Vice President, Data Center Design

Jobtailor; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 280,000; Full time

Job summary

Montera is seeking a senior design leader to own end-to-end delivery for a portfolio of data center projects. You will drive cross-disciplinary integration across architectural, electrical, mechanical, controls, and network scopes, while maintaining schedule and budget and protecting design intent.

You will oversee contracts with CSA, MEP, and design-assist partners, lead design reviews and constructability assessments, and report status to CTO and leadership.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Architecture or Engineering; PE/RA preferred.
• 15+ years of data center or mission-critical design experience.
• Proven track record delivering full delivery lifecycle with schedule, cost, and quality accountability.
• Experience leading external design and construction partners (CSA, MEP, design-assist, GC/CM).

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end design delivery across the portfolio from concept through turnover.
• Hold the integrated, multi-discipline design schedule and budget and drive the critical path.
• Govern design change control, trade studies, and value-engineering decisions.
• Lead design reviews, coordination summits, and constructability reviews with partners.

Skills

Exceptional communication

Leadership of design teams

Negotiation skills

Schedule discipline

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Architecture or Engineering

Professional Licensure (PE/RA) preferred

Tools

BIM

Design-Bid-Build

Design-Assist

EPC Delivery Models

Job description

• Own end-to-end design delivery across Montera’s portfolio from concept through schematic design, design development, IFP/IFC, construction-phase support, commissioning, and turnover.
• Hold the integrated, multi-discipline design schedule and budget, driving the critical path across architectural, electrical, mechanical, controls, and network scopes.
• Govern design change control, trade studies, and value-engineering decisions while protecting design intent, five-nines availability, and operability.
• Own the basis of design and design deliverables supporting permitting, procurement, and construction.
• Lead and develop five Principal ICs across Architecture & Master Planning, Electrical, Mechanical, Controls, and Network.
• Integrate discipline reference architectures into a coordinated facility design and arbitrate cross-discipline trade-offs.
• Enforce portfolio-wide design standards, playbooks, and prototypical modules.
• Define, negotiate, and manage design contracts with CSA, MEP, design-assist, and specialty consultant partners.
• Establish contracting standards, scope boundaries, interface agreements, deliverable schedules, fee structures, and design responsibility matrices.
• Track partner deliverables, administer changes and additional-services requests, approve design invoicing, and resolve scope or performance issues.
• Serve as Montera’s senior owner-side leader to external design and construction partners.
• Own design-assist and delivery-model strategy.
• Lead design reviews, coordination summits, constructability reviews, permitting support, and partner accountability for quality, schedule, and cost.
• Govern construction-phase design workflows including RFIs, submittals, shop-drawing reviews, BIM clash resolution, field changes, change orders, and value-engineering proposals.
• Lead design representation at OAC meetings and site design reviews; track and resolve design-related construction risk.
• Ensure complete as-built and design close-out documentation and incorporate lessons learned into reference designs and standards.
• Own design-side inputs to commissioning and integrated systems testing, including acceptance criteria and turnover readiness.
• Translate CTO-captured customer requirements into a governed design program and report status, risks, and decisions to the CTO and leadership.
• Partner with Development, Delivery, Operations, GRC, and Finance on schedule, cost, constructability, and interconnection-driven design constraints.
• Provide design content and technical substantiation for customer engagements and executive or board materials without owning the customer-facing relationship.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Architecture or Engineering (Electrical, Mechanical, or related); professional licensure (PE/RA) preferred.
• 15+ years of experience in data center or mission-critical design and delivery, including senior leadership of multi-discipline design programs for hyperscale or AI-focused facilities.
• Proven track record leading design across full delivery lifecycle (concept to IFC to commissioning) with accountability for schedule, cost, and quality.
• Demonstrated leadership of principal/expert individual contributors and external design and construction partners (CSA, MEP, design-assist, GC/CM).
• Proven experience defining, negotiating, and managing design contracts, including scope, deliverables, standard of care, fees, and change control.
• Experience administering owner-side design oversight through construction with GCs and subcontractors, including RFIs, submittals, change orders, and field changes.
• Strong command of architectural, electrical, mechanical, controls, and network scope integration.
• Knowledge of delivery models including design-bid-build, design-assist, and EPC.
• Excellent judgment on constructability, value engineering, and design risk.
• Strong commercial and schedule discipline.
• Exceptional communication; able to represent design internally to the CTO, leadership, and board, and lead partners externally.

Core Competencies

Demonstrates extensive experience in leading multi-discipline design programs for data centers, with a strong focus on managing design contracts, schedules, and quality throughout the delivery lifecycle. Proven ability to integrate architectural, electrical, mechanical, controls, and network scopes while ensuring compliance with design standards and operational requirements.

Highest-signal resume keywords

• Data Center Design
• Multi-Discipline Design Leadership
• Design Contract Management
• Construction Oversight
• Value Engineering

ATS Optimization Keywords

Hard Skills

• Architectural Design
• Electrical Design
• Mechanical Design
• Controls Design
• Network Design
• BIM Clash Resolution
• Design-Bid-Build
• Design-Assist
• EPC Delivery Models
• Change Control

Soft Skills

• Exceptional Communication
• Judgment on Constructability
• Leadership of Design Teams
• Negotiation Skills
• Schedule Discipline

Certifications & Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in Architecture or Engineering
• Professional Licensure (PE/RA) Preferred

Industry Keywords

• Mission-Critical Design
• Hyperscale Facilities
• Design Lifecycle
• Owner-Side Design Oversight
• Construction Risk Management