Data Center Design Manager

Position Summary

The Manager of Data Center Design plays a key role in advancing the efficiency, scalability, and innovation of data center infrastructure. This individual is responsible for leading design and build initiatives in coordination with engineering, commissioning, and project management teams. The role emphasizes strategic planning, operational alignment, and technical excellence to ensure that all designs support long-term reliability, performance, and customer needs.

This position reports directly to the Vice President or Senior Vice President of Operations.

Core Responsibilities

Operational Strategy & Execution

• Drive enhancements in data center design by applying Lean, Six Sigma, ITIL, or similar frameworks.

• Analyze current processes to identify inefficiencies or risks and lead the implementation of corrective strategies.

• Define and monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) to track uptime, availability, and service quality.

• Oversee commissioning activities for both new builds and expansions, ensuring operational readiness.

• Develop control strategies to fine-tune operational performance and infrastructure monitoring.

Innovation & Technology Integration

• Research and evaluate next-generation technologies to improve infrastructure design and construction efficiency.

• Define design principles and technical standards that align with evolving client and operational requirements.

• Collaborate with internal stakeholders across engineering, facilities, and IT security to pilot and scale innovative solutions.

• Promote a culture of continuous improvement and creative problem-solving within project and design teams.

Project & Program Oversight

• Lead initiatives focused on cost savings, energy efficiency, and system scalability.

• Create design concepts and perform feasibility assessments for new projects.

• Assemble cross-functional teams, including external architecture and engineering partners.

• Develop capital budgets and coordinate with finance and engineering to validate scope and funding.

• Oversee contractor selection and manage build timelines to ensure projects meet budgetary and delivery goals.

• Maintain accountability for quality assurance and operational integration throughout the lifecycle of data center builds.

Team Leadership & Collaboration

• Manage and mentor a team of engineers, analysts, and technical professionals.

• Partner with executive stakeholders to define and implement strategies that align data center design with broader business goals.

• Communicate key project outcomes and performance metrics to senior leadership.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering (Mechanical, Electrical, or Structural), Computer Science, Business Administration, or a related discipline. Master's degree is a plus.

• Minimum 10 years of experience in data center design, engineering, or infrastructure operations.

• Deep understanding of power system redundancy, including block/distributed configurations and load striping.

• Proven experience designing data halls for high-density environments using both air-cooled and liquid-cooled systems.

• Familiarity with transient load analysis and modeling to ensure infrastructure compliance with SLA obligations.

• Experience in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) for validating and optimizing thermal performance across varying operational conditions.

• Expertise in developing control strategies to improve power usage effectiveness (PUE).

• Demonstrated success in leading process improvement or innovation projects in complex technical environments.

• Strong working knowledge of data center technologies, including power systems, cooling, networking, and virtualization.

• Relevant certifications such as PMP, ITIL, Six Sigma (Black/Green Belt), or CDCDP are highly desirable.

• Experience working across different Tier levels and redundancy models.

Preferred Skills

• Hands-on experience with hyperscale or large-scale enterprise data centers.

• Understanding of environmental sustainability initiatives and ESG best practices in the data center sector.

• Awareness of cloud and hybrid infrastructure design principles.

• Experience deploying or supporting high-density compute environments.