Finance Manager, Data Center Development
Big Watt Digital, LLC
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Job summary
Big Watt Digital, Seattle-based, is seeking a Finance Manager, Data Center Development to drive investment economics for multi‑billion dollar campuses.
You will build financial models, partner with engineering and construction teams, and translate complex decisions into clear financial recommendations that scale with our portfolio.
This role offers startup energy with disciplined financial rigor and the opportunity to shape long‑term capital strategy.
Qualifications
- 5+ years of experience in strategic finance, FP&A, project finance or infrastructure investing.
- Strong financial modeling and investment analysis capabilities.
- Experience in data centers, real estate development, construction or energy infrastructure.
- Familiarity with data center development economics and budgeting is valued.
- Ability to influence investment or operating decisions.
Responsibilities
- Own financial models for data center development, including capex, IRR and margins.
- Evaluate project economics across delivery models and capacity expansions.
- Partner with Development and Commercial teams on pricing, leases and risks.
- Monitor budgets, forecasts and cost-to-complete for projects.
- Translate complex engineering decisions into clear financial recommendations.
- Build scalable financial models and reporting for portfolio growth.
- Collaborate with Accounting and Treasury to align funding and reporting.
Skills
Education
Job description
Big Watt Digital is a mission-critical infrastructure platform developing and operating next-generation, high-density data center campuses built for the demands of AI and advanced digital workloads. Our model brings together large-scale power, digital infrastructure, development execution, and operational discipline to deliver speed, certainty, and scalability.
We are building at the intersection of energy, data centers, AI infrastructure, and large-scale development—where execution matters.
Big Watt Digital is building the infrastructure required to power the next generation of AI—combining behind-the-meter power generation with large-scale data center development.
Data center development is central to our business model. Decisions involving site selection, design, construction, equipment procurement, customer requirements and delivery timelines directly determine capital efficiency, project returns and long-term enterprise value.
We are looking for a Finance Manager, Data Center Development who can operate at the intersection of engineering, construction, commercial strategy and investment economics. This is not a traditional budgeting and reporting role. You will help evaluate multi‑billion‑dollar infrastructure investments, translate complex development decisions into financial outcomes and drive capital discipline across an expanding portfolio of data center projects.
You will work directly with leaders across Development, Engineering, Construction, Commercial, Treasury and Finance, bringing analytical rigor and commercial judgment to decisions involving significant capital commitments.
The opportunity is to build the financial foundation of a rapidly scaling data center development business while influencing decisions that shape its long‑term economics.
- Own financial models for data center development, spanning site acquisition, design, construction, commissioning and stabilized operations.
- Evaluate project economics across powered shell, build-to-suit and turnkey delivery models, including capital cost per MW, IRR, yield on cost and development margins.
- Build investment cases for new campuses, capacity expansion and major capital commitments, assessing trade-offs across cost, schedule, design and customer requirements.
- Partner with Development and Commercial teams to evaluate customer pricing, lease structures and risk‑adjusted project returns.
- Partner with Construction and Engineering leaders to establish project budgets, capital forecasts and cost-to-complete estimates.
- Monitor procurement commitments, change orders, contingencies, construction progress and capital deployment against approved plans.
- Quantify the financial impact of schedule delays, cost escalation, scope changes and commissioning risks.
- Identify emerging risks, challenge assumptions and drive corrective actions to protect project economics.
- Own development planning, forecasting, variance analysis and financial performance reporting across the project portfolio.
- Integrate development milestones, procurement, construction spending, commercial operation dates (COD) and customer delivery commitments into financial forecasts.
- Establish operating metrics including cost per MW, capital deployment, schedule performance, contingency utilization and yield on cost.
- Partner with Accounting and Treasury to align capital commitments, project funding, liquidity requirements and financial reporting.
- Bring Finance upstream into site selection, project design, equipment procurement, contracting and customer negotiations.
- Translate complex engineering, construction and commercial decisions into clear financial recommendations for senior leadership.
- Build scalable financial models, reporting mechanisms and automated processes to support rapid portfolio expansion.
- Navigate ambiguity, challenge decisions constructively and balance financial discipline with the execution speed of a startup.
- 5+ years of experience in strategic finance, FP&A, project finance, infrastructure investing, real estate development finance or a related field.
- Strong financial modeling and investment analysis capabilities, including project-level cash flows, capital allocation, scenario analysis and valuation.
- Experience in data centers, real estate development, construction, energy infrastructure or another capital-intensive industry.
- Familiarity with data center development economics, construction budgeting, cost-to-complete forecasting, capital procurement or commercial lease structures is highly valued.
- Able to engage credibly with engineers, developers and construction leaders, challenge assumptions and translate complex projects into financial decisions.
- Demonstrated ability to influence investment or operating decisions—not simply produce analysis for others.
- Comfortable building financial models, processes and mechanisms from the ground up while delivering against demanding timelines.
- Strong commercial judgment, intellectual curiosity and the ability to distinguish material risks from analytical noise.
- Combines the analytical rigor of a sophisticated infrastructure investor with the ownership, adaptability and execution speed of a startup operator.
- Bachelor's degree in Finance, Engineering, Economics or a related discipline; an MBA or advanced technical degree is a plus.
You understand that the value of Finance is not model precision alone. It is the judgment to determine where capital should go, which risks are worth taking and how development decisions translate into long‑term economic value.
At Big Watt Digital, Finance belongs upstream of the investment decision—not downstream of the transaction.
BUILD: Create durable systems, not temporary fixes. EXECUTE: Move with urgency and accountability. PARTNER: Work across disciplines and stakeholders. SCALE: Design for the next campus, not just today.
Salary Range for this position is from $200-$250K.
In addition to a competitive salary Big Watt Digital offers:
- Annual Cash Bonus
- Incentive Award Units
- Rich medical, dental and vision benefits
- Short-term and long-term disability
- Life Insurance
- 4 weeks PTO
- Coming soon: 401(k) Plan
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