VP, Data Center Operations - North America

Metric DCX; Dallas (TX); On-site; USD 180,000 - 280,000; Full time

Job summary

Metric DCX is seeking a Vice President of Data Center Operations – North America to lead a growing portfolio of campuses, driving safety, reliability and performance across the region.

This senior role partners with development, engineering, construction, commissioning and commercial teams to bring campuses online and transition projects into steady-state operations while upholding customer commitments and financial targets.

Qualifications

• 15+ years of experience in data center operations or mission-critical environments.
• Proven leadership of multi-site operations and large teams.
• Experience building scalable regional operations organizations.

Responsibilities

• Lead data center operations across the North American portfolio.
• Own regional operational performance including availability, SLAs, safety and financial results.
• Act as senior escalation point for major incidents and events.
• Ensure readiness across existing and new campuses; drive compliance and reporting.

Skills

Leadership

Operations management

Incident management

Regulatory compliance

Vendor management

Cross-functional

Strategic planning

People leadership

Job description

We are supporting a fast-growing data center developer with the appointment of a Vice President of Data Center Operations – North America.

This is a senior leadership position responsible for overseeing operations and operational compliance across the company’s growing North American data center portfolio.

The VP will be responsible for building and leading a high-reliability operations organization, ensuring consistent performance across safety, availability, compliance, customer commitments, operational efficiency and financial performance.

Working closely with development, engineering, construction, commissioning, commercial, procurement and security teams, this individual will also play a key role in bringing new campuses online and transitioning projects successfully from construction through commissioning and into steady-state operations.

Key Responsibilities:

Regional Operations & Performance:

• Lead data center operations across the North American portfolio.
• Take ownership of regional operational performance, including availability, customer SLAs, safety, reliability, compliance, cost management and financial performance.
• Act as the senior escalation point for major operational incidents and critical events.
• Ensure operational consistency and readiness across both existing and newly developed campuses.
• Maintain compliance with relevant environmental, health & safety, certification and regulatory requirements.

Build a High-Reliability Operations Organization:

• Build and lead a high-performing North American operations function capable of supporting significant portfolio growth.
• Establish a culture centred around safety, reliability, accountability, operational resilience and continuous improvement.
• Recruit, develop and retain regional and site operations leaders alongside technical teams.
• Establish clear responsibilities, performance expectations and escalation processes.
• Develop succession plans and leadership pipelines as the portfolio continues to scale.

Operating Standards & Systems:

• Implement consistent operating standards, processes, governance and reporting across the North American portfolio.
• Establish standards covering maintenance, operational readiness, incident response, business continuity, certifications and customer reporting.
• Implement vendor and OEM frameworks covering asset lifecycle management, spare-parts strategies and service partner models.
• Support the deployment of operational technology, monitoring platforms, predictive maintenance, automation and KPI reporting.
• Ensure new campuses are fully documented, operationally ready and audit-ready from day one.

Partner closely with development, engineering, construction and commissioning teams throughout the full project lifecycle, providing operational input into:

• Site selection, due diligence and campus planning.
• Facility design, operability and maintainability.
• Construction, commissioning and operational handover.
• Equipment requirements and OEM/vendor agreements.
• Customer SLAs, onboarding, reporting and audit requirements.

The VP will lead operational readiness, mobilization and start-up activities for new campuses, ensuring the required teams, procedures, systems, vendors and certifications are in place ahead of commercial operations.

• Serve as a senior operations contact for hyperscale, cloud and AI customers across North America.
• Build strong relationships with customers, regulators, vendors and strategic partners.
• Lead customer operational reviews, incident communications, audit support and service-performance discussions.
• Represent North American operations in senior leadership and customer forums.

Operational Excellence:

• Drive improvements across facility performance, energy and water efficiency, reliability, resilience and operating costs.
• Establish and monitor regional KPIs to identify risks and opportunities for improvement.
• Balance operational reliability and customer service with sustainability, risk management and financial performance.

Target Experience:

We are looking to speak with senior operations leaders who can demonstrate:

• 15+ years of experience across data center operations, mission-critical infrastructure, energy, utilities, telecommunications or a closely related environment.
• Significant leadership experience overseeing multi-site mission-critical operations.
• A track record of building and scaling regional operations organizations.
• Experience implementing enterprise or global operating standards across a North American portfolio.
• Strong knowledge of critical infrastructure, maintenance, commissioning, operational readiness, incident management, safety and regulatory compliance.
• Experience supporting hyperscale, cloud, AI or similarly sophisticated data center customers.
• Accountability for operational performance, customer SLAs, budgets and financial results.
• Experience transitioning major data center or infrastructure projects from construction and commissioning into live operations.
• Experience leading geographically dispersed teams within a fast-growing organization.
• Willingness to travel regularly across North America.

The Opportunity:

This is an opportunity to take a senior leadership role within a growing data center developer and have significant influence over how its North American operations platform is built and scaled.

The successful individual will join at a stage where the portfolio is expanding, giving them the opportunity to establish the operating organization, standards and leadership structure required to support future campus growth.