Senior Director - Design Management APAC

NTT Global Data Centers; Singapore; On-site; SGD 350,000 - 550,000; Full time

Job summary

NTT Global Data Centers APAC seeks a Senior Director of Design Management to lead a team of Design Managers, coordinating design development from kickoff to Construction Documents and Administration. You will manage internal staff and outside consultants, drive value engineering, and ensure design standards align with sustainability goals and budgets.

The role requires 10+ years of data center design leadership across APAC, with strong communication skills and a track record of delivering

Qualifications

• 10+ years in large-scale APAC data center design and engineering.
• Proven ability to lead cross-functional teams across multiple countries.
• Strong executive presence with strategic, cost-aware decision making.
• Demonstrated leadership in multinational environments and vendor relations.
• Commitment to safety, time, cost and quality in delivery to budget.
• Strong business acumen aligned with corporate strategy.

Responsibilities

• Lead and assign projects to Design Managers, monitor progress to budgets and schedules.
• Oversee consultant selection, prepare and execute design agreements and fees.
• Drive value engineering and design rationalisation with new tech for sustainability.
• Collaborate with Product, Sales, Sales Engineering and Operations to align goals.
• Support pre-sales consulting and client negotiations with design solutions.
• Support procurement models including Traditional, Design and Build, Management Contracting.
• Communicate project status to stakeholders; prepare monthly budget/schedule reports.
• Ensure compliance with GDC standards and industry best practices.
• Assist in budgets/forecasts and develop vendor relationships for cost-effectiveness.

Skills

Data center design

APAC leadership

Stakeholder management

Cross-cultural teams

Cost optimization

Strategic leadership

Job description

The Senior Director of Design Management is responsible for leading a team of Design Managers and overseeing design development on all NTT Global Data Centres- APAC projects, from design kick-off through the production of Construction Documents and performance of Construction Administration. This effort involves coordination between internal staff and outside consultants including Structural, Mechanical, Electrical, and Civil Engineers.

Key Roles and Responsibilities:

• The Senior Director of Design Management assigns projects and tasks to individual Design Managers, monitors their progress and ensures alignment with project budgets and schedules. They are also responsible for leading the design consultant selection effort.
• The ideal candidate will be a creative, detail-oriented problem solver with excellent communication skills that can achieve high quality standards while carefully considering cost and feasibility factors. This person should possess good judgment to meet project objectives, with the ability to collaborate and manage the accountabilities of a diverse interdisciplinary team focused on creating and maintaining the best Data Centre environments in our industry.
• Oversee the preparation and execution of Architectural and Engineering Consultant Agreements defining Scope of Work, Scope of Services and Fees based on Owner’s Project Requirements, design standards, and system specifications.
• Innovate and lead value engineering and design rationalisation assessments, disruptive changes in the context of applying new technologies which enable our sustainability goals, all where applicable and required, to support time to market and reduced cost of construction efforts while ensuring the integrity of NTT GDC APAC design principles are maintained.
• Collaboration with Product Team, Sales/ Sales Engineering, and Operations as to product to build, options and timeline, and provide solutions to meet project goals.
• Support technical pre-sales consulting, client negotiation and technical assessments, including but not limited to identifying and documenting client specific design solutions, addressing technical assessments and supporting development of client briefs to enable timely assessment and approval of lease agreements.
• Support Construction and Procurement leadership in assessing, developing, and executing varying Procurement models including but not limited to Traditional, Design and Build and Management Contracting routes.
• Communicate status of projects to both internal and external stakeholders on an ad-hoc and formal basis. Ensure all stakeholders are up-to-date with regards to design schedule and potential issues. Prepare monthly project reports regarding the budget, schedule and scope objectives of assigned projects.
• Ensure compliance with NTT GDC standards on all projects and assure that these standards are up-to-date with industry best practices and meet the company’s business objectives (Emphasis on value-engineering).
• Assist in the preparation and review of budgets and forecasts related to anticipated design and construction expenditures.
• Develop and maintain vendor relationships (Contractors, Architects, Engineers, Consultants, etc.) to provide cost-effective services for NTT GDC APAC data centre projects.

Requirements - Professional Skills:

• Minimum of 10 years’ experience in large scale APAC wide critical facilities (Data Center) design and technical engineering.
• Excellent understanding of the complexity of data centers and demonstrable experience of design and delivery of large-scale data center facilities across multiple countries.
• Recognized industry leader; strong executive presence; solid track record of strategic accomplishments in companies experiencing rapid growth and expansion where constant challenges are the norm.
• Multinational leadership experience, willingness to reconsider constantly innovative ways to reduce cost through creative design. Should not be constrained by traditional processes.
• Fully understands the priorities around safety, time, cost, and quality with a strong emphasis on delivery to budget.
• Commercially astute with a strong business acumen, appreciating the responsibilities of Design in the context to the whole business strategy.

Requirements - Soft Skills:

• Cultural fit is crucial; motivated to work at a company that focuses on customers, excellence, talent, teamwork, and success.
• Excellent stakeholder management skills, able to communicate and collaborate at all levels and clearly report on design and technical matters at Board level.
• Proven track record of setting up and managing cross-cultural and cross-functional teams
• Balances Innovative thinking and creative mindset, with a strong appreciation of technical facilities and systems engineering.
• Possess exceptional problem solving and analytical skills; systematic thinker.
• Excellent verbal and written communications skills with a strong sense of urgency.
• Energized by the big picture but practical in solving complex problems
• Curious about what is beyond the immediate domain, always looking for personal growth.
• Driven to influence and help set and shape the strategy and direction of the company.
• Motivated to be a member of the APAC leadership team with common objectives, passion for the company and respect for one another during a time of enterprise pivot.
• Excited to take the big decisions, executing flawlessly, and seeing the results