Associate Director, Commercial

Digital Edge DC; Navi Mumbai; On-site; INR 1,500,000 - 2,600,000; Full time

Job summary

Digital Edge DC is seeking an Associate Director, Commercial to lead front-end commercial strategy, contract management, and risk oversight for a multi-campus hyperscale data-center portfolio in India.

You will partner with procurement, engineering, project delivery, and corporate development to ensure cost certainty and contractual compliance from design through completion, while building a regional commercial team and implementing data-driven controls.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of commercial management experience in large-scale data-center or infrastructure projects.
• 5+ years in a regional leadership role.
• Strong knowledge of contract law, cost control methodologies, and risk management frameworks.
• Familiarity with international contract standards (e.g., FIDIC) and regional construction norms.
• Excellent negotiation, stakeholder management, and executive reporting skills.
• RICS, MRICS, or equivalent commercial management certification preferred.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with Senior Director, Commercial to implement and maintain the commercial management framework across India.
• Lead commercial input during feasibility and design stages, ensuring budgets and cash-flow forecasts align with objectives.
• Maintain commercial playbooks and ensure regional alignment across markets.
• Drive end-to-end contract administration from pre-contract strategy through final account settlement.
• Provide oversight of major EPC, D&B, and framework agreements, including changes and disputes.
• Monitor commercial risk exposure and propose mitigation plans across projects.

Skills

Leadership

Stakeholder management

Negotiation

Executive reporting

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Quantity Surveying, Engineering, Construction Management, or related discipline

Tools

Commercial management tools

Data analytics

Contract management software

Job description

Digital Edge is a trusted and forward-looking data center platform company, established to transform digital infrastructure in Asia. Backed by Stonepeak, a leading alternative investment firm specializing in infrastructure and real assets, Digital Edge has in excess of US$1 billion in committed capital.

Our mission is to bridge the digital divide across Asia Pacific by building the sustainable digital ecosystems of the future. Through building and operating state-of-the-art, energy efficient data centers rich with connectivity options, we bring new colocation and interconnect options to the Asian market, making digital infrastructure deployment in the region easy, efficient and economical.

Founded in 2020 the company has grown rapidly across multiple markets in the region, and currently provides data center and fiber services across China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, and the Philippines.

This role is an exciting opportunity to join our fast growing team as we further expand our footprint across Asia.

Our values:

• Responsibility: We take ownership of our actions and outcomes.
• Innovation: We embrace change and create bold solutions.
• Strive: We show grit, resilience and relentless drive.
• Excellence: We pursue the highest standards in all we do.
• Respect: We act with integrity and treat others with dignity.

What we need:

We are seeking an Associate Director, Commercial to join our Design & Construction (D&C) team.

This senior leadership role provides commercial governance and strategic cost control across a multi-campus portfolio of hyperscale and build-to-suit data-center projects across India.

With procurement operations transitioning to the Finance organization, this role will focus on front-end commercial strategy, contract management, and risk oversight, ensuring robust commercial outcomes from early design through construction completion.

You will partner closely with Procurement, Engineering, Project Delivery, and Corporate Development to ensure cost certainty, contractual compliance, and risk mitigation across all projects in the region.

Key Responsibilities:

• Collaborate with Senior Director, Commercial (Head of Platform D&C Commercial) to implement and maintain the commercial management framework, covering cost planning, contracting models (GMP, cost-plus, hybrid), and risk management.
• Lead commercial input during early feasibility and RIBA stage development, ensuring budgets, benchmarks, and cash-flow forecasts align with business objectives.
• Maintain commercial playbooks and oversee implementation within India to ensure alignment across regions, including T+X months milestone and S+X months capital deployment strategies.
• Drive end-to-end contract administration - from pre-contract strategy, tender review support, and commercial negotiations to final account settlement.
• Provide oversight of major EPC, D&B, and framework agreements, including change-order management, claims avoidance, and dispute resolution.
• Monitor commercial risk exposure across all projects and elevate issues with clear mitigation plans.

Cost Planning & Reporting

• Lead regional cost planning and benchmarking for all major construction and MEP packages.
• Maintain a standardized reporting dashboard tracking CAPEX burn, S+X months vs. T+X months spend buckets, forecast-to-complete, and variance analysis, providing leadership with clear portfolio-wide visibility.
• Support Finance on funding calls and cash-flow management by providing accurate spend projections and scenario modelling.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Partner with Finance-led Procurement to ensure sourcing strategies and vendor selections meet D&C technical and schedule requirements.
• Work with Engineering, Project Directors, and Operations to validate design-to-budget alignment and incorporate lessons learned into future contracts.
• Interface with JV partners, lenders, and hyperscale customers on commercial matters and reporting.

Leadership & Team Development

• Build and mentor a regional commercial management team skilled in cost planning, contract administration, and project controls.
• Champion the use of commercial management tools and data analytics to drive visibility and continuous improvement.

Actively champion and implement the organization’s policies on health & safety, environment, energy, quality, information security, and business continuity, ensuring adherence to incident reporting, legal, and regulatory requirements.

Candidate Profile:

• Bachelor’s degree in Quantity Surveying, Engineering, Construction Management, or related discipline.
• 10+ years of commercial management experience in large-scale data-center, mission-critical infrastructure, or major construction projects, including 5+ years in a regional leadership role.
• Strong knowledge of contract law, cost control methodologies, and risk management frameworks.
• Proven ability to manage high-value contracts across multiple Asian markets and to collaborate effectively with Finance-led procurement teams.
• Familiarity with international contract standards (e.g., FIDIC) and regional construction norms.
• Excellent negotiation, stakeholder management, and executive reporting skills.
• RICS, MRICS, or equivalent commercial management certification preferred..