Senior Director, Operations Engineering Strategic Initiatives, NA

NextGenEnergyJobs; Denver (CO); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

NextGenEnergyJobs is seeking a senior Enterprise Operations leader for North America to protect and improve data center availability by integrating operating experience, engineering expertise, telemetry, and risk management.

The role drives strategic planning, portfolio decisions, and value realization across complex data center portfolios, requiring executive communication and the ability to operate across office, remote, and data center environments with up to 25% travel.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent practical experience in Engineering, Operations, Business, Finance, Information Systems, Program Management, or related discipline.
• 12+ years of progressive experience across mission-critical operations, data center engineering, operational strategy, or adjacent fields.
• Substantial leadership experience in mission-critical data centers or high-availability environments.
• Broad understanding of critical environments: electrical and mechanical infrastructure, controls, monitoring, risk, maintenance, lifecycle practices.
• Experience shaping cross-functional portfolio decisions reconciling operating, engineering, financial, customer, and growth considerations.
• Experience developing executive-level recommendations on investments, capabilities, operating models, risk, and partner strategy.
• Ability to use telemetry and analytics to test assumptions and inform strategic decisions.
• Strong business and financial judgment with experience evaluating tradeoffs and enterprise value.
• Experience shaping vendor/partner approaches, including service models and performance expectations.
• Ability to influence executive decisions without direct authority and operate under ambiguity.

Education

Bachelor's degree

Job description

Enterprise Operational Excellence, North America, protects and improves data center availability by connecting mission-critical operating experience, engineering expertise, telemetry, technical risk, and fleet learning.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Operations, Business, Finance, Information Systems, Program Management, or a related discipline, or equivalent practical experience.
• Twelve or more years of progressive experience across mission-critical operations, data center engineering, operational strategy, business operations, enterprise transformation, strategic planning, or an adjacent discipline.
• Substantial operational, engineering, or program leadership experience in mission-critical data centers or a comparable high-availability, critical-infrastructure environment.
• Broad understanding of critical environments, including electrical and mechanical infrastructure, controls and monitoring, operational risk, maintenance and lifecycle practices, incident learning, reliability, and operational readiness.
• Demonstrated experience shaping consequential, cross-functional portfolio decisions where operating, engineering, financial, customer, and growth considerations must be reconciled.
• Experience establishing strategic planning, initiative-evaluation, decision-support, or value-realization approaches adopted across a complex organization.
• Experience developing executive-level recommendations on investments, capabilities, operating models, risk, and partner strategy with clear alternatives and implementation implications.
• Ability to use telemetry, operational evidence, performance indicators, and analytical insight to test assumptions and inform strategic decisions.
• Strong business and financial judgment, including experience evaluating material tradeoffs and connecting operational choices to enterprise value.
• Experience shaping strategic vendor and partner approaches, including capability requirements, service models, performance expectations, commercial considerations, and long-term value.
• Proven ability to influence executive and cross-functional decisions without direct authority, exercise independent judgment under ambiguity, and challenge established thinking constructively.
• Exceptional written communication, executive presentation, facilitation, and structured problem-solving capabilities.
• Advanced degree in Engineering, Business Administration, Operations, Finance, Information Systems, or a related discipline.
• Experience in hyperscale, wholesale colocation, cloud infrastructure, utilities, advanced manufacturing, or another capital-intensive operating environment.
• Experience supporting a geographically distributed, multi-site data center or critical-infrastructure portfolio.
• Working knowledge of BMS, EPMS, SCADA, DCIM, CMMS, ServiceNow, Power BI, or comparable operational and data platforms.
• Experience shaping observability, predictive analytics, operational automation, digital commissioning, or AI-enabled decision-support strategies.
• PMP, PgMP, Lean, Six Sigma, ITIL, reliability, data center, or comparable professional certification.
• Senior leaders have a coherent view of the choices, dependencies, risks, and tradeoffs that matter most to EOE and the North American portfolio.
• Portfolio-level decisions are supported by credible operational evidence, engineering judgment, financial context, and clear alternatives.
• Systemic risks and high-value opportunities are identified early enough to influence priorities and investment decisions.
• Approved initiatives have explicit intended outcomes, accountable owners, and a means of testing whether value was realized.
• Enterprise, customer, and partner decisions appropriately reflect North America operational requirements.
• Reusable decision standards improve strategic consistency without displacing functional, technical, operational, or program ownership.
• The role requires the ability to operate effectively in office, remote, and active data center environments. During site visits, the employee may occasionally be required to stand, walk, sit, use stairs, stoop, kneel, and wear required personal protective equipment. The employee must occasionally be able to lift or move up to 25 pounds.
• Travel to Vantage campuses, offices, partner locations, and business meetings is expected to be up to 25% but may increase over time as the business evolves.