Regional Director Data Center Operations

CBRE; Charlotte (NC); On-site; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Direct Line is seeking a Regional Director to lead the Meta SouthEast region, overseeing network infrastructure, cabling projects, and site modifications across multiple sites with substantial annual revenue. The role requires a business development mindset, strong leadership, and a focus on innovation and talent development within a global operations team.

The position reports to the Managing Director, Operations, and offers growth opportunities within Direct Line’s expansion plans, with

Qualifications

• 10+ years in construction management, data centers, or structured cabling.
• Proven track record delivering mission-critical programs on time and within budget.
• Contract negotiation and administration experience.
• Experience building, developing and leading teams.
• Experience coaching and mentoring direct reports and vendor teams.

Responsibilities

• Build a world-class Region delivering exceptional operational metrics and scalable objectives.
• Communicate region status and risks to leadership and cross-functional teams.
• Coordinate with internal and external design, construction, network, and facility partners.
• Manage autonomous regional operations teams to ensure data center uptime and safe delivery of projects.
• Ensure safety plans are in place for high-risk activities and compliance with quality standards.
• Oversee project management and delivery of network infrastructure and cabling projects.
• Identify and develop improvement projects for the business unit and region.
• Use KPIs and dashboards to monitor delivery quality and drive improvements.
• Champion and implement global best practices and SOPs.

Skills

Leadership

Project management

Stakeholder engagement

Team development

Risk management

Operational delivery

Business development mindset

Safety leadership

SOPs/SIPs

KPI dashboards

Education

PMP certification

Job description

Direct Line (“DL”) is a high growth global technology services company with primary focus in providing design, integration, installation, maintenance and managed services to well-known data center operators and technology companies. Direct Line deploys decades of experience and knowledge through key partnerships with hyperscale technology companies and multi-tenant data center operators that give its clients a competitive marketplace advantage. Direct Line is committed to continually improving our industry through certified training of cutting-edge technicians that deliver superior results with a passion for detail. Direct Line is headquartered in Fremont, California with additional locations in Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, New Mexico, the Pacific Northwest, Asia-Pacific and Europe.

The Regional Director will be a key member in our global operations team supporting one of its largest customers, Meta. The successful candidate will lead DL’s Meta’s SouthEast region and will support the delivery of all the various network infrastructure and cabling projects within sites as assigned. This region includes multiple sites, and represents ~$M in annual revenue, incorporating both construction builds and Site Modifications / Managed Services. Position will report to the Managing Director, Operations, is a key member of DL’s Meta organization given the large remit and provides for tremendous development, and an opportunity for growth, as we continue to scale our business and serve expanded markets. The successful candidate will also become a key operations team member that will have ample opportunity to grow into roles with increasing responsibility and scale within Direct Line’s succession plan. Role requires a broad skill set, including a business development mindset, strong business management, an innovation orientation and personnel development capabilities, solid client engagement skills, an operational focus, and overall leadership skills.

One key expectation for this role is to use your outside-in thinking, to bring a fresh perspective of operational delivery, talent development and innovation to DL’s operations. This is a critical requirement of our client as they are driving industry partners to accelerate their deployments, increase their talent pools and identify innovative opportunities to leverage across their 3 gigawatt + platform.

Additional areas of engagement, participation and support would include the following:

• Support DL’s effort to establish operations delivery structure and incorporate the DL Wa y Playbook SOP’s, a proprietary approach to project fulfillment from opportunity to customer transition.
• Support the build and deployment of DL’s mobilization and Tiger teams, including visibility to additional sites.
• Support Direct Line University’s training program and curriculum build for Operations Leadership, Project Management and Supervisory training, serving as a Subject Matter Expert (SME) and key contributor.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITES

• Build a world-class Region, delivering exceptional operational metrics, including roadmaps to innovate and scale; contribute as an integral part of a management team to develop strategic objectives, goals and long-range plans for the organization.
• Proactively communicate Region status and risks to DL Leadership, client, and across cross-functional teams.
• Coordinate and partner effectively with internal and external design, construction, network, and facility partners.
• Support the team to remove risks and blockers to assure the delivery of structured cabling and network connectivity projects in region, on time, within budget, and to the customers standards of quality, safety, and performance.
• Manage an autonomous Region operations team that responds to operational requests and break-fixes to assure data center reliability and uptime through the lifecycle of the network installation and server fleet.
• Ensure a proper safety plan is in place serving as the blueprint for the way the overall team conducts high-risk activities at region.
• Accountable for effective project management and delivery of network infrastructure and ISP/OSP cabling projects.
• Proactively identify and develop improvement projects for the business unit and region.
• Employ Key Performance Indicators and dashboards to monitor the quality and timeliness of delivery and drive measurable improvements.
• Champion, implement, and automate global best practices, SOPs/SIPs, and efficient processes.

QUALIFICATIONS

• 10 + years of direct work experience in any of these areas: construction management, data centers, or structured cabling environment.
• Track record of delivering mission critical programs on time, within budget, and to applicable build, quality and safety standards.
• Contract negotiation and administration experience
• Experience building, developing and leading teams.
• Experience in assessing, coaching and mentoring direct reports and vendor teams.
• Organizational, time management and coordination skills across multiple disciplines preferred.
• PMP certification, with experience managing Project Managers preferred.