Director, Onsite Power Generation

Equinix•Tampa, FL

10d•$177,000 - $319,000•Onsite

About The Position

The Director, Onsite Power Generation will establish and lead Equinix’s enterprise strategy for onsite, behind-the-meter, and co-sited power generation across its global data center portfolio. This role will define where and how onsite power can accelerate capacity deployment, increase resiliency, bridge grid constraints, improve economics, and support sustainability objectives in mission-critical environments. The Director will build a globally consistent OSPG operating model—including technology-screening criteria, stage gates, commercial frameworks, design principles, governance, and execution handoffs—and partner closely with regional Energy, Design & Construction, Operations, Capacity, Sustainability, Finance, Procurement, and Legal teams to implement it. Success requires a data center operator’s mindset: balancing speed-to-power, uptime, scalability, redundancy, total cost of ownership, emissions, permitting, interconnection, and operational risk while converting strategy into a repeatable pipeline of executable projects.

Requirements

Progressive experience in data center energy, mission-critical infrastructure, distributed generation, power project development, infrastructure strategy, or a related field, including leadership of complex cross-functional programs. Typically 12+ years of experience.
Demonstrated experience building an enterprise strategy, operating model, playbook, or center-of-excellence capability and driving consistent adoption across multiple regions or business units.
Strong understanding of hyperscale, colocation, or large-scale data center development and operations, including speed-to-power, campus planning, critical-load growth, uptime, redundancy, commissioning, electrical infrastructure, and utility-capacity constraints.
Technical and commercial fluency across onsite generation, behind-the-meter power, fuel cells, gas turbines, reciprocating engines, battery energy storage, controls, fuel supply, and grid interconnection.
Experience originating, evaluating, structuring, and negotiating complex energy or infrastructure transactions, including PPAs, energy-as-a-service agreements, tolling arrangements, capacity agreements, leases, EPC interfaces, or asset-ownership models.
Proven success influencing regional and functional leaders without relying solely on direct authority, with the ability to resolve competing priorities and establish disciplined, repeatable processes.
Strong commercial judgment and experience translating technical requirements into portfolio priorities, total-cost-of-ownership analyses, risk allocation, contract protections, and investment recommendations.
Executive-level communication skills, including the ability to simplify complex technical, regulatory, commercial, and operational issues and build alignment around a clear decision and implementation path.

Nice To Haves

Direct experience at a hyperscaler, cloud service provider, colocation platform, data center developer/operator, or other owner/operator of mission-critical digital infrastructure.
Track record deploying onsite or bridge-power solutions for large, rapidly scaling critical loads, including navigating constrained-grid markets and accelerated time-to-market requirements.
Experience with reference designs, basis-of-design standards, design-for-reliability, modular deployment, N+1 or 2N architectures, islanding, black start, supervisory controls, and integration with critical-facility electrical systems.
Familiarity with utility interconnection, standby service, wholesale capacity markets, environmental permitting, air emissions, fuel procurement, commissioning, operations readiness, and commercial-operation requirements across multiple geographies.
Bachelor’s degree in engineering, energy, finance, business, or a related discipline; advanced degree preferred.

Responsibilities

Enterprise OSPG strategy: Own and continuously refine the global onsite power generation strategy, translating enterprise growth, speed-to-power, resiliency, sustainability, and cost objectives into clear priorities, technology pathways, and investment theses.
Global standards and playbooks: Develop and maintain a consistent OSPG playbook covering site screening, reference architectures, technology qualification, commercial models, stage gates, risk thresholds, governance, approvals, contracting, commissioning, and asset-management handoffs.
Regional implementation: Partner with regional teams to adapt the enterprise strategy to local market, regulatory, permitting, fuel, interconnection, and operating conditions while ensuring core processes, decision criteria, controls, and deliverables remain consistent within and across regions.
Portfolio development and governance: Establish a global pipeline and governance cadence to identify, prioritize, and advance onsite, co-sited, and distributed generation opportunities against capacity, schedule, resiliency, economics, carbon, and execution-readiness criteria.
Data center integration: Ensure OSPG solutions integrate with data center campus planning, utility capacity, electrical topology, redundancy architecture, controls, commissioning, load ramps, customer commitments, and critical-facility operating requirements.
Technology and commercial frameworks: Standardize evaluation and contracting approaches for fuel cells, gas turbines, reciprocating engines, linear generators, and battery technologies, including PPAs, energy-as-a-service, tolling, capacity, lease, and ownership structures.
Strategic partnerships and negotiations: Lead strategic relationships and complex negotiations with developers, IPPs, OEMs, EPCs, fuel suppliers, utilities, investors, and other counterparties; create scalable partnerships that can support multi-site and multi-region deployment.
Business case and risk management: Set standards for total-cost-of-ownership analysis and risk allocation, including availability, performance guarantees, liquidated damages, credit support, fuel and emissions exposure, change in law, outage remedies, schedule security, stranded-asset risk, and customer or revenue impacts.
Cross-functional operating model: Define decision rights, roles, interfaces, and escalation paths across global and regional Energy, Design & Construction, Operations, Capacity, Sustainability, Finance, Procurement, Legal, and Asset Management teams.
Executive leadership and market intelligence: Advise senior leaders on OSPG portfolio choices, capital allocation, strategic risks, market developments, and emerging technologies; communicate a clear roadmap, performance dashboard, and recommended actions.