Senior Director, Site Operations, NA

Vantage Data Centers•Ashburn, VA

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

Vantage Data Centers powers, cools, protects, and connects the technology for hyperscalers, cloud providers, and large enterprises across North America, EMEA, and Asia Pacific. The company focuses on innovative data center design to achieve reliability, efficiency, and sustainability. The Site Operations Department is responsible for the health of all mechanical and electrical systems, building maintenance, and performance of data modules, staffed 24x7 with Critical Facility Engineers (CFEs). This team is crucial for customer interaction and campus uptime, utilizing a Critical Maintenance Management System (CMMS) for preventative and corrective maintenance. The culture emphasizes direct engagement with customers and infrastructure, with the team performing most work in-house for superior, faster, and more cost-effective service. This Senior Director role, based in Ashburn, VA, leads overall operations for a sub-region of data center campuses, managing a team of managers/director-level positions. The position involves collaboration with various internal and external resources, managing workflow, training, event management, customer communications, hiring, and performance management. While not requiring an 'alpha' engineer, the role demands a mission-critical mindset and an excellent understanding of data center electrical and mechanical infrastructure systems to direct maintenance activities.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Facilities Management, or Business Administration preferred.
12+ years of progressive experience in mission-critical facilities, with 7–10 years in multi-site or regional leadership roles.
Demonstrated success leading large hyper-scale and enterprise-level data center portfolios or equivalent mission-critical environments.
Broad expertise in electrical, mechanical, and controls systems supporting mission-critical infrastructure.
Proven track record of managing large capital projects and reliability programs.
Familiarity with CMMS, BMS/EPMS, analytics platforms, and enterprise reporting tools.
Exceptional leadership, communication, and organizational influence.
Exceptional written and oral presentation skills.
Strong financial and business acumen, capable of managing multimillion-dollar regional budgets.
Experience in customer-facing executive roles, including client escalations and enterprise-level negotiations.
Ability to manage in a 24x7x365 environment with travel across regional facilities as needed.
Strong executive decision-making capability under pressure.
Commitment to safety, compliance, operational excellence, and customer satisfaction.

Nice To Haves

PMP (Project Management Professional)
CFM (Certified Facility Manager)
MBA or Executive Leadership certification
OSHA 30 / NFPA 70E Safety Training

Responsibilities

Provide executive leadership and strategic direction for multiple data center sites or a regional portfolio.
Define and drive operational strategy, ensuring consistency of standards, policies, and procedures across facilities.
Partner with executive leadership to align site operations with enterprise goals, customer SLAs, and long-term business objectives.
Anticipate growth needs and develop scalable operational strategies to support expansion, acquisitions, and future capacity.
Oversee the performance, reliability, and resilience of all assigned facilities, ensuring best-in-class uptime and operational readiness.
Standardize operational practices across sites, driving consistency in preventive maintenance, incident management, and reliability engineering.
Provide executive oversight for critical events, ensuring that After Action Reports (AAR), root cause analyses, and lessons learned are applied across the portfolio.
Develop and manage regional operating budgets and capital programs across multiple facilities.
Oversee CAPEX and OPEX performance, ensuring alignment with corporate financial objectives.
Optimize vendor strategy, service agreements, and procurement at scale to drive cost savings and efficiency.
Lead and mentor Site Directors and senior operations leaders across multiple facilities.
Ensure all facilities comply with corporate governance standards, EH&S policies, and regulatory requirements (OSHA, NFPA, ISO, etc.).
Establish and enforce regional risk management strategies, audit processes, and compliance frameworks.
Act as escalation point for critical safety, compliance, or operational risks.
Serve as senior liaison to enterprise customers, executive leadership, and key external partners.
Support high-level client escalations, audits, and strategic business reviews.
Represent data center operations in executive steering committees, board-level discussions, and investor tours and communications as needed.
Help to refine and oversee regional KPI framework, ensuring consistent reporting across all facilities.
Deliver consolidated performance reports (monthly, quarterly, annually) to corporate leadership, highlighting risk, reliability, safety, and financial metrics.
Use KPI data-driven trends to inform strategic decision-making and investment prioritization.
Ensure accountability by holding Site Directors and leadership teams to KPI-based performance goals.
Drive enterprise-level initiatives around automation, sustainability, energy and operational efficiencies, and resiliency.
Benchmark regional performance against industry leaders to ensure competitive advantage.
Sponsor innovation programs that enhance safety, reduce cost, and improve customer experience.
Foster a culture of continuous learning and operational excellence across the organization.
Ensure succession planning, leadership development, and a high-performance culture across all levels of operations staff.
Set workforce strategies, ensuring staffing models, shift coverage, and SME capabilities are standardized and future-ready.

Benefits

medical coverage
dental coverage
vision coverage
life and AD&D
short and long-term disability coverage
paid time off
employee assistance
participation in a 401k program that includes company match
many other additional voluntary benefits
above market total compensation package
comprehensive suite of health and welfare, retirement, and paid leave benefits exceeding local expectations
recognition
training and development