Vice President Data Center Design

Montera • San Francisco, CA

6d • Remote

About The Position

Montera is seeking a Vice President Data Center Design to lead the delivery of Montera’s facility designs across the portfolio. Reporting to the CTO, the VP owns design execution end to end — from reference architecture through IFC and construction support — and is the senior leader of Montera’s Principal Engineering & Architecture Leadership family and its external design and construction partners. This is a people-leadership and delivery-accountability role, distinct from the CTO’s external technical and customer-facing mandate. The CTO owns customer requirements capture and is the technical external face of Montera; the VP converts those requirements into buildable, coordinated, on-schedule designs and drives them through the design and construction partner ecosystem (CSA, MEP, design-assist trades, GC/CM, and specialty consultants) to a predictable, commissioned outcome. The VP manages the five Principal ICs — Architect & Master Planning, Electrical, Mechanical, Controls, and Network — aligning their reference architectures into a single coherent facility design, resolving cross-discipline conflicts, and holding the integrated design schedule and budget. The role is accountable for design quality, constructability, multi-discipline coordination, and the design inputs to cost, schedule, and availability targets across active projects (currently Eagle and Goldeneye) and the broader pipeline.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Architecture or Engineering (Electrical, Mechanical, or related); professional licensure (PE/RA) preferred.
• 15+ years of experience in data center or mission-critical design and delivery, including senior leadership of multi-discipline design programs for hyperscale or AI-focused facilities.
• Proven track record leading design across full delivery lifecycle (concept to IFC to commissioning) with accountability for schedule, cost, and quality.
• Demonstrated leadership of principal/expert individual contributors and of external design and construction partners (CSA, MEP, design-assist, GC/CM).
• Proven experience defining, negotiating, and managing design contracts (scope, deliverables, standard of care, fees, change control) and administering owner-side design oversight through construction with GCs and subcontractors (RFIs, submittals, change orders, field changes).
• Strong command of how architectural, electrical, mechanical, controls, and network scopes integrate, and of delivery models (design-bid-build, design-assist, EPC).
• Excellent judgment on constructability, value engineering, and design risk; strong commercial and schedule discipline.
• Exceptional communication; able to represent design internally to the CTO, leadership, and board, and to lead partners externally.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end design delivery across the portfolio — concept, SD, DD, IFP/IFC, and construction-phase support — against committed schedule milestones (e.g., schematic design and IFC dates) and yield-on-cost targets.
• Hold the integrated, multi-discipline design schedule and budget; drive the critical path across architectural, electrical, mechanical, controls, and network scopes.
• Govern design change control, trade studies, and value-engineering decisions, protecting design intent, reliability targets (five-nines availability), and operability.
• Own the design basis of design (BOD) and its consistent application across projects, and the design deliverables that feed permitting, procurement, and construction.
• Directly lead and develop the five Principal ICs (Architect/Master Planning, Electrical, Mechanical, Controls, Network); set objectives, review performance, and build the discipline centers of excellence.
• Integrate discipline reference architectures into one coherent, coordinated facility design; arbitrate cross-discipline trade-offs (e.g., power vs. cooling vs. space, controls data model vs. network segmentation).
• Ensure the Controls–Network interlock on customer data exposure is delivered jointly and coherently, consistent with the single-tenant model and the requirements the CTO captures.
• Enforce portfolio-wide design standards, playbooks, and prototypical modules that enable rapid, repeatable deployment.
• Define, review, negotiate, and manage design contracts with design partners (CSA and MEP engineers of record, design-assist trades, and specialty consultants) — owning scopes of work, deliverable schedules, standard of care, fee structures, and design responsibility matrices.
• Establish consistent contracting standards and templates for design engagements across the portfolio; align scope boundaries and interface agreements so multi-discipline coverage is complete with no gaps or overlaps.
• Manage contract performance through delivery: track deliverables against milestones, administer change and additional-services requests, review and approve design invoicing against progress, and resolve scope and performance issues.
• Partner with Legal, Finance, and Procurement on design-contract terms, risk allocation, and commercial approvals, engaging qualified counsel on high-stakes terms.
• Serve as Montera’s senior owner-side leader to external design and construction partners: CSA and MEP engineers of record, design-assist trade partners (e.g., mechanical and electrical), GC/CM, and specialty consultants.
• Own the design-assist and delivery-model strategy (e.g., design-bid-build vs. design-assist) and the associated partner scopes, deliverables, and interface agreements.
• Lead design reviews, coordination summits, and constructability reviews; drive partner accountability to quality, schedule, and cost.
• Support AHJ permitting and entitlement outcomes through the Architect/Master Planning Principal and partner teams.
• Own owner-side design oversight through construction with GCs and subcontractors — protecting design intent from IFC through commissioning and turnover.
• Govern the construction-phase design workflow: RFIs, submittals and shop-drawing review, and coordination/BIM clash resolution across trades, driving timely engineer-of-record responses.
• Review and disposition field changes, design-related change orders, and value-engineering proposals from GCs and subs; safeguard reliability (five-nines availability), operability, and standards conformance.
• Lead design representation at OAC meetings and site design reviews; track design-related construction risk and drive resolution with the GC, subs, and design partners.
• Ensure as-built and design close-out documentation from GCs and subs is complete and fed back into Montera reference designs and standards.
• Ensure designs are constructable, coordinated (clash-free), and aligned to procurement lead times and site logistics.
• Own the design-side inputs to commissioning and integrated systems testing (IST); ensure acceptance criteria and turnover readiness are designed in, not retrofitted.
• Drive lessons-learned from construction and operations back into reference designs and standards for continuous fleet improvement.
• Translate the CTO-captured customer requirements into a governed design program and report design status, risks, and decisions to the CTO and leadership.
• Partner with Development, Delivery, Operations, GRC, and Finance on schedule, cost, constructability, and interconnection-driven design constraints (e.g., FRT / utility obligations).
• Provide design content and technical substantiation to support the CTO’s customer engagements and executive/board materials, without owning the customer-facing relationship.

Benefits

• Comprehensive Health Coverage: We pay 90% of health premiums for employees and their dependents.
• Generous Time Off: Up to 8 weeks of paid time off per year, which includes holidays, PTO, and sick time.
• Parental Leave: Up to 8 weeks of paid time off after 6 months of employment.
• Financial Security: 401(k) plan with immediate eligibility, no vesting requirement, and employer match contributions up to 6%.
• Learning & Development Reimbursement: Up to $3,500 reimbursed annually for approved courses, certifications, conferences and professional development opportunities.
• Extra Support: Remote work stipend to help you stay connected.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Executive