,000 gallons of water a day.

Proposed and stalled sites

The Lightstone Group’s proposed 200,000 square foot, 60 MW data center at 300 Jones Road was rejected by county staff and appealed. TigerDC withdrew its Spartanburg County incentive request in February 2026.

Suppliers and utilities

LEL International, a Spartanburg company, has built generator enclosures for the Valara site. Duke Energy plans a 1,365 MW gas plant in Anderson County, and Lockhart Power has argued that small data centers are good for the grid.

Where the talent sits: Greenville-Spartanburg submarkets

Global Business Park, Greenville

Colocation

DartPoints and DC BLOX sit near I-85 and Laurens Road, less than 2 miles from Clemson’s CU-ICAR campus.

South Pine Street, Spartanburg County

Large campusOnsite power

The Valara site has 24 permitted gas generators of 2 MW each and has asked for five 17 MW and six 54 MW combustion turbines.

Jones Road, northeast of Spartanburg

Proposed

The 300 Jones Road site sits near I-85. Its former owner sold 23 acres of the original property with a 44 MW bitcoin mining facility in 2023.

Anderson County

MoratoriumPower

Anderson County has a six-month data center moratorium. Duke’s new plant on Highway 81 South is due to serve customers by early 2031.

Laurens and nearby counties

Moratorium

Laurens, Greenwood and Newberry counties have approved one-year moratoriums. One-third of South Carolina’s counties have approved or are considering pauses.

What’s driving demand for data center engineers in Greenville-Spartanburg

Valara’s buildout. As of September 1, 2026, the first phase of 48 MW from 24 generators was weeks from going live, with 11 gas turbines adding about 400 MW planned for next year.
Regulatory decisions. On August 27, 2026, the Public Service Commission ruled Valara is not subject to the Utility Siting Act because it will not export power to the grid. A separate lawsuit over the county’s permitting continues, and on September 17, 2026, a judge took a request to halt construction under advisement.
Colocation growth. DartPoints’ expansion supports AI, enterprise and edge workloads and is due to open in July 2027.
Moratoriums. Spartanburg County’s one-year pause, approved in September 2026, does not affect data centers that received a permit within the past year or smaller proposals on existing industrial sites.
No state rules yet. Two Senate bills on data center siting, water and power costs did not reach a floor vote in the 2026 session. State Rep. Thomas Beach said a House bill requiring data centers to pay for their power and water infrastructure will be refiled in January.
Power supply. Duke’s Anderson County plant is set to start construction in summer 2027.

Data center specialties tied to these projects

Critical power engineers for UPS, generators and switchgear at colocation sites.
Onsite generation engineers for gas generators, turbines and emission controls at self-powered campuses.
Mechanical and cooling engineers for high-density and liquid-cooled halls.
Commissioning and facilities engineers for expansions such as DartPoints’ and DC BLOX’s.
Permitting and environmental engineers for air permits and land development reviews.

The talent pipeline

Clemson University. Clemson has ABET-accredited bachelor’s programs in electrical, computer and mechanical engineering.
Technical colleges. Greenville Technical College offers an Industrial Electricity certificate and a Mechatronics Technology degree, which feed data center technician roles.
Further reading. See our US data center map and top US data center markets for how the Upstate compares with larger markets, and how to hire data center engineers.
Licensing. Senior power and mechanical design roles usually require a South Carolina PE license from the SC State Board of Registration for Professional Engineers and Surveyors.

What this means if you’re hiring

Do not count on new hyperscale sites. Spartanburg and Anderson counties have paused most new data centers, so near-term hiring is for Valara and colocation expansions.
Look for generation skills. Self-powered sites need engineers who know gas generators and turbines, not just utility interconnection.
Pay for experience from outside the region. Greenville’s electrical median is $19,010 below the national figure.
Price senior roles at the 75th percentile. For electrical PEs, plan on $128,650 or higher, and $133,560 for mechanical.

Staffing an Upstate data center project?

Apollo Technical has recruited engineers since 2010. Our recruiting teams place data center, critical power, mechanical and commissioning engineers on a contract, contract-to-hire and direct hire basis.

Call 803.832.4646 or see our Greenville engineering recruiters page. For Spartanburg County roles, see our Spartanburg engineering recruiters page.

Hire data center talent

Frequently asked questions

How much do data center engineers make in Greenville?

BLS has no data center engineer code. The median electrical engineer salary in the Greenville-Anderson-Greer metro is $101,620 a year, and the median mechanical engineer earns $101,570, according to May 2025 BLS data. The top 10% of electrical engineers earn $165,270 or more.

Do data center engineers earn more in Greenville or Charlotte?

Charlotte, by a small margin at the median. Its electrical engineer median is $103,360 against $101,620 in Greenville, and its mechanical median is $101,950 against $101,570. See our Charlotte data center engineer talent map.

Who hires data center engineers in Greenville-Spartanburg?

Colocation operators such as DartPoints and DC BLOX, NorthMark Strategies at the Valara site in Spartanburg County, suppliers such as LEL International, and utilities such as Duke Energy and Lockhart Power.

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