Data Center Operations Lead - Consultancy

Hamilton Barnes; Texas; On-site; USD 99,000 - 121,000; Full time

Job summary

Hamilton Barnes is seeking a Data Centre Operations & Shift Delivery Manager to lead 24/7 operations, coordinating four rotating 12-hour shift teams and driving consistent processes. The role focuses on incident management, SLA compliance and cross-shift collaboration to ensure seamless service delivery for a major client.

You will audit shift logs, standardise handovers, manage escalations and produce regular performance reports.

Qualifications

• At least three years of experience in data centre operations, IT service management or 24/7 technical operations.
• Demonstrated experience coordinating cross-shift workflows, operational handovers or continuous production schedules.
• Strong understanding of data centre environments, infrastructure operations and technical service delivery.
• Experience working within or managing a 24/7 operational environment, ideally involving rotating 12-hour shifts.
• Familiarity with incident management, ticket queues, escalation procedures and SLA-driven service delivery.
• Experience reviewing operational reports, analysing performance metrics and identifying opportunities for process improvement.
• Ability to manage competing priorities and maintain operational oversight across multiple teams and workstreams.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to communicate complex technical information quickly and accurately.

Responsibilities

• Coordinate handovers between four rotating 12-hour shifts, ensuring transfers are accurate and disruption-free.
• Audit daily shift logs to monitor incidents, tasks and risks across the 24/7 cycle.
• Provide clear updates on unresolved issues, deployments and dependencies.
• Identify inconsistencies in handovers and SOP adherence, implementing corrective actions.
• Improve cross-shift communication to reduce gaps and missed tasks.
• Act as escalation point for incidents spanning multiple shifts.
• Produce regular operational reports on incidents and performance for the Delivery Manager.
• Monitor real-time queues and uphold SLAs across shifts.
• Standardise processes and handovers for consistent execution.
• Manage priorities and track critical activities to completion.
• Balance workloads to reduce backlogs and improve utilization.
• Identify bottlenecks and coordinate actions to maintain service continuity.
• Ensure activities follow safety and quality procedures.
• Support coordination across the 24/7 operating model.
• Track performance metrics and report on risks and delivery outcomes.
• Analyse shift trends to spot issues and improvement opportunities.
• Collaborate with shift leads to resolve recurring problems.
• Develop reporting processes for visibility of performance and risks.
• Document best practices to strengthen 24/7 operations.
• Translate data into recommendations to improve quality and accountability.
• Act as primary client contact on delivery status and continuity.
• Build relationships with client stakeholders and delivery teams.
• Communicate technical updates clearly to senior stakeholders.
• Provide updates on incident status, SLA performance and priorities.
• Escalate bottlenecks and systemic issues with recommendations.
• Manage stakeholder expectations with proactive risk and delay communications.
• Ensure alignment between client expectations and service commitments.

Skills

Data centre operations

24/7 operation experience

Cross-shift coordination

IT service management

Incident management

SLA-driven service delivery

Operational reporting

Performance analysis

Stakeholder management

Communication skills

Shift handover coordination

Operational consistency

Problem solving

Proactive improvement

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Engineering, Business Operations or a related discipline, or equivalent practical experience

Tools

Incident.io

Grafana

Jira

Job description

Are you looking for an exciting new opportunity?

Join a leading IT solutions provider for some of the world’s most recognizable and innovative organizations, operating since 2001 with over 2,200 IT professionals across thirty-three countries. Creativity is in its DNA, with dedicated software and service innovation teams bringing best-in-class technology to help clients make better decisions and gain a competitive edge.

This leading IT solutions provider has partnered with a leading AI hyperscaler to appoint a Data Centre Operations & Shift Delivery Manager to maintain seamless service delivery across a 24/7 operating model. The ideal candidate will act as the central point of coordination between four shift crews, driving consistent processes, managing cross-shift escalations, and ensuring service-level agreements are met, while working closely with the Delivery Manager and client stakeholders.

Responsibilities:

• Coordinate critical handover periods between four rotating 12-hour shift teams, ensuring incidents, outstanding tasks and operational priorities are transferred accurately and without disruption.
• Review and audit daily shift logs to maintain complete visibility of operational activities, ongoing incidents, outstanding actions and emerging risks across the 24/7 cycle.
• Ensure incoming teams receive clear, accurate and actionable updates on unresolved technical issues, pending deployments and critical operational dependencies.
• Identify inconsistencies in shift handovers, communication practices and adherence to Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), implementing corrective actions where required.
• Improve communication and collaboration between morning, afternoon and evening crews, reducing information gaps and preventing tasks from being missed.
• Act as the escalation point for incidents and delivery issues that span multiple shifts or require coordinated action across teams.
• Produce daily, weekly and monthly operational reports for the Delivery Manager, highlighting incidents, outstanding work, risks and service performance.
• Monitor real-time operational queues, including tickets, deployments, alerts and unresolved incidents, ensuring service-level agreements (SLAs) are maintained across all shifts.
• Standardise operational processes and handover procedures to ensure consistent execution, regardless of the shift or team responsible.
• Maintain oversight of operational priorities, ensuring critical technical activities and outstanding tasks are appropriately assigned and tracked through to completion.
• Balance workloads across shift teams to reduce backlogs, improve resource utilisation and support sustainable operational performance.
• Identify delivery bottlenecks and coordinate corrective actions to maintain service continuity and minimise operational disruption.
• Ensure operational activities are performed in accordance with established safety requirements, quality standards and infrastructure procedures.
• Support the effective coordination of resources and priorities across the 24/7 operating model.
• Track and report on operational performance metrics, including incident volumes, response times, downtime, SLA compliance, backlog levels and handover effectiveness.
• Analyse trends across different shifts to identify recurring issues, performance gaps and opportunities for improvement.
• Work with shift leads and technical teams to resolve recurring problems and improve consistency across operational delivery.
• Develop and maintain reporting processes that provide clear visibility of performance, risks, outstanding actions and service delivery outcomes.
• Document best practices and operational lessons learned to strengthen the effectiveness of the data centre’s 24/7 operating model.
• Translate operational data into practical recommendations that improve service quality, efficiency and accountability.
• Act as a key point of contact for the client on cross-shift delivery status, operational performance, outstanding issues and service continuity.
• Build strong working relationships with client stakeholders, shift leads, technical teams and the Delivery Manager.
• Communicate complex technical updates in a clear, concise and accessible format for senior stakeholders and client leadership.
• Provide regular updates on incident status, SLA performance, delivery risks and operational priorities.
• Escalate multi-shift bottlenecks, recurring incidents and systemic infrastructure issues to the Delivery Manager, supported by clear recommendations and proposed solutions.
• Manage stakeholder expectations by communicating risks, delays and mitigation plans proactively.
• Support continuous alignment between client expectations, operational capabilities and agreed service delivery commitments.

Skills/Must Have:

• At least three years of experience in data centre operations, IT service management or 24/7 technical operations.
• Demonstrated experience coordinating cross-shift workflows, operational handovers or continuous production schedules.
• Strong understanding of data centre environments, infrastructure operations and technical service delivery.
• Experience working within or managing a 24/7 operational environment, ideally involving rotating 12-hour shifts.
• Familiarity with incident management, ticket queues, escalation procedures and SLA-driven service delivery.
• Experience reviewing operational reports, analysing performance metrics and identifying opportunities for process improvement.
• Ability to manage competing priorities and maintain operational oversight across multiple teams and workstreams.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to communicate complex technical information quickly and accurately.
• Strong client-facing presence and the confidence to manage stakeholder expectations and provide clear operational updates.
• Proven ability to coordinate teams across different shifts and maintain accountability for outstanding tasks and delivery commitments.
• Strong analytical, organisational and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to identify operational gaps, challenge inconsistent processes and drive standardisation across teams.
• Confidence managing escalations and coordinating resolution across multiple stakeholders.
• A proactive approach to continuous improvement, operational consistency and service quality.

Desirable Skills:

• Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Engineering, Business Operations or a related discipline, or equivalent practical experience.
• ITIL certification, particularly in Service Operations, Service Transition or related IT service management disciplines.
• Experience using workflow, ticketing and operational monitoring platforms such as Incident.io, Grafana, Jira or equivalent tools.
• Familiarity with data centre infrastructure deployments, incident response workflows and operational performance dashboards.
• Experience developing shift handover templates, operational reporting frameworks and standardised procedures.
• Exposure to hyperscale data centre environments, cloud infrastructure or AI-focused infrastructure operations.
• Experience using automation or reporting tools to improve operational visibility, workflow efficiency and service delivery consistency.

Salary:

• $110,000 per annum