Data Center Engineering Ops Leader: Uptime & Growth

CBRE Group, Inc.; Louisiana; Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

CBRE Group, Inc. is seeking an FM Engineering Operations Manager for Data Centers to lead Maintenance and Tech Leads, ensuring uptime and reliability across critical electrical, mechanical, and cooling systems.

You will drive preventive maintenance, rapid repairs, and budget planning, while aligning with CBRE core values and cross-functional teams including IT, PM, and HSE. This role requires 3–5 years of engineering management in data centers, a Bachelor's degree, and strong leadership and

Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree preferred with 3–5 years of engineering management in data centers or mission-critical environments.
• Experience managing, coaching and developing lower-level supervisors or technical leads in a 24/7 setting.
• Ability to communicate complex technical info, incident updates and performance expectations.
• Strong mission-critical leadership to ensure reliability of the engineering department.
• In-depth knowledge of MS Office and data center systems like CMMS and DCIM tools.
• Analytical mindset with root-cause analysis and strong problem solving.
• Advanced math and financial literacy for budgeting metrics and equipment efficiency.

Responsibilities

• Supervise Maintenance and Tech Leads with formal evaluations and coaching.
• Oversee recruitment, onboarding, and training alignment for frontline technicians.
• Coordinate daily schedules, escalation protocols, and cross-training across shifts.
• Maintain high-trust relationships with clients, vendors, and external contractors.
• Manage site engineering department OpEx/CapEx budgeting (P&L ownership).
• Set site goals to optimize infrastructure efficiency and track PUE metrics.
• Implement company safety standards, SOPs, and floor-level playbooks.
• Evaluate data center processes and update SOPs to close gaps.
• Enforce change-management and critical environment work authorizations.
• Audit regulatory records, emissions data, generator logs, and CMMS compliance.
• Model CBRE core values and align leadership with facility objectives.
• Collaborate with IT, project management, and HSE for cross-functional work.
• Troubleshoot and resolve complex issues in UPS, chillers, generators, and switchgear.

Skills

Leadership

Budgeting & P&L

Vendor relations

Problem solving

Financial literacy

MS Office

CMMS/MAXIMO

DCIM tools

Education

Bachelor's Degree

Tools

CMMS Maximo

DCIM tools

Job description

About the Role

As the FM Engineering Operations Manager (Data Centers), you will manage the site's Maintenance and Tech Leads who oversee the hands-on technicians providing 24/7 technical support for MEP services. This role sits within the Engineering and Technical Services function and focuses on scaling leadership to ensure maximum uptime, system reliability, and operational excellence. You will provide strategic and operational direction to your leads, ensuring rigorous execution of preventive maintenance and rapid repairs across critical electrical, mechanical, and cooling systems.

What You’ll Do

• Manage Leadership Staff: Provide formal supervision, performance evaluations, and leadership coaching directly to Maintenance and Tech Leads.
• Oversee Cascading Team Growth: Guide your leads on the recruitment, onboarding, and technical training alignment of their frontline technicians to maintain industry-leading uptime standards.
• Coordinate Higher-Level Operations: Work through Maintenance and Tech Leads to manage daily schedules, establish escalation protocols, and enforce cross-training matrices across shifts.
• Drive Vendor & Stakeholder Relations: Maintain collaborative, high-trust relationships with clients, vendor partners, and external technical contractors.
• Own the Budget (P&L): Manage the profits, losses, operational expenditures (OpEx), and capital expenditure (CapEx) planning for the site engineering department.
• Set Strategic Operational Goals: Develop site-specific goals and initiatives to optimize infrastructure efficiency, including Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) tracking.
• Deploy Organizational Policies: Guide your leads in successfully implementing company initiatives, corporate safety standards, and operational playbooks down to the floor level.
• Optimize Facilities Procedures: Continually evaluate data center processes, standard operating procedures (SOPs), and emergency operating procedures (EOPs) to solve operational gaps.
• Enforce Operational Consistency: Ensure your leads maintain rigorous change-management compliance and strict critical environment work authorizations (e.g., Method Statements).
• Maintain Regulatory Records: Track and audit regulatory paperwork, emissions data, generator logs, and computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) compliance.
• Model CBRE Core Values: Lead by example and model behaviors consistent with CBRE RISE values, aligning leadership teams to support facility objectives.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Apply deep knowledge of critical environments to seamlessly integrate engineering operations with IT, project management, and HSE teams.
• Escalate & Resolve Complex Issues: Partner with your Tech Leads to diagnose, troubleshoot, and resolve highly complex technical issues within critical systems (UPS units, chillers, generators, and switchgear).

What You’ll Need

• Education & Experience: Bachelor’s Degree preferred with 3–5 years of relevant engineering management experience within data centers or mission-critical environments. (A combination of experience and education will be considered).
• Manager-of-Managers Leadership: Proven experience managing, coaching, and developing lower-level supervisors or technical team leads within a 24/7 operational environment.
• High-Stakes Communication: Ability to clearly guide the exchange of complex technical information, deliver critical incident updates, and convey strict performance expectations to your leadership staff.
• Mission-Critical Leadership: Strong leadership skills to motivate team leads, drive accountability, and ensure the efficiency and absolute reliability of the engineering department.
• Technical & Software Proficiency: In-depth knowledge of Microsoft Office Suite and deep familiarity with data center management systems like CMMS (e.g., Maximo) and DCIM tools.
• Analytical Problem-Solving: Advanced organizational skills combined with an inquisitive, root-cause-analysis mindset.
• Financial & Advanced Math Skills: Advanced math and financial literacy to calculate equipment efficiencies, load capacities, percentages, and complex department budget metrics.

Disclaimers:

Applicants must be currently authorized to work in the United States without the need for visa sponsorship now or in the future.

We value human interaction to understand each candidate's unique experience, skills and aspirations. We do not use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to make hiring decisions, and we ask that candidates disclose any use of AI in the application and interview process.