Senior Director – Data Center Delivery

• Remote: Remote
• Type: Contract
• Job #23236

Job Title: Senior Director – Data Center Delivery
Reports To: Vice President of Delivery
Department: Contingent Staffing
FSLA Status: Exempt

Location: Remote, but must be willing to travel.
Salary: TBD

**THIS IS A CONTRACTED POSITION**

Senior Director, Data Center Delivery (Hybrid) (Build a large-scale org that spans Structural, Low Voltage, Quality Assurance, Site Acceptance and Ops Readiness and can build workflows and processes that can span any time of DC delivery model; create agility ie modularity)

Job Summary
The Senior Director of Data Center Delivery is a senior strategic leadership role responsible for driving enterprise-level alignment, delivery strategy, and cross-functional execution across large-scale data center infrastructure programs. This leader will serve as a key connector across Solution Architecture, Design Engineering, Construction, Site Engineering, Staging, Installation, Integration, Commissioning, Operations, Finance, Procurement, Legal, Risk, and executive stakeholder groups to ensure data center delivery programs are planned, governed, and executed with consistency, quality, and business impact.
This role requires a leader who can operate beyond project-level execution and provide strategic direction across the full data center delivery lifecycle. The Senior Director will establish delivery frameworks, governance models, performance standards, stakeholder engagement mechanisms, and cross-functional operating rhythms that improve delivery certainty across colocation, hyperscale, and mission-critical infrastructure programs.
The Senior Director will be accountable for translating organizational goals into executable delivery strategies, ensuring that technical standards, business priorities, construction execution, operational readiness, and vendor performance are aligned. This includes leading cross-organization decision-making, identifying systemic risks, removing barriers to execution, and ensuring project teams, colocation providers, engineering partners, and business stakeholders operate from a shared strategy and set of expectations.
This is a highly visible leadership position requiring executive presence, strong technical depth, strategic judgment, and the ability to influence across teams that may not directly report into the role. The ideal candidate will bring proven experience leading complex data center construction and delivery programs while also building scalable processes, improving organizational maturity, and strengthening accountability across the full delivery ecosystem.

Strategic Leadership Responsibilities

• Define and lead the strategic delivery vision for large-scale data center construction, colocation, and infrastructure delivery programs.
• Establish enterprise-level delivery standards, governance models, operating mechanisms, and performance expectations to improve consistency, predictability, and accountability across programs.
• Serve as a senior cross-functional leader connecting Solution Architecture, Design Standards, Site Engineering, Construction, Staging, Installation, Integration, Commissioning, Operations, Procurement, Finance, Legal, and executive leadership.
• Translate long-term business objectives into actionable infrastructure delivery strategies that optimize speed, quality, cost, risk, operational readiness, and scalability.
• Lead cross-organization planning efforts to ensure data center delivery programs are aligned with capacity needs, commercial commitments, technical standards, and operational requirements.
• Drive strategic decision-making across competing priorities, balancing business urgency, construction realities, technical risk, quality expectations, and long-term infrastructure performance.
• Identify systemic delivery risks, organizational gaps, dependency issues, and process inefficiencies; develop strategies to resolve root causes and improve future program execution.
• Influence senior stakeholders, colocation providers, vendors, contractors, and internal teams to drive alignment, accountability, and timely decision-making.

Cross-Functional Delivery Leadership (Drive Colo and new construction processes and outcomes; leverage the commercial realm as the baseline)

• Lead the integration of solution architecture, design standards, engineering specifications, construction execution, staging plans, installation methods, integration requirements, site acceptance, and project handoff processes.
• Ensure technical requirements and business objectives are translated into clear, executable delivery plans across all project phases.
• Partner with Solution Architecture and Design Engineering teams to ensure design standards, best practices, and technical requirements are consistently implemented across colocation and data center delivery programs.
• Coordinate with Site Engineering, Construction, Commissioning, Operations, and Integration teams to ensure projects move seamlessly from design intent to field execution and operational readiness.
• Establish clear ownership, decision rights, escalation paths, and quality gates across functional teams and delivery partners.
• Lead stakeholder engagement across internal and external organizations to ensure transparency, alignment, and proactive issue resolution.
• Drive alignment between base building, MEP infrastructure, tenant fit-out, white space delivery, installation, commissioning, and site acceptance activities.
• Ensure handoff packages, acceptance criteria, integration deliverables, operational documentation, and quality records are complete, accurate, and ready for long-term operational use.

Quality, Standards, and Continuous Improvement (Build an org dedicated to this element with resulting artifacts that can span any delivery program)

• Lead quality control management of key deliverables across the full delivery lifecycle, including design packages, staging plans, installation specifications, integration requirements, commissioning inputs, acceptance documentation, and handoff materials.
• Establish and enforce quality gates to ensure deliverables meet technical, operational, regulatory, and business requirements before advancing to the next project phase.
• Drive continuous improvement across delivery standards, construction oversight practices, site engineering processes, vendor performance, and handoff readiness.
• Ensure lessons learned from project execution, site acceptance, operational handoffs, and post-delivery performance are incorporated into future standards and delivery practices.
• Partner with design, engineering, construction, and operations leaders to improve consistency across markets, providers, and project teams.
• Promote best practices that improve delivery speed, reduce rework, strengthen quality, and enhance long-term operational reliability.
• Stay current on industry trends, emerging technologies, construction innovation, sustainability practices, and mission-critical infrastructure delivery models.

 

Program Oversight and Execution Governance (Build an org of project managers that drive same model, deliverable outcomes, same processes etc.)

• Provide senior leadership oversight for complex data center construction and colocation projects delivered by external providers, contractors, and internal teams.
• Evaluate project health across schedule, cost, quality, risk, scope, vendor performance, design readiness, construction progress, commissioning, and operational handoff.
• Develop and maintain executive-level visibility into delivery risks, milestone performance, critical dependencies, and business impacts.
• Lead governance forums, project reviews, risk reviews, executive briefings, and cross-functional escalation discussions.
• Partner with colocation providers to review construction execution, identify risk profiles, resolve delivery gaps, and improve provider performance.
• Ensure project schedules are realistic, integrated, and aligned across design, construction, procurement, staging, installation, commissioning, and operations.
• Drive consistent use of project controls, quality management practices, risk registers, issue tracking, executive reporting, and lessons learned.
• Conduct regular site reviews to assess execution quality, coordination effectiveness, schedule progress, field risk, and readiness for acceptance.

Vendor, Provider, and Stakeholder Leadership (Build a strong quality control and acceptance model to drive excellence in vendor deliverables, costing and final site acceptance; build in retainers if need be to keep vendors delivering; result site acceptance packages)

• Serve as a senior relationship leader for colocation providers, general contractors, vendors, consultants, and strategic delivery partners.
• Provide structured performance feedback to colocation providers and delivery partners to support accountability and continuous improvement.
• Lead high-stakes vendor and provider discussions related to schedule risk, quality issues, commercial impacts, delivery gaps, and corrective actions.
• Partner with Procurement, Legal, Finance, and business leadership to ensure vendor strategies, contracts, and delivery expectations support organizational goals.
• Build strong cross-functional relationships that enable faster issue resolution, clearer ownership, and improved delivery outcomes.
• Communicate effectively with executive stakeholders, translating technical and construction complexity into clear business impacts and recommended actions.

Required Skills and Experience

• Significant experience leading large-scale data center, colocation, hyperscale, or mission-critical infrastructure delivery programs.
• Strong strategic leadership capability with the ability to define vision, build operating models, influence senior stakeholders, and drive execution across multiple organizations.
• Proven ability to lead through influence across cross-functional teams, external providers, and matrixed organizations.
• Deep understanding of data center construction, including base building, civil, structural, architectural, mechanical, electrical, controls, plumbing, white space, commissioning, installation, integration, and operational handoff.
• Strong knowledge of solution architecture, design standards, site engineering, staging, installation specifications, site acceptance, quality control, and project handoff processes.
• Demonstrated ability to identify systemic delivery risks, develop mitigation strategies, and drive organizational improvements.
• Strong executive communication skills, including the ability to present project health, risks, tradeoffs, and recommendations to senior leadership.
• Experience managing colocation providers, contractors, vendors, consultants, and cross-functional internal stakeholders.
• Strong business judgment with the ability to balance speed, cost, quality, risk, and long-term operational outcomes.
• Excellent leadership, problem-solving, negotiation, and decision-making skills in fast-paced, high-complexity environments.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Construction Management, Engineering, Architecture, Business, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• Minimum of 8 years of experience in large-scale construction, infrastructure delivery, data center construction, colocation delivery, or mission-critical program leadership.
• Demonstrated experience leading construction or infrastructure delivery teams and influencing cross-functional organizations.
• Proven track record of delivering complex infrastructure programs while improving delivery standards, governance, stakeholder alignment, and organizational execution.
• Experience working with general contractors, colocation providers, hyperscalers, engineering teams, design teams, construction teams, and operations stakeholders.
• Ability to travel regularly to project sites and participate in meetings across multiple time zones.

Preferred Profile
The ideal candidate is a senior infrastructure delivery executive who combines deep data center construction expertise with strong strategic leadership, organizational influence, and cross-functional execution capability. This leader can move fluidly between executive strategy, technical decision-making, risk management, vendor accountability, field execution, and operational readiness.
They are a builder of scalable delivery systems, not only a manager of individual projects. They create alignment across organizations, establish clear standards and governance, remove barriers to execution, and ensure that every project is delivered with the quality, consistency, and readiness required to support long-term business growth.