Data Center Administrator

Data Center Administrator - Contract - Dallas, TX - $40.00 - $55.00/hr.

The final salary or hourly wage, as applicable, paid to each candidate/applicant for this position is ultimately dependent on a variety of factors, including, but not limited to, the candidate's/applicant's qualifications, skills, and level of experience as well as the geographical location of the position.

The end client is unable to sponsor or transfer visas for this position; all parties authorized to work in the US without sponsorship are encouraged to apply.

Our client is seeking a Data Center Administrator in Dallas, TX.

Role Description
• The Data Center Administrator plays a critical role in supporting multi-site domestic data centers across the U.S.. This role ensures the operational integrity, accuracy, and efficiency of data center environments while coordinating hands-on work, vendors, logistics, and system administration tasks. The position requires approximately 25% travel to various data center locations.
This role works closely with engineering leadership, data center technicians, Smart Hands teams, and 3rd party service providers. A significant portion of work includes coordination, vendor oversight, and maintaining high standards of operational accuracy.
• Inventory, Asset & Logistics Management (20%)
Maintain accurate inventory across all data center locations, including racks, servers, network hardware, cabling, optics, spares, PDUs, and consumables, achieving 98%+ accuracy in DCIM/CMDB systems.
Manage all inbound and outbound logistics: RMA processing, packaging, compliance documentation, shipping coordination, and receiving.
Implement and maintain standardized labeling, barcode/RFID tracking, and chain of custody processes.
• Vendor & Partner Relationship Management (25%)
Act as the primary operational point of contact for data center providers, Smart Hands vendors, carriers, and hardware suppliers.
Track and report vendor performance against SLAs/SLOs, including onsite support, cross connects, deliveries, and maintenance windows.
Coordinate quotes, scheduling, and site access for rack expansions, structured cabling, and facility services.
Work with 3rd party onsite support organizations (e.g., Lead Core) and manage administrative oversight, troubleshooting varying quality across markets.
• Hands-On Data Center Operations (25%)
Travel up to 25% required (domestic and occasional international).
Perform or guide rack and stack hardware deployments, structured cabling, optics installation, patching, labeling, and hardware replacement according to MOP/SOP/EOP standards.
Conduct regular facility walkthroughs for safety, cleanliness, and compliance with change controls.
Perform inspections of power systems, breakers, airflow, alarms, and support incident triage and hardware diagnostics.
Utilize tools such as D SIM (open source) and support the migration to NetBox (non open source).
• Work Coordination & Scheduling (25%)
Plan and coordinate onsite work across multiple facilities involving engineers, vendors, and Smart Hands teams while minimizing operational impact.
Prepare and own MOP documentation and change requests; lead pre task briefs and post work validation.
Maintain a rolling 12 week schedule across:
Hardware deliveries
Installations
Decommissions
Maintenance windows
Tools & Technologies
DCIM / Inventory Systems: ServiceNow CMDB, D SIM, NetBox
ITSM / Change Management: ServiceNow
Monitoring & Telemetry: BMS dashboards, SNMP monitoring
Documentation: Visio, rack elevation tools, asset tracking systems

Skills & Requirements
• 3-5 years experience as a Data Center Administrator
Should have experience working in data center operations, hardware operations, or colocation facility management (multi site preferred).
• Must have Rack and stack deployment experience:
Structured cabling
Power distribution (single-phase & 3 phase)
Hardware troubleshooting
• Must have experience working with DCIM/CMDB systems (e.g., ServiceNow).
Proven vendor management and logistics coordination experience.
• Should have ability to read and interpret:
Power diagrams
Cooling diagrams
Breaker panels and PDUs
Thermal/airflow data
• Must have strong documentation skills and cross functional communication.
• Experience forecasting space, power, and cooling capacity; building business cases for expansion.
• Networking fundamentals (fiber types, optics, cross connects, DWDM basics).
Familiarity with server platforms.
• Experience with basic scripting (Python, PowerShell) to support automation, inventory, reporting, or capacity analysis.
• BICSI
• DCPro
• DCPMM
• CDCP / CDCS
• ITIL (v3 or v4)

Benefits/Other Compensation

This position is a contract/temporary role where Hays offers you the opportunity to enroll in full medical benefits, dental benefits, vision benefits, 401K and Life Insurance ($20,000 benefit).

Why Hays?

You will be working with a professional recruiter who has intimate knowledge of the industry and market trends. Your Hays recruiter will lead you through a thorough screening process in order to understand your skills, experience, needs, and drivers. You will also get support on resume writing, interview tips, and career planning, so when there's a position you really want, you're fully prepared to get it.

Nervous about an upcoming interview? Unsure how to write a new resume?

Visit the Hays Career Advice section to learn top tips to help you stand out from the crowd when job hunting.

Hays is committed to building a thriving culture of diversity that embraces people with different backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences. We believe that the more inclusive we are, the better we serve our candidates, clients, and employees. We are an equal employment opportunity employer, and we comply with all applicable laws prohibiting discrimination based on race, color, creed, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, or gender identity), age, national origin or ancestry, physical or mental disability, veteran status, marital status, genetic information, HIV-positive status, as well as any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law. One of Hays' guiding principles is 'do the right thing'.
We also believe that actions speak louder than words.
In that regard, we train our staff on ensuring inclusivity throughout the entire recruitment process and counsel our clients on these principles. If you have any questions about Hays or any of our processes, please contact us.

In accordance with applicable federal, state, and local law protecting qualified individuals with known disabilities, Hays will attempt to reasonably accommodate those individuals unless doing so would create an undue hardship on the company. Any qualified applicant or consultant with a disability who requires an accommodation in order to perform the essential functions of the job should call or text View phone number on click.appcast.io.

Drug testing may be required; please contact a recruiter for more information.

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