Sustainable Design Lead

STACK Infrastructure; Denver (CO); On-site; USD 198,000 - 221,000; Full time

Job summary

STACK Infrastructure is seeking a Director of Sustainability within the Innovation & Engineering organization in the Americas. The role leads the translation of corporate sustainability commitments into sustainable design and construction standards and manages project-by-project implementation, while collaborating with Global Sustainability on Net Zero roadmap execution.

Key responsibilities include managing Life Cycle Assessment workflows, driving emissions reduction across data center design,

Qualifications

• Experience leading sustainability programs across large real estate or industrial portfolios.
• Ability to translate corporate sustainability commitments into actionable standards and workflows.
• Strong experience in data-driven decision making and reporting for executive audiences.
• Proven track record in decarbonization and net-zero initiatives.
• Excellent cross-functional collaboration and vendor management skills.

Responsibilities

• Embed sustainability requirements into design and construction workflows and BOD documents.
• Oversee implementation of sustainability standards across active design/construction projects.
• Track costs and trade-offs for carbon reduction and water-use improvements.
• Own end-to-end LCA workflow for in-flight projects and translate results into actionable insights.
• Coordinate with leadership on regional goals and governance for Net Zero efforts.

Skills

Program management

Executive communication

Strategic thinking

Reporting and analytics

Tools

PowerPoint

Job description

THE COMPANY

STACK INFRASTRUCTURE (STACK) provides digital infrastructure to scale the world’s most innovative companies. We are an award-winning industry leader in building, owning, and operating highly efficient, cost-effective wholesale, colocation, and cloud data centers. Each of our national facilities meets or exceeds the highest industry standards in all operational categories of availability, security, connectivity, and physical resilience.

STACK offers the scale and geographic reach that rapidly growing hyperscale and enterprise companies need. The world runs on data. Data runs on STACK.

THE POSITION

STACK Americas is hiring a Director, Sustainability embedded within the Innovation & Engineering (I&E) organization. This is an execution-focused role responsible for translating STACK’s corporate sustainability commitments into Sustainable Design and Construction Standards as well as managing the project-by-project implementation of those standards.

In parallel, this role maintains a structured operating cadence with STACK’s Global Sustainability leadership, partnering closely on Net Zero roadmap implementation, ensuring Americas execution is consistent, auditable, scalable, and executed in alignment with global Net Zero expectations, target-setting, governance decisions, and reporting needs. The role will run the \"delivery engine\" for data center design and equipment decarbonization, working closely with internal and external partners to achieve STACK’s aggressive Scope 3 embodied carbon reduction targets.

This is a highly cross-functional role working day-to-day with sustainability, construction, design and engineering, procurement, supply chain, external architects and engineers, general contractors and subcontractors, sustainability consultants/advisors, tenants, and relevant industry groups and consortiums. Other responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

Sustainable Design & Construction Standards Advancement & Implementation

• Embed project sustainability requirements into STACK-developed Basis of Design documents, specification packages, AEC onboarding and contracting materials, and internal design and construction workflows.


• Manage the implementation of STACK and tenant sustainable design and construction standards on all active design and construction projects.


• Work with internal and external pre-construction and construction teams to track the cost of sustainable design and construction standards implementation to support cost-of-carbon reduction tradeoff decisions and reduction in water use.


• Maintain a closeout process that ensures project sustainability compliance is memorialized for lessons learned, future standards advancement, and incorporation into corporate sustainability reporting.


• Own the end-to-end Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) implementation workflow across all in-flight projects, including consultant onboarding, SOW alignment, schedule management, and deliverable quality control.


• Translate LCA results into usable insights for project teams, highlighting Net Zero alignment and recommended actions to advance data center decarbonization.


• Work with I&E leadership to develop a clear decision-making process for sustainable initiatives in new projects, including integration into the plan of record and budget assumptions.

Design & Construction Innovation

• Evaluate and advance next-generation sustainable design strategies and products.


• Work directly with third party design firms who are contracted to provide project design documents to ensure sustainability initiatives are considered and incorporated as part of the overall project design strategy.


• Develop and manage appropriate pilot processes, including evaluation / success metrics, appropriate pilot design / parameters, and scaling opportunities.


• Use pilots to advance STACK’s data center Basis of Design in alignment with corporate sustainability goals.


• Work with I&E to establish regional sustainability goals that include exterior envelope efficiencies, site design improvements, and infrastructure optimization as it relates to local environmental conditions.

Tenant Sustainability

• Serve as the internal tenant sustainable design requirements expert - interpreting customer sustainability requirements and translating them into clear actions for development, commercial, design, and delivery teams.


• Partner with commercial teams to support customer inquiries/RFPs and proactively identify opportunities for sustainable design collaboration with priority tenants.


• Maintain a structured approach to tracking tenant sustainability requirements and commitments alongside STACK sustainable design and construction standards implementation.

Supply Engagement & Equipment Decarbonization

• Work with Supply Chain to establish preferred vendors to support STACKs sustainable initiatives.


• Build and manage direct relationships with key OFE (Owner Furnished Equipment) mechanical and electrical equipment manufacturers, including generators, chillers, switchgear, UPS and other critical infrastructure suppliers, to assess current emissions footprints, identify low-carbon product alternatives, and negotiate decarbonization commitments and roadmaps.


• Integrate net zero requirements into OFE procurement and specification processes, partnering with sourcing, engineering, and construction teams to embed emissions criteria, low-carbon technology standards, and supplier climate commitments into RFPs, vendor qualification and OFE purchasing decisions.


• Track, evaluate, and prioritize OFE manufacturer decarbonization initiatives using technical, financial and supply chain criteria, and develop dashboards/reporting to monitor supplier progress against established science-based Net Zero targets.

QUALIFICA TIONS

• 8-12+ years of experience in one or more of the following: real estate sustainability, supply chain sustainability, architecture, engineering, or construction.


• Experience reading, understanding, and developing architectural design documents, including CSI master specification format.


• Experience creating and implementing sustainable design standards and repeatable delivery mechanisms across a real estate portfolio.


• Experience with supply chain decarbonization best practices.


• Strong program/project management skills.


• High bar for professional deliverables including PowerPoint for executive presentation, clear, concise, decision-ready and self-contained. Ability to articulate sustainability concepts to senior executives as needed to obtain budget approvals.

ADDITIONAL PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Experience in data center or other mission-critical/industrial project delivery environments


• Experience designing/implementing prefabrication/modular design strategies or designing/implementing alternative structural systems (including mass timber/hybrid systems).

Compensation Range

$197,600.00 - $221,300.00

THIS MIGHT BE RIGHT FOR YOU IF

• You are a strong communicator, you are persuasive and clear, blending analytics with experience in decision-making.


• You do not get flustered easily. You can juggle multiple priorities while balancing urgent requests with shifting timelines and deliverables.


• You are a team builder. You take the time to understand and develop the strengths of your resources while formulating long-term plans for the growth and success of the team.


• You are naturally curious and driven toward continual improvement. While you celebrate your successes, you take time to review and analyze campaigns for future learning.

WHY STACK

• We offer a competitive compensation package with strong benefits, including medical, dental, and vision insurance, a 401K program, flexible spending accounts - even a cell phone subsidy.


• We foster a culture of appreciation, including peer-to-peer recognition and rewards programs.


• Fun is part of our DNA, with events, game nights, happy hours, and barbecues.


• We’re growing - this is a great time to join and make an impact!

STACK is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, age, national origin, mental or physical disability, genetic information, veteran status, or any other status protected by federal, state, or local law.