Director, Operations SME – Data Centers – Critical Environment

Cushman & Wakefield

Director of Operations SME ensuring strategic oversight, operational execution, and excellence in data center environments. Partnering with teams to solve technical challenges and elevate performance.

Posted 5/8/2026full-timeRemote • Texas • 🇺🇸 United StatesLead💰 $161,500 - $190,000 per yearWebsite

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Support the development of the solution for operating the clients data center portfolios.
Partner with technical transition leadership to ensure comprehensive due diligence and site start-up is executed to plan.
Act as the primary account focused SME for critical facility operations, including electrical distribution, UPS systems, generators, cooling systems (CRAC/CRAH), and BMS/EPMS platforms.
Deep understanding of high density data center layouts and advanced liquid cooling technologies- operations and maintenance.
Provide expert guidance on incident response, root cause analysis (RCA), and risk mitigation.
Review and approve MOPs, SOPs, and EOPs, ensuring technical accuracy and alignment with industry best practices.
Lead technical assessments, audits, and operational readiness reviews across data center sites.
Support complex troubleshooting and high-severity incidents (SEVs) as escalation authority.
Implement and advise on training protocols for site teams.
Drive deployment of operational platforms for managing maintenance and operations of critical data center locations.
Ongoing partnership with Account Directors and clients to align operations with business goals, SLAs, and reliability objectives.
Ensure proper hand-over to ongoing account management team is comprehensive and well planned for operational continuity.
Drive standardization and scalability of operating models across multi-site or global accounts.
Identify operational gaps and lead corrective action plans and performance improvement initiatives.
Serve as a strategic advisor during contract solutioning, transitions, mobilizations, and expansions.
Champion best practices in uptime, redundancy, and resilience for all data center environments.
Drive adoption of reliability-centered maintenance (RCM), predictive maintenance, and condition-based monitoring.
Analyze performance data to identify trends and proactively mitigate risks.
Lead initiatives to improve energy efficiency, sustainability, and cost optimization.
Ensure adherence to regulatory and industry standards (OSHA, NFPA, ISO, Uptime Institute guidelines, etc).
Support audit preparation, compliance reviews, and risk management frameworks.
Develop and implement standardized operational controls and governance models.
Evaluate and mitigate risks associated with critical infrastructure changes or failures.
Act as a trusted technical advisor to client and account stakeholders, including client and account data center engineering and operations leadership.
Participate in executive governance meetings (QBRs, technical reviews).
Communicate complex technical issues and solutions in a clear, business-focused manner.
Provide thought leadership and innovation recommendations to enhance client outcomes.
Mentor and develop operations leaders, engineers, and technical teams.
Define competency frameworks and training programs for critical operations roles.
Promote a culture of safety, accountability, and continuous improvement.
Support talent strategy and succession planning for technical roles.

Requirements

What you’ll need

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering (Electrical, Mechanical, or related field) or equivalent experience
12+ years of experience in data center operations, critical facilities, or mission-critical environments
8+ years in senior leadership, technical advisory, or SME roles
Deep knowledge of: Electrical systems (medium/low voltage, switchgear, UPS, generators, etc)
Mechanical systems (HVAC, chilled water, cooling technologies, fire, etc)
High density liquid cooling systems and configurations
Critical environment operations and redundancies
Proven experience supporting large-scale enterprise, hyperscale, or colocation environments.
Strong experience with incident management, RCA methodologies, and risk mitigation.

Benefits

Comp & perks

Health insurance
Vision insurance
Dental insurance
Flexible spending accounts
Health savings accounts
Retirement savings plans
Life and disability insurance programs
Paid and unpaid time away from work

ATS Keywords

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Applicant Tracking System Keywords

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Hard Skills & Tools

data center operationselectrical systemsmechanical systemshigh density liquid cooling systemsincident managementroot cause analysisrisk mitigationreliability-centered maintenancepredictive maintenancecondition-based monitoring

Soft Skills

leadershipcommunicationmentoringstrategic advisoryproblem-solvingcollaborationcontinuous improvementaccountabilitytraining developmentclient relationship management

Certifications

Bachelor’s degree in EngineeringOSHA complianceNFPA complianceISO complianceUptime Institute guidelines