Senior Director of Community Engagement (Remote)

DataBank (DataBank Holdings)•Dallas, GA

6d•Remote

About The Position

DataBank is seeking an experienced community engagement professional to lead the company's non-elected stakeholder engagement strategy across established markets, expansion sites, and new market entries. This role owns the relationship between DataBank and the schools, homeowner associations, sports leagues, chambers of commerce, labor organizations, faith communities, and civic groups that shape how a community experiences a new or growing data center. The role executes DataBank's Community Engagement Playbook end to end: building stakeholder maps, running listening tours and open houses, translating community feedback into charitable and volunteer commitments, and sustaining those relationships over time. This is a highly cross-functional role. The successful candidate will coordinate closely with DataBank's Construction team on project milestones and site-level impacts, with Corporate Development on the community context of newly acquired sites, and with Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability on aligning local commitments with broader environmental and community priorities. The role reports to the SVP of Marketing and will be expected to operate with a high degree of independent judgment while keeping internal stakeholders aligned. DataBank operates in a sector where public sentiment toward new infrastructure can shift quickly and where a small number of vocal opponents can materially affect a project's timeline and reputation. Candidates with direct experience managing community engagement in the face of organized public opposition, in comparable industries such as wireless and telecommunications infrastructure, energy and utilities, or other industrial or power infrastructure development, are strongly preferred. The role also carries a light regulatory-monitoring responsibility: tracking Data Center Coalition (DCC) communications and meetings and other industry or business groups DataBank joins, and flagging developments that could affect corporate development, construction, or community engagement strategy to leadership. This is a monitoring and reporting function, not a substitute for a dedicated government affairs role, and does not include outreach to elected or legislative officials.

Requirements

8+ years (Director) or 12+ years (Senior Director) of experience in community engagement, community relations, public affairs, or corporate communications, with a track record of designing and running structured stakeholder engagement programs.
Direct experience engaging communities around a physical infrastructure project that faced, or had the potential to face, organized public opposition. Relevant industries include wireless and telecommunications infrastructure (e.g., cell tower or small-cell siting), energy and utilities, industrial development, transportation infrastructure, or data centers.
Demonstrated project management skills, including the ability to run multiple concurrent, multi-stakeholder engagement processes across geographically dispersed markets.
Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to translate technical or industry-specific concepts into plain language for non-technical community audiences.
Comfort operating cross-functionally with legal, government relations, construction, and sustainability colleagues, and the judgment to know when to escalate a sensitive community issue.
Willingness to travel frequently, including to markets outside the candidate's home base, on a schedule that may include evening or weekend community events.
Bachelor's degree in communications, public affairs, urban planning, political science, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience.
Comfort tracking and synthesizing regulatory, legislative, or industry-association communications for a non-specialist business audience; prior government affairs or lobbying experience is not required.

Nice To Haves

Experience specifically within the data center, colocation, or broader digital infrastructure industry.
Existing relationships with national or regional organizations relevant to DataBank's charitable focus areas (education and workforce development, emergency services, environment and sustainability, economic development).
Experience managing or building out a community engagement function, including hiring and developing future team members as DataBank's site portfolio grows.
Familiarity with land use, zoning, or permitting processes sufficient to understand how community engagement interacts with (but remains distinct from) regulatory work.
Familiarity with the Data Center Coalition or similar industry or trade associations, and experience participating in or monitoring industry-coalition meetings and communications.

Responsibilities

Build and maintain detailed non-elected stakeholder maps for each active or prospective DataBank market, covering schools, homeowner and neighborhood associations, sports leagues, chambers of commerce, organized labor, faith communities, civic clubs, and related organizations.
Plan and lead listening tours, one-on-one stakeholder meetings, facility open houses, and community update events across all three engagement scenarios described in DataBank's Community Engagement Playbook: established markets with no expansion planned, established markets undergoing expansion, and new market entries.
Synthesize stakeholder feedback into documented community needs assessments and use them to guide charitable and volunteer commitments, drawing on DataBank's activity library and existing local partnerships.
Own the stakeholder tracking log and feedback intake process for every market, ensuring commitments are tracked to completion and reported back to the community.
Manage relationships with existing charitable and community partners and identify new partnership opportunities aligned with locally identified needs and available budget.
Work with the Construction team to understand project timelines, site-level impacts, and hiring plans so engagement materials and open houses reflect accurate, current information.
Partner with Corporate Development on newly identified sites to begin stakeholder mapping and early relationship-building once land and zoning are secured.
Align local charitable and volunteer commitments with Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability priorities, particularly on environmental topics such as water stewardship and energy use where community concern is often highest.
Coordinate all charitable giving and community volunteer activities with the rest of the Marketing team (Events/PR/Social Media) and the Culture/Volunteer/Employee Resource Group leads.
Brief the SVP of Marketing and other executive stakeholders regularly on community sentiment, program status, and emerging issues.
Monitor Data Center Coalition (DCC) communications and meetings, attending a subset of calls and working groups relevant to DataBank's active and prospective markets.
Monitor communications and, where useful, meetings of other industry or business groups DataBank joins (e.g. national advocacy groups, regional business associations, local chambers of commerce), for developments relevant to DataBank.
Screen monitored developments for relevance to corporate development, construction, or community engagement strategy, and route material or time-sensitive items to leadership promptly.
Maintain a simple log of monitored items and their disposition and summarize lower-urgency developments in a periodic (recommended monthly) update to leadership.
Share regulatory-monitoring findings with Corporate Development so intelligence feeds development and engagement planning; this responsibility does not replace or anticipate a dedicated government affairs function.
Escalate anything requiring legal, government relations, or executive attention rather than acting on it directly. This role does not include outreach to elected officials, legislators, or their staff, and does not include testimony, lobbying, or public advocacy positions on DataBank's behalf.
Develop plain-language materials for community audiences that explain DataBank's projects, operations, and community commitments without industry jargon.
Prepare internal and external reporting on community engagement activity, including annual community impact summaries and updates for executive leadership.
Serve as a visible, credible DataBank representative and spokesperson at community events, open houses, and stakeholder meetings.
Manage the community engagement and charitable giving budget across markets, ensuring spend is tied to documented community feedback.
Evaluate and manage relationships with any external vendors supporting engagement activity, such as event logistics, video and film capture, translation and accessibility services, or community relations consultants.