Director of Site Selection

NuPeople; United States; On-site; USD 180,000 - 280,000; Full time

Job summary

NuPeople, a high-growth AI infrastructure company, is seeking a Director of Site Selection to identify, evaluate, and secure data center sites and power across the United States. This hands-on role focuses on power, permitting, network connectivity, construction viability, and economics, delivering fast go/no-go recommendations and coordinating with legal, construction, engineering, and finance teams.

You’ll build a prioritized pipeline and brief executive leadership on risks, timelines, and

Qualifications

• 10+ years in data center site selection, infrastructure development, or related roles.
• Deep understanding of power infrastructure, permitting, and connectivity.
• Ability to synthesize technical data into clear go/no-go recommendations.

Responsibilities

• Lead technical evaluation and site selection across multiple US markets.
• Assess power availability, permitting feasibility, and network access.
• Evaluate utility capacity, substations, energization timelines, and cost.
• Determine if a site can support high-density AI compute.
• Assess jurisdictional complexity and entitlement risk.
• Review fiber, carrier diversity, and cloud connectivity.
• Evaluate construction viability including cooling and space.
• Perform first-pass economic analysis of power and build costs.
• Build and maintain a pipeline of site opportunities.
• Collaborate with legal on leases and site agreements.
• Coordinate with Construction, Engineering, Supply Chain, Finance, Deployment.
• Present decision-ready recommendations to leadership with risks and timelines.

Skills

Site selection

Power engineering

Permitting

Network connectivity

Financial analysis

Executive communication

Vendor management

Job description

A high-growth AI infrastructure company is building a next-generation platform for AI inf erence, delivering high-performance compute capacity closer to end users through a distributed network of high-density data center sites. The company is rapidly expanding its U.S. footprint and is looking for a Director of Site Selection to identify, evaluate, and secure the sites and power required to support that growth.

This is a hands-on infrastructure role, not a traditional real estate development position. You’ll be responsible for quickly determining whether a site can support deployment based primarily on power, permitting, network connectivity, construction viability, and economics. The ideal candidate can evaluate opportunities quickly, identify risks early, and turn complex technical inputs into a clear go/no-go recommendation.

What You’ll Do

• Lead the technical evaluation and selection of new data center sites across multiple U.S. markets.
• Assess candidate sites based on the three most critical factors: power availability, permitting feasibility, and network connectivity.
• Evaluate utility capacity, substation proximity, energization timelines, feed diversity, redundancy, and delivered power cost.
• Determine whether a site has the infrastructure required to support high-density, liquid-cooled AI compute.
• Assess permitting requirements, jurisdictional complexity, approval timelines, and potential entitlement risk before commitments are made.
• Evaluate network access, fiber availability, carrier diversity, cloud connectivity, and overall resiliency.
• Review construction viability, including site conditions, available space, structural requirements, cooling, expansion capacity, and time-to-ready.
• Perform first-pass economic analysis around power cost, construction requirements, and overall site viability.
• Build and maintain a prioritized pipeline of site opportunities and move promising locations through diligence quickly.
• Partner with legal and external advisors on leases, site agreements, and other commercial documentation.
• Work closely with Construction, Engineering, Supply Chain, Finance, and Deployment to ensure selected sites can transition efficiently into build-ready projects.
• Present clear, decision-ready recommendations to leadership, including key risks, tradeoffs, estimated timelines, and required next steps.

What We’re Looking For

• 10+ years of experience in data center site selection, infrastructure development, site engineering, power development, or related digital infrastructure roles.
• Strong preference for candidates with direct data center experience.
• Deep understanding of power infrastructure, including utilities, substations, energization timelines, grid constraints, redundancy, and power economics.
• Experience evaluating sites from a technical and infrastructure perspective rather than solely through a real estate lens.
• Strong working knowledge of permitting, zoning, entitlement risk, and local approval processes.
• Understanding of network and fiber infrastructure and how connectivity impacts site viability.
• Familiarity with construction feasibility, MEP considerations, cooling, and mission-critical infrastructure.
• Ability to perform high-level financial and commercial analysis without relying on a large support team.
• Experience working with landlords, colocation providers, utilities, consultants, and outside legal counsel.
• Strong judgment and the ability to make fast, well-supported go/no-go recommendations.
• Comfortable operating in an early-stage environment where the role is initially very hands-on.
• Strong communication skills and the ability to explain technical tradeoffs clearly to executive leadership.