Director of Mission-Critical Operations

Walbridge; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

L5 Mission Critical is seeking a Director of Operations to lead the safe, reliable, and efficient operation of mission-critical facilities across a national portfolio. You will drive uptime, safety, maintenance excellence, and client satisfaction while partnering with cross-functional leaders to establish standards and scalable playbooks.

You will manage budgets, staffing models, business partnerships, and risk across multiple sites, with regular travel to client locations in North America.

Qualifications

• 12+ years of experience in mission critical operations or data center facilities.
• 5+ years leading multi-site or large-scale operations teams.
• Deep knowledge of critical power and cooling infrastructure and their live operation.
• Proven uptime/SLA delivery for hyperscale, colocation, or enterprise clients.
• Experience in incident response, root cause analysis and corrective action.
• Strong financial acumen including budgeting and labor planning.
• Familiarity with NFPA 70E and OSHA safety requirements.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to lead cross-functional teams across multiple sites.
• Willingness to travel across North America.
• Experience in high-growth or outsourced services environments.
• Industry certifications (Uptime Institute, CDCP, CDFOM, CFM) preferred.

Responsibilities

• Own operational performance across the site portfolio, including availability, incident response, SLA compliance, and client KPIs.
• Direct the operation and maintenance of critical power, cooling, and building systems.
• Lead incident management and client communication.
• Ensure SOPs/EOPs and change management on every site.
• Drive preventive and predictive maintenance and lifecycle planning.
• Enforce a zero-incident safety culture and site safety protocols.
• Ensure audit readiness and regulatory compliance.
• Manage operating budgets, labor plans, and vendor spend.
• Staff and develop regional and site operations leaders.
• Establish scalable operating standards and governance.
• Track performance and report incidents to executive leadership.

Skills

Leadership of multi-site operations

Incident response

Budget management

Safety & compliance knowledge

Cross-functional collaboration

Client relationship management

Operational performance monitoring

Communication skills

Travel readiness

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Operations, Business, or related field

Job description

L5 Mission Critical is seeking a Director of Operations to lead the safe, reliable, and efficient operation of mission-critical facilities across a national portfolio. You will drive uptime, safety, maintenance excellence, and client satisfaction while partnering with cross-functional leaders to establish standards and scalable playbooks.

You will manage budgets, staffing models, business partnerships, and risk across multiple sites, with regular travel to client locations in North America.