Sr. Ops Lead – Data Center Facilities

Blue Signal Search; Houston (TX); On-site; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive base salary

Comprehensive health and dental benefits

Generous PTO and paid volunteer time

Volunteer time

Job summary

A leading infrastructure provider is seeking a Sr. Operations Lead in Houston, Texas, responsible for overseeing critical infrastructure in data centers. The role involves managing incidents, optimizing maintenance programs, and mentoring technicians. Candidates should possess 7+ years of experience in data-center operations and a degree in engineering. Competitive salary and benefits offered, along with career growth opportunities in a dynamic environment.

Qualifications

• 7+ years leading critical facilities or data-center operations.
• Deep knowledge of power, cooling, and building-automation systems.
• Demonstrated expertise in change-control and risk-management frameworks.
• Proven incident response and post-mortem remediation.
• Strong change-control and risk-management in multi-tenant environments.
• Ability to read one-lines, P&IDs, and commissioning scripts.
• Vendor management with colo providers and OEMs.
• Clear communicator for executives and engineers.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the senior escalation point for power, cooling, or life-safety incidents.
• Own the change-management process for high-risk maintenance.
• Mentor site technicians and promote a culture of safety.
• Liaise with commissioning teams during capacity expansions and site turn-ups.
• Maintain risk registers, single points of failure, and mitigation plans.
• Analyze trend data to improve efficiency, reliability, and sustainability.
• Mentor site technicians and promote safety and documentation discipline.
• Contribute to global standards raising performance and cost efficiency.

Skills

Leading critical facilities operations

Managing incident response

Vendor management

Strong communication skills

Change-control & risk mgmt

Vendor management

One-line read & P&IDs

Education

Electrical or mechanical engineering degree

Professional certifications (CFM, PMP, CDCP)

PMP

CDCP

Job description

Locations (on-site): Buffalo NY | Houston TX | Aberdeen TX

Join an industry-defining infrastructure provider that builds and operates hyperscale environments powering today’s most demanding AI and cloud workloads. As our Sr. Operations Lead, you will be the on-site authority for all things critical infrastructure, steering multi-megawatt data centers through rapid growth while safeguarding uptime and safety. If you thrive on owning risk, driving change, and partnering with world-class engineers and colo providers, this is your chance to leave a global imprint on next-generation facilities.

Key Responsibilities

• Serve as the senior escalation point for any incident impacting power, cooling, or life-safety systems within the white space.
• Own the change-management process for all high-risk maintenance and retrofits, ensuring seamless execution with zero unplanned downtime.
• Audit and optimize preventive-maintenance programs with colocation and service partners, verifying redundancy targets and regulatory compliance.
• Act as the technical liaison to commissioning teams and design SMEs during capacity expansions, upgrades, and new-site turn-ups.
• Maintain and continuously update risk registers, single points of failure, and mitigation plans for each facility.
• Analyze trend data on electrical and mechanical systems to recommend improvements in efficiency, reliability, and sustainability.
• Mentor site technicians, promoting a culture of safety, operational excellence, and documentation discipline.
• Contribute to global standards that raise the bar for performance, availability, and cost efficiency across the fleet.

Skill Set & Qualifications

• 7+ years leading critical facilities or data-center operations, with hands‑on ownership of power, cooling, and building‑automation systems.
• Deep knowledge of redundancy topologies (2N, N+1), capacity modeling (TIA-942, ASHRAE), and concurrent‑maintainability concepts.
• Proven track record managing incident response, root‑cause analysis, and post‑mortem remediation.
• Demonstrated expertise in change‑control and risk‑management frameworks for multi‑tenant or hyperscale environments.
• Comfortable reading one‑lines, P&IDs, and commissioning scripts; able to influence L1–L5 testing outcomes.
• Strong vendor‑management and negotiation skills; experience partnering with colo providers and OEMs.
• Clear, concise communicator who can translate complex technical issues for executives, engineers, and third‑party stakeholders.
• Electrical or mechanical engineering degree (or equivalent experience). Professional certifications such as CFM, PMP, or CDCP are a plus.

Compensation & Growth

• Competitive base salary, plus equity opportunities.
• Comprehensive health, dental, vision, and retirement benefits aligned to local norms.
• Generous PTO and paid volunteer time.
• Direct impact on strategic build‑outs powering cutting‑edge AI and cloud initiatives.
• Accelerated career path into multi‑site or regional leadership for high performers.