Technical Program Manager - Data Center Delivery

Lambda•San Jose, CA

1d•$226,000 - $335,000•Hybrid

About The Position

Lambda, The Superintelligence Cloud, is a leader in AI cloud infrastructure serving tens of thousands of customers. Our customers range from AI researchers to enterprises and hyperscalers. Lambda's mission is to make compute as ubiquitous as electricity and give everyone the power of superintelligence. One person, one GPU. If you'd like to build the world's best AI cloud, join us. Note: This position requires presence in our San Francisco or San Jose office location 4 days per week; Lambda’s designated work from home day is currently Tuesday. Role Overview We are seeking a Principal Technical Program Manager to own program management for the physical plant infrastructure delivery of new data center builds. This role begins after the Real Estate and Site Selection team has selected or acquired a site and continues through construction completion, commissioning coordination, operational readiness, and handoff to the Network Deployment team. This role manages the integrated schedule and cross-functional coordination across engineering, construction management, permitting, utilities, procurement, commissioning, operations readiness, security, finance, and external partners. The scope includes site work, utilities, shell, mechanical systems, electrical systems, controls, white space physical readiness, inspections, commissioning status, and turnover readiness. This role does not own engineering design authority, construction means and methods, GC management authority, real estate acquisition, or steady-state operations. Engineering owns technical criteria and design. Construction Management owns the physical build oversight through the GC. Commissioning owns independent test and acceptance. Operations owns the site after turnover. This TPM owns the integrated delivery plan, schedule visibility, dependency tracking, issue escalation, and cross-functional alignment required to deliver the site.

Requirements

10+ years of experience in data center delivery, infrastructure program management, construction program management, technical program management, mission-critical facilities, industrial construction, or large capital project delivery.
Experience managing delivery programs for ground-up data centers, mission-critical facilities, cloud infrastructure, industrial facilities, semiconductor facilities, energy infrastructure, or large technical campuses.
Strong understanding of the data center delivery lifecycle, including site handoff, permitting, engineering design, plan sets, utilities, procurement, construction, MEP systems, controls, commissioning, inspections, and operations turnover.
Experience coordinating across engineering, construction management, commissioning, operations, utilities, procurement, permitting, security, finance, and external partners.
Ability to manage integrated schedules, critical path risks, dependency logs, decision trackers, change control, and executive reporting.
Ability to understand technical tradeoffs well enough to identify risks, ask precise questions, and escalate effectively without owning technical design authority.
Strong written and verbal communication skills.
Ability to operate independently in fast-moving, capital-intensive environments.

Nice To Haves

Experience delivering hyperscale data centers, AI infrastructure facilities, GPU data centers, cloud regions, or high-density compute facilities.
Experience with utility interconnection, substation readiness, medium-voltage or high-voltage power delivery, MEP systems, controls, and commissioning.
Experience working with general contractors, construction managers, design firms, commissioning agents, utilities, and local permitting authorities.
Experience at a hyperscale cloud provider, colocation provider, AI infrastructure company, or large infrastructure operator.
PMP, construction management, engineering, project controls, or technical infrastructure certification preferred.

Responsibilities

Own the integrated program schedule for a new data center build from post-site-selection handoff through handoff to Network Deployment.
Coordinate the sequence from rack requirements to engineering criteria, engineering design, engineering plan set, permit submission, permit approval, construction, commissioning, and turnover readiness.
Track milestones across site readiness, permitting, utility delivery, design completion, plan set completion, procurement dependencies, site work, shell, MEP systems, controls, white space physical readiness, inspections, commissioning, and operational handoff.
Coordinate with Real Estate and Site Selection after site selection to confirm assumptions, constraints, utility commitments, fiber availability, land conditions, permit path, and delivery risks.
Partner with Engineering to ensure rack, power, cooling, controls, resiliency, security, and operational requirements are reflected in the design package and plan set.
Partner with Construction Management to track construction milestones, GC schedule, material availability, field progress, inspection status, and construction risks.
Partner with Commissioning to track test plans, commissioning schedule, issue resolution, acceptance criteria, and readiness for operations turnover.
Partner with Operations to track staffing readiness, procedures, documentation, training, monitoring readiness, access readiness, and turnover requirements.
Maintain site-level risk registers, dependency logs, decision trackers, milestone trackers, schedule variance reports, and executive status updates.
Identify risks that could affect delivery dates, including permitting delays, utility delays, design changes, procurement constraints, construction sequencing issues, commissioning failures, inspection delays, or unresolved decisions.
Escalate issues with specific facts, including current status, baseline date, forecast date, variance to plan, impact, owner, mitigation options, and required decision date.
Ensure the physical plant is ready for Network Deployment, including white space readiness, power availability, cooling readiness, controls readiness, cable pathways, security access, operational access, and turnover documentation.
Support schedule recovery planning when site, permit, utility, design, procurement, construction, commissioning, or operations readiness milestones slip.