Sr. Implementation Manager

Digital Realty•Ashburn, VA

4d•$140,000 - $150,000

About The Position

The Senior Implementation Manager leads the end-to-end delivery of complex customer implementations across data center facilities within the assigned region. The role oversees multiple simultaneous projects, including large-scale, high-value, and business-critical deployments, ensuring they are delivered safely, on time, within budget, to scope, and in accordance with customer, technical, contractual, quality, and operational requirements. Responsibilities span project planning and scheduling, financial management, procurement, vendor and stakeholder coordination, risk management, customer acceptance, and handover to Operations. The position serves as a primary customer interface, subject-matter expert, and escalation point for complex implementation delivery. It also provides guidance and mentoring to Implementation Managers and other team members, supports regional and global initiatives, and contributes to continuous improvement of project management and construction management practices, standards, tools, and procedures. The role includes local travel within the Northern Virginia market as project requirements dictate. The successful candidate will bring extensive experience leading complex projects in data center implementation, construction, telecommunications, engineering, infrastructure deployment, or mission-critical facilities. A bachelor’s degree in a relevant technical or business field is preferred, though equivalent relevant experience may be considered. The position requires strong data center infrastructure knowledge, financial and vendor management capabilities, technical-document interpretation skills, and advanced communication, analytical, organizational, and leadership skills.

Requirements

Extensive experience in data center implementation, construction, telecommunications, engineering, infrastructure deployment, or mission-critical facility environments, including independently leading complex projects.
Strong experience managing projects through the full lifecycle: planning, design coordination, procurement, construction or installation, commissioning, customer acceptance, financial closeout, and operational handover.
Advanced knowledge of data center infrastructure, including racks, cages, electrical distribution, structured or data cabling, network infrastructure, and customer deployment requirements.
Ability to read and interpret construction drawings, specifications, single-line or one-line diagrams, scopes of work, and other technical documentation.
Demonstrated experience managing material suppliers, contractors, and installation vendors through scoping, bidding, procurement, execution, commissioning, and closeout.
Strong working knowledge of project financial management, including budgets, Purchase Orders, forecasting, cost tracking, change management, and cost variance management.
Experience coordinating stakeholders across regions and time zones within a global organization.
Advanced proficiency with Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Project.
Experience with Salesforce, ServiceNow, Oracle, or comparable enterprise systems.
Ability to independently manage multiple concurrent complex projects across multiple data center sites.
Strong ownership and accountability for project scope, schedule, cost, quality, risk, documentation, and customer outcomes.
Ability to anticipate risks, identify dependencies and constraints, and develop practical mitigation and recovery plans.
Strong financial acumen and ability to manage budgets, Purchase Orders, forecasts, cost changes, and financial reporting.
Technical understanding of data center construction and implementation sufficient to challenge assumptions, identify risks, and coordinate with engineering, construction, Operations, and vendors.
Ability to lead through influence across cross-functional teams without direct reporting relationships.
Ability to manage difficult project situations and escalations while maintaining productive customer, vendor, and internal stakeholder relationships.
Strong judgment and decision-making, including when priorities conflict or information is incomplete and operational or schedule risks are present.
Advanced analytical, problem-solving, and quantitative skills.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including clear communication of project status, risks, decisions, and recommendations to customers, technical teams, and senior leadership.
Strong customer focus and ability to balance customer expectations with contractual scope, operational requirements, cost, risk, and schedule.
Ability to guide, mentor, and transfer knowledge to less-experienced Implementation Services team members.
Strong organizational and prioritization skills and ability to work effectively in a fast-paced, mission-critical environment.
Proactive, accountable, flexible, and solutions-oriented approach to project delivery.
Commitment to continuous improvement, standardization, knowledge sharing, and developing Implementation Services best practices.
Willingness to travel locally within the Northern Virginia market based on project requirements.

Nice To Haves

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Construction Management, Telecommunications, Computer Science, Business, Project Management, or a related technical field; equivalent relevant experience may be considered.
Project management certification such as PMP or equivalent.

Responsibilities

Lead assigned customer implementation projects according to contractual requirements, approved scope, budget, quality standards, and timelines.
Manage complex, large-scale, high-value, or high-visibility implementations from initial planning through customer acceptance and operational handover.
Act as a primary customer interface and coordinate communication with Customer Success Managers and other stakeholders.
Own project planning, including scope, milestones, schedules, resources, dependencies, quality, costs, risks, and delivery timelines.
Identify risks, schedule impacts, operational constraints, and implementation challenges; develop mitigation and recovery plans and escalate critical issues as needed.
Coordinate with internal teams including Design Engineering, Operations, Sales, Solution Engineering, Customer Success, Property teams, Remote Hands, Security, and Procurement.
Develop or coordinate Bills of Materials, Statements of Work, scopes, specifications, and other requirements for procurement and installation work.
Create and manage project Purchase Orders and document, track, and reconcile expenditures against approved budgets.
Manage contractors, material suppliers, installation vendors, Remote Hands technicians, and other delivery resources to meet contractual, quality, schedule, safety, and business requirements.
Oversee vendor performance across scoping, quotation, procurement, execution, issue resolution, and final delivery.
Support pre-sales and planning with implementation expertise, preliminary schedules, budget estimates, feasibility input, and delivery considerations.
Support RFP and vendor selection activities, including scope review, bid evaluation, quote comparison, and technical or operational assessment.
Manage project financial performance, including budgets, Purchase Orders, forecasts, actual costs, cost changes, risks, and savings opportunities.
Manage customer acceptance and ensure outstanding items are documented, communicated, and resolved.
Lead handover of completed solutions to Operations and other applicable teams, ensuring project documentation, commissioning and testing results, acceptance records, and closeout documents are complete.
Conduct project closeout and lessons-learned reviews, document findings and improvement opportunities, and communicate them to Implementation Services leadership.
Coordinate on-site delivery and receipt of customer or project materials when required.
Coordinate Change Management requirements with Operations and ensure Methods of Procedure (MOPs) and related approvals are completed in time to support project schedules.
Ensure vendor access requests and other site-access requirements are submitted, validated, and completed in alignment with implementation schedules.
Manage internal infrastructure projects, including network capacity upgrades within data halls or MMRs and white-space fit-out projects that create or expand sellable capacity.
Manage post-commencement customer orders and modifications that do not require full-scale implementation while maintaining appropriate scope, cost, documentation, and customer controls.
Serve as an implementation delivery subject-matter expert and support adoption of project management and construction management best practices.
Support regional and global Implementation Services initiatives and cross-functional efforts to improve customer delivery consistency and scalability.
Contribute to the development and improvement of templates, tools, procedures, reporting, training materials, and implementation standards.
Participate in project reviews and guide Implementation Managers on complex delivery challenges, risks, escalations, and stakeholder coordination.
Travel locally within the Northern Virginia market based on project requirements.