Director, Design Management

Job Description

Job Description:\n\n \n \n \n \n \n CoreWeave is The Essential Cloud for AI™. Built for pioneers by pioneers, CoreWeave delivers a platform of technology, tools, and teams that enables innovators to build and scale AI with confidence. Trusted by leading AI labs, startups, and global enterprises, CoreWeave combines superior infrastructure performance with deep technical expertise to accelerate breakthroughs and turn compute into capability. Founded in 2017, CoreWeave became a publicly traded company (Nasdaq: CRWV) in March 2025. Learn more at \n \n \n \n \nWhat You'll Do \nThe Data Center Design team is responsible for managing the delivery of architectural, engineering, and technology designs across CoreWeave's global data center portfolio. The team coordinates the design lifecycle from early-stage project definition through construction, commissioning support and IT deployment, ensuring CoreWeave's technical requirements are incorporated into each project and delivered in accordance with established scope, schedule, budget, and quality expectations.\nWorking in partnership with the Data Center Engineering and Data Center Technology teams, Design Management integrates the work of internal subject matter experts, data center providers, architects, engineers, consultants, contractors, and equipment suppliers. Through disciplined project leadership, design coordination, and consistent execution, the team enables CoreWeave to rapidly and reliably expand its physical infrastructure to support next-generation, high-density compute workloads.About the Role\nWe are seeking an accomplished Director level individual to lead the Design Management team responsible for overseeing project management across CoreWeave's data center portfolio. This individual will supervise, mentor, and develop a team of Design Managers, ensuring they have the direction, resources, processes, and cross-functional support required to deliver successful projects.\nThe Director will serve as CoreWeave's subject matter expert in design project management, with a professional foundation in MEP, Architectural, Civil, or a related engineering discipline. This role will be accountable for the management and coordination of multidisciplinary design activities across Greenfield developments, build-to-suit facilities, leased data centers, tenant fit-outs, renovations, infrastructure upgrades, and equipment replacement projects.\nAs a peer to the Director, Data Center Engineering and Director, Data Center Technology, the Director, Design Management will focus on design execution, project governance, resource allocation, consultant performance, and portfolio delivery. The role will partner closely with these technical leaders and their subject matter experts to ensure MEP, architectural, civil, low-voltage, structured cabling, and other technical requirements are incorporated into coordinated, constructible, and executable project designs.\nThe Director will also serve as the senior escalation point for design delivery issues, providing leadership in resolving scope gaps, coordination conflicts, schedule constraints, consultant performance concerns, and other risks that could affect project outcomes. This individual will maintain portfolio-level visibility while remaining capable of engaging directly in complex or distressed projects when additional leadership is required.\n\n 20% travel required to various data center sites.\nIn this role, you will:\n\n Team Leadership & Development: Lead, manage, mentor, and develop a team of Design Managers. Establish clear expectations, provide ongoing coaching, evaluate performance, and support the continued growth of a high-performing team.\n Portfolio Design Delivery: Maintain oversight of design delivery across a portfolio of concurrent data center projects, ensuring each project is progressing in accordance with approved scope, schedule, budget, quality, and business requirements.\n Design Project Management Expertise: Serve as the organizational subject matter expert for data center design project management, establishing consistent methods for planning, coordinating, tracking, and delivering multidisciplinary design activities.\n Project Assignment & Resource Management: Assign Design Managers to projects based on complexity, geography, schedule, risk, and business priority. Monitor team capacity and develop staffing or consultant strategies to address resource constraints.\n Design Delivery Governance: Establish and administer design management processes, deliverable requirements, project controls, meeting structures, review milestones, decision logs, risk registers, change controls, and escalation pathways.\n Consultant & Provider Management: Oversee the performance of data center providers, architects, engineers, and other professional consultants. Establish expectations for deliverable quality, responsiveness, schedule performance, coordination, and adherence to contractual requirements.\n Executive Escalation & Risk Resolution: Serve as the senior escalation point for design delivery risks, unresolved coordination issues, scope gaps, consultant performance concerns, and decisions affecting project cost or schedule.\n Standards Implementation: Ensure CoreWeave's Design & Engineering Guidelines, Basis of Design, technology standards, and project-specific requirements are communicated to external partners and consistently incorporated into project deliverables.\n Design Quality & Completeness: Establish expectations for interdisciplinary coordination, constructability, document completeness, quality control, and resolution of review comments. Participate in critical design reviews and page-turn meetings for high-risk or strategically important projects.\n Budget & Schedule Coordination: Partner with Construction Management, Finance, and other stakeholders to develop and monitor design schedules, consultant budgets, forecasts, and key milestones. Ensure design activities support procurement, construction, commissioning, and customer deployment requirements.\n Design Change Management: Establish disciplined processes for evaluating and documenting design changes, including their effects on project scope, cost, schedule, constructability, operations, and technical performance.\n RFP & Consultant Selection: Lead or support the development of RFPs, evaluation of proposals, selection of A/E consultants and other design partners, negotiation of scopes and fees, and ongoing management of consultant contracts and invoices.\n OFCI Equipment Coordination: Ensure the Design Management team coordinates Owner-Furnished, Contractor-Installed equipment requirements with Engineering, Technology, Construction, Procurement, and external design teams.\n Construction & Commissioning Support: Ensure appropriate design support continues through construction and commissioning, including the timely resolution of RFIs, submittal reviews, field conditions, design clarifications, and changes affecting design intent.\n Executive & Portfolio Reporting: Provide executive leadership with clear reporting on design progress, project risks, consultant performance, key decisions, budgets, schedules, and issues requiring leadership action.\n Stakeholder Communication: Establish expectations for timely and effective communication across Design Management, Engineering, Technology, Construction, Operations, Capacity, Supply Chain, Network Engineering, and other project stakeholders.\n Project Handoffs: Ensure effective transitions between project development, design, procurement, construction, commissioning, and operations, with clear documentation of outstanding risks, decisions, and responsibilities.\n Process Improvement: Identify opportunities to improve design workflows, project gating, document control, consultant management, risk tracking, lessons learned, and overall consistency of project delivery.\n Continuous Improvement & Innovation: Collaborate with Engineering and Technology leadership to incorporate lessons learned, emerging technologies, and improved delivery practices into future projects.\nWho You Are\n\n Bachelor's degree in Mechanical, Electrical, Civil, Architectural or a related engineering discipline. Professional Engineer (PE), Registered Architect (RA), or equivalent professional licensure is a plus.\n 15+ years of progressively responsible experience in data center design, engineering, design management, construction, or project delivery, including at least 5 years in a leadership or people-management role.\n Demonstrated subject matter expertise in data center design project management, including management of scope, schedules, budgets, risks, consultants, design deliverables, technical reviews, and stakeholder decisions.\n Proven experience leading and developing Design Managers, Project Managers, engineers, architects, or other multidisciplinary professionals.\n Proven track record of successfully managing the design delivery of large-scale, high-density data center projects.\n Experience overseeing multiple concurrent projects across different locations, project phases, delivery models, and levels of complexity.\n Strong working knowledge of data center infrastructure, including power distribution, UPS systems, generators, cooling plants, liquid cooling, BMS and controls, life-safety systems, white space infrastructure, low-voltage systems, and structured cabling.\n Experience working with data center providers, real estate developers, A/E consultants, contractors, commissioning agents, equipment manufacturers, and other external partners.\n Strong understanding of design contracts, consultant scopes, design schedules, fee structures, change management, deliverables, and professional service provider performance.\n Excellent people-leadership skills, including the ability to establish accountability, manage performance, develop talent, and create an effective and collaborative team environment.\n Excellent written, verbal, and executive-level communication skills, with the ability to translate complex project and technical issues into clear business impacts, options, and recommendations.\n Ability to operate effectively in a fast-paced, dynamic environment while managing multiple projects, competing priorities, and evolving business requirements.\n Strong analytical, organizational, negotiation, and problem-solving skills.\n Professional certifications such as PMP, Uptime Institute, LEED, BICSI, or similar credentials are a plus.\n\nWondering if you're a good fit? We believe in investing in our people, and value candidates who can bring their own diversified experiences to our teams – even if you aren't a 100% skill or experience match. Here are a few qualities we've found compatible with our team. If some of this describes you, we'd love to talk. \n\n You are an experienced people leader who sets clear expectations, develops talent, and creates accountability while empowering your team to succeed.\n You can maintain a portfolio-level perspective while engaging directly in the details necessary to resolve critical project issues.\n You are a proactive problem-solver who can bring structure to ambiguity and translate technical and business requirements into actionable project plans.\n You identify developing risks early, establish practical mitigation strategies, and communicate recommendations confidently to senior and executive leadership.\n You build productive relationships among internal teams, data center providers, A/E firms, contractors, consultants, and equipment suppliers.\n You establish trust through sound judgment, consistent communication, disciplined execution, and a strong commitment to successful project outcomes.\nWhy CoreWeave?\nAt CoreWeave, we work hard, have fun, and move fast! We're in an exciting stage of hyper-growth that you will not want to miss out on. We're not afraid of a little chaos, and we're constantly learning. Our team cares deeply about how we build our product and how we work together, which is represented through our core values:\n\n Be Curious at Your Core\n Act Like an Owner\n Empower Employees\n Deliver Best-in-Class Client Experiences\n Achieve More Together\n\nWe support and encourage an entrepreneurial outlook and independent thinking. We foster an environment that encourages collaboration and enables the development of innovative solutions to complex problems. As we get set for takeoff, the organization's growth opportunities are constantly expanding. You will be surrounded by some of the best talent in the industry, who will want to learn from you, too. Come join us!\nThe base salary range for this role is $198,000 to $264,000. The starting salary will be determined by job-related knowledge, skills, experience, and the market location. We strive for both market alignment and internal equity when determining compensation. In addition to base salary, our total rewards package includes a discretionary bonus, equity awards, and a comprehensive benefits program (all based on eligibility).\n\n What We Offer\n The range we've posted represents the typical compensation range for this role. To determine actual compensation, we review the market rate for each candidate which can include a variety of factors. These include qualifications, experience, interview performance, and location.\n In addition to a competitive salary, we offer a variety of benefits to support your needs. The benefits below reflect our US-based offerings for full-time employees; for roles in other locations, benefits vary and are shared during the hiring process. These include:\n \n Medical, dental, and vision insurance - 100% paid for by CoreWeave\n Company-paid Life Insurance \n Voluntary supplemental life insurance \n Short and long-term disability insurance \n Flexible Spending Account\n Health Savings Account\n Tuition Reimbursement \n Ability to Participate in Employee Stock Purchase Program (ESPP)\n Mental Wellness Benefits through Spring Health \n Family-Forming support provided by Carrot\n Paid Parental Leave \n Flexible, full-service childcare support with Kinside\n 401(k) with a generous employer match\n Flexible PTO\n Catered lunch each day in our office and data center locations\n A casual work environment\n A work culture focused on innovative disruption\n \n California Applicants\n California Consumer Privacy Act \n Equal Opportunity & Accommodations\n CoreWeave is an equal opportunity employer, committed to fostering an inclusive and supportive workplace. All qualified applicants and candidates will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran status, or genetic information.\n As part of this commitment and consistent with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), CoreWeave will ensure that qualified applicants and candidates with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodations for the hiring process, unless such accommo