Data Center Program Principal: Lead, Deliver & Grow

Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising; Greater London; On-site; GBP 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

HDR is seeking a Project Principal to manage large-scale data centre projects across EMEA, leading multidisciplinary teams and ensuring technically correct, on-time delivery on projects typically £100m+. You will drive sales and business development to actively support growth.

You will build strong client relationships, maintain commercial governance, and champion HDR’s employee-owned culture, with a track record of delivering projects on budget and schedule.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering.
• Demonstrated leadership, business development and strategic planning skills.
• Active participant of employee-owned culture is a must.
• Extensive experience (min 10 years) in design consultancy on data centre/mission-critical projects.
• MS Office and MS Project experience required.
• Strong leadership and people management skills.

Responsibilities

• Lead full lifecycle delivery of large-scale data centre projects (typically £100m+).
• Manage multidisciplinary engineering, construction, commissioning and operational teams.
• Act as a senior client partner resolving challenges, and ensuring expectations are exceeded.
• Drive programme excellence: scope, cost, quality, risk, safety and schedule.
• Oversee contractor performance, procurement strategy, and commercial governance.
• Champion technical standards and ensuring all systems meet resilience and availability.
• Report at executive level, ensuring transparent and proactive communication at all stages.

Skills

Leadership

Business development

Strategic planning

Stakeholder management

Client relationship management

Education

Bachelor's degree in Engineering

Tools

MS Office

MS Project

Job description

HDR is seeking a Project Principal to manage large-scale data centre projects across EMEA, leading multidisciplinary teams and ensuring technically correct, on-time delivery on projects typically £100m+. You will drive sales and business development to actively support growth.

You will build strong client relationships, maintain commercial governance, and champion HDR’s employee-owned culture, with a track record of delivering projects on budget and schedule.