Director, Critical Operations

STACK Infrastructure APAC; Hillsboro (OR); On-site; USD 140,000 - 230,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Healthcare

Dental Care

Vision Insurance

Life Insurance

Paid Time Off

Paid Leave Programs

Job summary

STACK INFRASTRUCTURE in Hillsboro, OR is seeking a Critical Operations Director to lead data center site operations, ensuring uptime and safety across electrical, mechanical, and fire life safety systems.

You will manage CAPEX/OPEX budgets, mentor teams, coordinate vendor activities, and drive continuous improvement while maintaining 100% availability and strong customer service. This role requires executive leadership and multi-site oversight.

Qualifications

• High school diploma or equivalent; Bachelor's degree preferred.
• 5–7 years’ experience in data center or mission-critical operations.
• 3–5 years’ experience administering and managing facility preventive maintenance.
• 3–5 years’ experience in vendor and project management.
• Expert understanding of electrical and mechanical systems in data centers (UPS, Transformers, PDU, Chillers, CRAH/CRAC, STS, ATS).
• Leadership skills and experience managing multi-million-dollar budgets.
• Knowledge of NFPA70e, NFPA72, NFPA25, NFPA101 and related codes.

Responsibilities

• Lead and implement a culture of safety across STACK data centers.
• Act as subject matter expert for electrical, mechanical, and fire life safety systems.
• Oversee budgets (CAPEX/OPEX) and forecasting for sites.
• Manage vendor procurement and billing processes; supervise contractors.
• Provide training and development plans for staff; mentor teams.
• Lead incident reporting and root-cause analyses for outages.
• Ensure commissioning activities do not impact critical operations.
• Maintain high standards of customer service and support.

Skills

Leadership

Data center operations

Budget management

Vendor management

Project management

NFPA standards

Communication

People management

Education

Bachelor’s degree preferred

High school diploma or equivalent

Job description

THE COMPANY:

STACK INFRASTRUCTURE (STACK) provides digital infrastructure to scale the world’s most innovative companies. We are an award-winning industry leader in building, owning, and operating highly efficient, cost-effective wholesale, colocation, and cloud data centers. Each of our national facilities meets or exceeds the highest industry standards in all operational categories of availability, security, connectivity, and physical resilience.

STACK offers the scale and geographic reach that rapidly growing hyperscale and enterprise companies need. The world runs on data. Data runs on STACK.

THE POSITION:

As a leader in STACK’s Critical Operations organization, the Critical Operations Director possesses an elite level of leadership and will be responsible for maintaining the mechanical, electrical, fire life safety, base building, and other various internal data center systems. The Critical Operations Director is responsible for all operational aspects and uptime of the data center region. The Critical Operations Director is also focused on implementation and the pursuit of operational excellence for programs related to Safety, Team, Availability, Communication, and Knowledge. The Critical Operations Director reports to the regional VP of Critical Operations. All data center operations site teams in the region will report to the Critical Operations Director.

The Critical Operations Director is responsible for the implementation and continuous improvement of the Data Center Operations Program at their sites. They are also accountable for employee training and ensuring all staff is adequately qualified to perform their duties. Leading regular team meetings and individual 1:1 sessions is required.

The Director leads the site teams in the development and maintenance of CAPEX and OPEX budgets. They are also responsible for overseeing project execution and management including developing scopes, obtaining proposals, creating purchase requisitions, and ensuring invoices are routed properly.

The Critical Operations Director is a people leader and mentor. They are responsible for the performance and conduct of all critical operations employees in their region, to create an inclusive work environment where all employees feel welcome and are empowered to be great. Responsibilities include but are not limited to:

• Lead and implement standardized culture of always working safely across all STACK data centers.
• Data center subject matter expert for electrical, mechanical, fire life safety, and other data center systems.
• Advise the regional SVP of Critical Operations of the status of their site level preventative and corrective maintenance programs.
• Operate, monitor, maintain, and respond to abnormal conditions within the facility.
• Implementing site level efficiency projects and maintaining overall site design PUE.
• Ensure STACK preventative and predictive maintenance program is executed.
• Training and mentoring of staff.
• Manage vendor relationships and service contracts.
• Manage vendor procurement and billing process.
• Site budgeting and forecasting for both CAPEX and OPEX.
• Evaluate and critique highly detailed technical procedures for maintenance events, emergency situations, standard site evolutions, etc.
• Responsible for ensuring construction and commissioning activities do not impact existing critical operations.
• Lead development and maintaining of individual training plans for each employee in line with the STACK training and development program.
• Be a customer liaison for all site level inquiries.
• Lead incident reporting and root cause analysis processes to deep dive into abnormal occurrences within the data center.
• Expert technical review of procedures
• Expert technical review of company standards and policies
• Manage site audits both internal and external
• Adherence to compliance standards
• Manage systems to avoid unplanned, client-impacting outages
• Manage the data floor and back of house mechanical loading capacity thereby ensuring that the cooling system is operating at its highest efficiency
• Navigate and utilize CMMS, EPMS, and BMS systems.
• Provide day-to-day exceptional customer service and support.
• On-call availability is required to respond to emergency situations at the data centers
• Taking on other duties as required by STACK. Job duties, roles, and responsibilities are subject to change over time.

THE DETAILS:

• Location: Hillsboro, OR
• Benefits: Healthcare, Dental Care, Vision Insurance, Life Insurance, Paid Time Off, Paid Leave Programs
• Travel: Up to 30%
• Must be eligible to work in the United States
• Must pass a comprehensive background and drug screening

MUST-HAVE QUALIFICATIONS:

• High school diploma or equivalent; Bachelor’s Degree preferred
• Minimum of 5-7 years’ experience in a data center or other related mission critical operations role.
• 3-5 years’ experience in administering and managing facility preventative maintenance programs.
• 3-5 years’ experience in vendor and project management
• Expert understanding of the electrical and mechanical systems used in a data center environment. These include, but not limited to: UPS, Transformers, PDU’s, RPP’s, Chillers, CRAH, CRAC, STS, ATS, and Pre-action systems
• Exceptional leadership skills
• Well versed and experienced in managing multiple multi-million-dollar budgets to safely maintain 100% availability while minimizing total cost of ownership.
• Expert knowledge of NFPA70e, NFPA72, NFPA25, NFPA101 and compliance issues as well as other building codes in regard to fire or life safety.
• Expert knowledge and experience in data center trending and analysis, with the ability to rapidly learn and use PC based site monitoring systems.
• Experienced in the design, construction, and commissioning of critical systems and buildings.
• Ability to communicate effectively with customers and internal staff.
• Ability to coordinate, supervise, and communicate with contractors who perform maintenance in the data center.
• Proven knowledge of customer contracts and SLA levels in line with ASHRAE standards.
• Experienced people manager
• Must be and be able to develop team players.

THIS MIGHT BE RIGHT FOR YOU IF:

• You are a strong communicator, you are persuasive and clear, blending analytics with experience in decision-making.

• You do not get flustered easily. You can juggle multiple priorities while balancing urgent requests with shifting timelines and deliverables.

• You are a team builder. You take the time to understand and develop the strengths of your resources while formulating long-term plans for the growth and success of the team.

• You are naturally curious and driven toward continual improvement. While you celebrate your successes, you take time to review and analyze campaigns for future learning.

WHY STACK?

• We offer a competitive compensation package with strong benefits, including medical, dental, and vision insurance, a 401K program, flexible spending accounts – even a cell phone subsidy.

• We foster a culture of appreciation, including peer-to-peer recognition and rewards programs.

• Fun is part of our DNA, with events, game nights, happy hours, and barbecues.

• We’re growing – this is a great time to join and make an impact!

STACK is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, age, national origin, mental or physical disability, genetic information, veteran status, or any other status protected by federal, state, or local law