the client is seeking a Director of Critical Facilities Operations to lead mission-critical infrastructure across multiple data center sites or a large campus environment. The role focuses on operational excellence, uptime performance, and long-term reliability strategy while managing teams of managers and engineers, as well as third-party partners.
Key responsibilities include leading critical facilities operations across a campus or multi-site portfolio, owning delivery of 99.999% uptime and SLA performance, and overseeing layered leadership teams spanning facility management and technical operations. The director will drive preventative and predictive maintenance programs, establish and lead incident management and root cause analysis with enterprise-level rigor, and develop and enforce operational standards, safety programs, and compliance frameworks.
The director will also manage relationships with key vendors, OEMs, and service providers, partner with engineering and construction and capacity planning teams on expansions and retrofits, and lead budgeting, forecasting, and cost optimization initiatives for facilities operations. Required qualifications include 10–15+ years of experience in critical facilities, data center, or mission-critical infrastructure operations, strong leadership of large-scale campus or multi-site environments, deep expertise in electrical and mechanical systems, and demonstrated experience with uptime management, SLA ownership, and incident response. Experience with maintenance strategy and CMMS systems, knowledge of OSHA, NFPA, and NEC (and regulatory compliance), financial acumen for operating budgets and vendor contracts, and executive-level communication are also expected, along with preferred hyperscale/colocation data center experience and relevant professional certifications or operational excellence methodologies; a bachelor’s degree in a related field or equivalent experience is preferred.