Director, Design Management

Aligned Data Centers•Ashburn, VA

About The Position

It's fun to work in a company where people truly BELIEVE in what they're doing! We're committed to bringing passion and customer focus to the business. Director, Design Management - IAD Does the thought of joining one of the fastest-growing, privately held data center companies sound exciting to you? Do you enjoy collaborating with team members to drive and operate some of the industry’s leading and most innovative infrastructure solutions? At Aligned Data Centers, not only do we celebrate success across our platform, we celebrate the very teams that drive and support that success! Our culture is founded in passion, engineered from innovation, and driven by the pursuit of operational excellence. We are a company dedicated to driving positive change in the industry through continuous data center innovation, diversity and inclusion, and corporate sustainability. We realize not only is providing a comprehensive benefits package important, but we also provide a generous 401k match with immediate vesting, free membership to Gympass which provides our employees a rich health and wellness benefit and competitive time off plan. Giving back and having fun is important to our team whether it be serving our communities or employee and customer events. Our Aligned DNA is what makes us unique and successful! As part of our exciting growth, we are currently searching for a Director, Design Management. Working closely with the Regional Director, Platform Execution and other regional Directors, Design Management peers, this Director will develop best-in-class design management policies, procedures, tools and best practices. Taking on a leadership role within the organization, this individual will also be a key player in developing and implementing consistently across regions, a robust training and accountability program that ensures the performance of the Design Management team members. This Director will also possess an industry-leading reputation and history of providing leadership and direction in partner relationships, accountability, training and employee development, AHJ and supplier relationships, project and business predictability and profitability. This individual will oversee and support a team that leads all aspects of major technical programs that are targeting both colocation and hyperscale builds, including oversight of employee and third-party organizations engaged in the preconstruction, design, construction and commissioning phases. This role requires strong team management and communication skills and demonstrates advanced organizational and time management competencies. A successful Director, Design Management with Aligned will possess a hunger to drive efficiencies and innovation, the humility to understand we are all working together during the design and construction process, and a heart to provide exceptional service to both internal and external customers and vendors. This role will have and be responsible for the performance of all Design Managers reporting into it per geographic region.

Requirements

Design engineering experience, with at least 5 years of design team management experience.
Building design process and design deliverables management
Exposure to IPD, Design-Build, and/or construction management
Data center design/construction experience, especially with MEP systems
Project Management Software (MS Projects, Prolog, Procore, BIM 360, or similar)
Bachelor’s degree in Construction Management, Engineering or equivalent
12+ years progressive experience in successfully managing commercial construction project design programs, with data center experience required
Mechanical/Electrical background preferred
Deep network of leaders within the data center design and construction community
Ability to navigate AHJ’s within a particular region with depth of understanding of the positions within local zoning, permitting and inspection authorities.
Thorough understanding of various project delivery methods including IPD, Design-Build, and Design-Bid-Build.
Basic understanding of various contract methods including lump sum, CM at risk, open book GMP, etc
Advanced experience in Excel, Smartsheets and/or AutoCAD
Strong written and verbal communication skills
Ability to multi-task, with strong time and change management/organizational skills
Track record of mentoring and developing teams and individuals to take on new challenges and career opportunities
Ability to always maintain discretion and confidentiality
Ability to understand and follow clear directions and meet specific deadlines with reporting, communication and project schedules
Team player across the organization
Ability to interpret construction drawings and specifications
Knowledge of construction cost estimating methods and development of scopes of work.
Ability to understand construction project scopes.
Able to monitor and interpret design and schedule changes and forecast their impact on overall project costs

Nice To Haves

Knowledge and experience working with CAD is a plus

Responsibilities

Dual responsibility to direct day-to-day operations of design management programs and lead a team of 2-5 direct reports in a geographic region to:
Drive projects from inception through customer or business turnover, with heavy focus and leadership in the preconstruction and design phases of projects.
The Design Managers assume project lead role at design hand-off meeting from land enablement team and shifts overall project leadership to the Construction Manager (CM) at GC mobilization.
Main point of contact for design management team in particular campus or geographic region.
Works hand-in-hand with the regional Director, Construction Management to ensure performance certainty across all projects.
Direct the day-to-day design management operations and long-term strategic direction of projects.
Provide guidance and leadership throughout the entire lifecycle of projects, ensuring they are meeting or exceeding company expectations.
Develop and maintain deep-rooted industry relationships with leaders in the contracting community including design partners, AHJ’s, general contractors and trade partners.
Create effective tools to empower and incentivize design and contracting partners to innovate approaches and solutions for project delivery and specific challenges.
Coordination/communication with the land enablement group to ensure success with offsite improvements, early permitting, easements and environmental studies for all sites in the geographical region.
Collaborates with Director, Design Management peers in other regions to maintain consistency across all regions/projects.
Assists regional Director, Construction Management in collaborating/coordinating with other construction directors across all regions/projects.
Assist to interview, hire, and assure effective training and development of new and existing staff.
Reports status, successes, challenges, and plans of action to management team and company on a timely basis.
Develop, manage and be accountable for achievement of key departmental metrics.
Leads, evaluates, holds accountable and develops the regional Design Management team members in the following:
Coordination/creation of project risk registers from land enablement phase through project completion/turnover to Aligned Operations
Project design management: Coordinating onboarding of third-party design team and creation of design schedule to support project needs.
Overseeing management of external third-party design team through project completion/turnover to Aligned Operations.
Driving review and management of design deliverables; including stakeholder review and comment cycles.
Holding design teams accountable to design progression and design gating.
Working with SMEs, Operations, and CMs to ensure design compliance with Aligned Design Efficiency Capture (DEC).
Identifying design variances, tracks them and manages acquisition of necessary approvals, as required.
Enforcing design team’s accountability to Aligned’s Cost Control Log (CCL) and Complies, Deviates, Excludes (CDE) matrices.
Operating in lockstep with the CM on each project to ensure proper communications/escalations and regular reporting to all internal and external parties and leadership/management.
Creating, managing and updating project metrics in Smartsheets (project dashboards) for each project.
Owning or directing all administrative duties related to design management process.
Assisting CM with building and maintaining budget/cost models/all phase budgets for each project, specifically around design costs and timelines.
Working with CM to prepare and present all funding requests.
Coordinating with CM to prepare and present quarterly project updates for leadership.
In conjunction with CM, supports day-to-day program activities and initiatives (engage with architects, consultants, equipment providers, GCs, etc. Coordinate all project activities with building Operations while promoting safety and compliance initiatives and requirements on site).
Performs as the primary support role to the CM from GC mobilization to turnover to Operations.
Integrating with the sales and solutions engineering teams during the revenue generation process to meet with customers and ensure technical deliverables are met.
Interfacing with customer through fit-out design, construction and integration; accountable to successful delivery of customer contracts.
Managing the project with the business in mind and works to ensure project is meeting directives of CRC/SLT/Board.
Operating with a constant mindset of continuous improvement, creativity, efficiency and innovation.

Benefits

Aligned Data Centers is proud to offer a comprehensive benefits package to support the health, well-being, and financial security of our team members.
Eligible employees have access to:
Health Coverage: Medical, dental, and vision insurance
Health Savings and Flexible Spending Accounts: HSA with employer contribution for eligible participants. FSA's offered for health and dependent care to increase tax savings.
Retirement Savings: 401(k) plan with company match
Paid Time Off and Holiday Pay: Includes sick and safe leave as required by Maryland law
Company-Sponsored Insurance: Short-Term Disability, Life Insurance, and Long-Term Disability (with medical election)
Optional Benefits: Voluntary life, critical illness, legal, and additional disability coverage
Wellness Programs: Employee assistance program (EAP), Wellhub gym membership, and other wellness initiatives
medical, dental, vision, short and long disability, life insurance and other voluntary benefits, 401k with employer match, bonus opportunities, paid time off, wellness benefits and professional development opportunities, all designed to support your well-being and career growth.