Regional Program Manager-Washington D.C.

Alibaba Cloud; Washington (District of Columbia); On-site; USD 142,000 - 234,000; Full time

Job summary

Alibaba Cloud is seeking an experienced Infrastructure Operations leader to ensure reliable, secure operations across colocation facilities in the Americas and beyond. The role emphasizes governance, audits, and cross‑functional collaboration with engineering, vendors, and regional teams.

The successful candidate will have 8+ years in infrastructure operations, strong vendor governance, and project management, with willingness to travel internationally and align local practices with Alibaba

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or higher in a technical discipline with 8+ years of infrastructure operations experience.
• Proven track record in vendor governance and operational auditing.
• Strong project management capabilities across geographies and stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Build operational partnerships with colocation providers and govern daily operations, risk, and service quality.
• Develop and enforce standards, conduct on-site audits, identify gaps, and drive corrective actions to closure.
• Establish risk governance for regions, lead root cause analysis and preventive actions.
• Coordinate system integration for monitoring telemetries and alarm management across regional infrastructure.
• Lead review of electrical and HVAC automation control logic and ensure reliability, efficiency and safety.
• Oversee commissioning and tuning of electrical/HVAC automation with vendor resources and acceptance testing.
• Collaborate with global HQ on strategy, standards, and regional capability building.

Skills

Vendor governance

Project management

Infrastructure operations

Colocation management

Risk governance

Stakeholder management

Mandarin proficiency

Education

Bachelor's degree in technical discipline

Job description

We are the Alibaba Infrastructure Operations Team, a critical component of a leading global technology enterprise's infrastructure strategy. Our mission is to ensure the highly efficient, stable, and secure operation of the operational environment across the Globe. We are dedicated to delivering "last mile customer value" from our operational facilities, providing a seamless, reliable, and highly efficient service experience.

Our Core Focuses

End-to-End Reliability: From critical equipments (electric, HVAC) to IT services, we provide comprehensive stability assurance, focused on mitigating risks and ensuring business continuity.

Project-Based & Lean Operations: We approach operational work through a project lens, continuously optimizing processes to achieve efficient resource utilization and lean operating costs.

Innovation & Talent Development: We actively integrate cutting‑edge technologies and foster robust knowledge‑sharing mechanisms to continuously enhance our team's professional capabilities and innovative practices.

We serve as the robust foundation for the enterprise's business growth in the Americas, providing powerful and trustworthy infrastructure assurance through professionalism, innovation, and collaboration.

Job Responsibilities

• Build deep operational partnership with colocation providers, establishing hands‑on governance over daily operations, risk management, and service quality to ensure comprehensive operational excellence beyond baseline contractual commitments.
• Develop and enforce operational standards, inspection protocols, and performance benchmarks. Conduct regular on‑site audits and operational reviews, identify service gaps, and drive corrective actions to closure — functioning as the on‑ground authority for operational excellence.
• Establish risk governance frameworks for assigned regions, including proactive risk identification, root cause analysis leadership, and preventive action tracking across all colocation infrastructure.
• Drive colocation provider monitoring system integration across regional infrastructure through structured project management, coordinating cross‑functional resources (internal engineering, colo provider teams, platform vendors) to ensure standardized telemetry access, data quality, and alarm management aligned with Alibaba global environment monitoring system standards.
• Lead review and validation of electrical and HVAC automation control logic implemented by colocation providers, orchestrating technical experts and vendor resources to ensure control strategies meet reliability, efficiency, and safety standards.
• Conduct systematic risk identification and governance for electrical and HVAC infrastructure, coordinating assessment activities across colo providers and internal stakeholders, driving single points of failure analysis, redundancy validation, and mitigation roadmap development to closure.
• Oversee commissioning and tuning of electrical and HVAC automation systems, managing vendor execution and validating control parameters, setpoints, and closed‑loop operation stability — ensuring production‑ready delivery through rigorous acceptance testing.
• Collaborate with global headquarters on operational strategy, standards development, and platform roadmap. Represent regional perspectives in global reviews and ensure global policies are adapted to local contexts. Build regional operational capability through training, certification, and knowledge transfer programs.

Job Requirements

• Bachelor's degree or higher in a technical discipline. Over 8 years of experience in infrastructure operations, with proven track record in colocation provider management or vendor governance.
• Solid understanding of critical infrastructure systems (electric, HVAC) with demonstrated ability to orchestrate technical resources and drive engineering initiatives from concept to delivery — someone who knows how to get things done right.
• Proven track record in vendor governance, operational auditing, and performance improvement. Ability to establish high operational standards and drive colocation providers to exceed baseline expectations.
• Strong project management capabilities with a track record of delivering complex, cross‑functional initiatives across multiple stakeholders and geographies. Resourceful in navigating ambiguity and pushing through organizational barriers.
• Experience in infrastructure risk governance, including risk identification, root cause analysis, and mitigation execution. Demonstrated ability to drive systematic improvements and close action items with discipline.
• Self‑starter with high ownership and bias for action. Proven ability to identify opportunities, challenge existing approaches, and drive innovative solutions independently. Someone who gets energized by hard problems and is willing to go the extra mile for meaningful work.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills, with ability to build trust and influence across diverse cultural and organizational contexts. Mandarin proficiency is a plus.
• Willingness to travel internationally (up to 30‑40% of time).

The pay range for this position at commencement of employment is expected to be between $142,000/year and $234,000/year. However, base pay offered may vary depending on multiple individualized factors, including market location, job‑related knowledge, skills, and experience.

If hired, employee will be in an “at‑will position” and the Company reserves the right to modify base salary (as well as any other discretionary payment or compensation program) at any time, including for reasons related to individual performance, Company or individual department/team performance, and market factors.