Director, Data Hall Design

Leading a team that develops strategies for the operational planning, design, and optimization of data center white space, including rack layout, hot/cold aisle containment, power distribution, cable pathways, and build phases, ensuring alignment with broader organizational goals globally. Provides strategic direction for engagements with colocation providers, developers, and internal teams (e.g., facilities, construction, operations) ensuring that novel requirements are translated into advanced white space designs that align with organizational objectives globally.

**Key Responsibilities**

**White Space and Infrastructure Design:**

• Develops strategies for the operational planning, design, and optimization of data center white space, including rack layout, hot/cold aisle containment, power distribution, cable pathways, and build phases, ensuring alignment with broader small group goals globally.
• Oversees the creation and maintenance of comprehensive white space documentation, such as room layouts, rack elevations, bill of materials, and structured cabling designs, ensuring accuracy and alignment with small group goals.
• Develops design standards and Basis of Design (BoD) documents applicable globally, guiding internal and partner teams in delivering consistent white space fit-outs that align with strategic performance objectives.
• Directs the development of low voltage structured cabling system designs, supporting scalable, high-performance compute, storage, and network systems, and fosters new approaches that enhance small group capabilities.
• Manages the review process for new site layouts and proposed fit-out designs, including failover configurations, ensuring compliance with standards, and promoting improvement initiatives.

**Cross-Functional Collaboration and Stakeholder Engagement:**

• Provides strategic direction for engagements with colocation providers, developers, and internal teams (e.g., facilities, construction, operations), ensuring that novel requirements are translated into advanced white space designs that align with small group objectives globally.
• Directs and influences multidisciplinary engineering functions (e.g., Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing, Fire, Controls), ensuring robust integration and reliable system performance.
• Oversees project coordination meetings, ensuring alignment on scope, timelines, and critical design updates, driving team improvements and small group success.
• Shapes small group collaboration strategy with technology partners (e.g., network, compute, carrier) around locating information and resources.

**Project and Program Leadership:**

• Provides oversight for white space design initiatives and related engineering projects from conception through execution, defining elements of strategic plans that ensure achievement of strategic objectives and industry standards globally.
• Guides and influences internal and external project team members, including contractors and vendors, during design, fit-out, and commissioning phases, ensuring cohesive team operations and alignment with small group goals.
• Ensures project deliverables exceed company expectations, standards, and schedules, adapting methods to unique situations and contributing to operational objectives.
• Provides expertise in contract administration, including reviewing change orders, cost forecasts, and engineering documentation, ensuring strategic alignment with small group objectives.
• Mentors and develops junior engineers and team members, building small group capability by fostering a culture of development aligned with small group objectives.

**Operations Support and Site Validation:**

• Provides oversight for on-site design validation, commissioning, and engineering analysis across new and existing data centers, leveraging in-depth operational insights to enhance design and outcomes globally.
• Serves as a strategic subject matter expert for mission-critical systems, ensuring seamless integration with ongoing operations and spearheading initiatives to drive long-term operational improvements.
• Directs and ensures coordination of engineering support during live events and incident investigations, ensuring rapid resolution and operational continuity, leading efforts to mitigate risks and improve processes.
• Ensures comprehensive documentation is captured, stored, and shared with operations and field engineering teams, championing small group knowledge sharing and alignment with strategic goals.

**Standards Development and Governance:**

• Oversees the creation and evolution of global data center infrastructure standards, policies, and procedures, ensuring alignment with small group goals and drive long-term innovation and efficiency.
• Guides the review and development of documentation for standards adherence, commissioning protocols, and system testing, ensuring accuracy and compliance across data center operations.
• Chairs and influences design summits, policy reviews, and commissioning activities, fostering a culture of continuous improvement.

**Technical Innovation and Engineering Excellence:**

• Provides strategic direction for research and evaluation of new designs, materials, and construction methods for mission-critical systems in data centers, guiding the small group toward long-term reliability and efficiency globally.
• Oversees the development and testing of complex engineering solutions, leveraging advanced modeling, component testing, and engineering principles to resolve complex operational challenges and drive innovation.
• Provides direction in creating and validating digitized data center models, ensuring they support design integrity and capacity planning, and align with small group goals.
• Directs the evaluation of reliability and performance of components, systems, and installation methods used in production environments, leveraging insights to advise teams on improvements.
• Manages strategic initiatives to shape internal engineering seminars, training programs, and knowledge-sharing activities, fostering a culture of continuous learning, innovation, and growth across the small group.

**Network Expertise:**

• Defines global small group collaboration strategy with networking teams on network-related efforts (e.g., building fabrics).

**Automation:**

• Defines small group partnership strategy with software engineering team to design data into digital systems for automation.
• Shapes small group processes around the coordination of design data to work with internal systems and databases.

**Core Responsibilities**

**Planning & Execution:**

• Oversees and guides multiple teams on managing complex projects or initiatives, monitoring timelines, deliverables, and budgets when applicable to ensure strategic objectives are met. Serves as a role model for appropriately delegating work, setting priorities, and ensuring alignment with business needs. Coaches others on adjusting resources or project timelines in anticipation of business changes.

**Collaboration & Partnership:**

• Role models leading cross-functional collaborative efforts to ensure alignment of expectations and strategic objectives. Empowers team to build and maintain partnerships with business leaders, stakeholders, and/or customers to address barriers and contribute to organizational success. Drives transparency and inclusivity by modeling actively seeking, listening to, and leveraging diverse perspectives.

**Problem Solving:**

• Shares problem-solving strategies across teams, providing oversight on complex operational and/or technical issues, as needed. Coaches teams on analyzing highly complex data and/or information to identify solutions to ambiguous issues, and provides direction on identifying root causes to prevent recurrence of issues.

**Continuous Learning:**

• Pursues strategic learning opportunities to maintain expertise and apply best practices at the organizational level. Creates opportunities for team members and leaders to build their expertise in new areas, coaching them to build innovative skills. Identifies skill gap trends across the organization, and upholds a culture that places significant emphasis on sharing knowledge and pursuing learning opportunities that advance the organization. Evaluates efficiency of learning strategies and recommends adjustments as needed.

**Continuous Improvement:**

• Empowers team to own the development and implementation of ideas that increase the efficiency and effectiveness of processes, protocols, and workflows across the department. Coaches teams to gain buy-in for ideas and to seek feedback on approaches and methods for continued improvement. Prioritizes and reviews the roadmap of improvement initiatives to ensure alignment with strategic direction and maximize return on investments.

**Performance and Development:**

• Serves as a role model for driving performance across teams through tailored feedback and coaching in alignment with performance management processes, guidelines, and expectations. Drives consistency in the application of talent development procedures and socializes performance expectations across the organization. Ensures that individual development goals are aligned with organizational strategic initiatives. Collaborates with HR to implement talent strategy through hiring and promotion processes.