Senior Director - Data Center Operations

Job Description

Location: Northern Virginia / Ashburn, VA

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About the opportunity

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We are supporting a growing digital infrastructure platform with the continued expansion of its data center operations capability across Northern Virginia.

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The business develops and operates large-scale mission-critical infrastructure supporting hyperscale, cloud and enterprise customers, with significant ongoing investment across the region.

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As part of this growth, we are interested in speaking with senior data center operations leaders who have experience managing large-scale campuses, critical infrastructure and technical operations teams.

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This role would suit an experienced Director, Senior Director or campus operations leader who combines strong technical knowledge with the ability to lead teams, manage customers and take ownership of a highly available mission-critical environment.

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Responsibilities

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• Provide senior leadership across data center operations, critical facilities and mission-critical infrastructure.
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• Lead campus-level operational teams responsible for a 24/7 data center environment.
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• Ensure safe and reliable operation of electrical, mechanical and cooling infrastructure.
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• Maintain strict uptime, availability and SLA performance across critical facilities.
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• Lead and develop Data Center Managers, Critical Facilities Managers, engineers and technical operations teams.
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• Oversee preventative and corrective maintenance programs across critical infrastructure.
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• Review and approve Methods of Procedure, change controls, maintenance activity and emergency work.
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• Support commissioning, expansion, capacity upgrades and new data hall deployments.
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• Work closely with construction, engineering, commissioning and development teams during campus growth.
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• Own or contribute to operational and capital expenditure budgets.
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• Drive operational efficiency, process improvement and standardisation across facilities.
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• Ensure compliance with company safety procedures, regulatory requirements and industry best practice.
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• Monitor operational performance through KPIs covering availability, maintenance, incidents, capacity and service delivery.
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• Support customer installations and ensure work within the facility meets operational and engineering standards.
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• Develop procedures, documentation and operating standards for mission-critical environments.
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• Travel occasionally to other US data center locations for leadership meetings, project support and operational reviews.
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Preferred background

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• 10+ years of experience within data center mission-critical facilities
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• Significant leadership experience within a data center operator, hyperscaler, colocation provider or similarly critical environment.
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• Experience leading campus-level or multi-site data center operations.
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• Strong understanding of mission-critical electrical infrastructure including UPS, generators, switchgear, transformers, ATS/STS and PDUs.
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• Strong understanding of cooling and mechanical infrastructure including chillers, CRAH/CRAC systems, pumps and associated controls.
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• Experience managing maintenance programmes and critical facility procedures.
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• Experience supporting commissioning and large-scale data center expansion projects.
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• Strong understanding of change management, MOPs, SOPs and EOPs.
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• Proven experience managing and developing technical managers and engineering teams.
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• Experience managing operational and capital budgets.
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• Comfortable working directly with hyperscale, cloud or enterprise customers.
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• Strong understanding of safety requirements within mission-critical environments.
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• Engineering, electrical, mechanical or technical degree preferred but not essential where equivalent experience can be demonstrated.
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• Ability to work primarily onsite within Northern Virginia, with occasional travel as required.
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