Director, Regional Critical Infrastructure

Job Description:

The Regional Operations Director (ROD) is a data center operations management position with regional responsibility. Under general direction from the Senior Vice President of Data Center Operations, the Regional Operations Director works with the corporate operations teams and predetermined geographically dispersed Regional Facilities Engineering (RFE) teams to execute documented policies and processes designed to maintain the highest level of data center availability.

Responsibilities include technical leadership, facilities management, 24x7 facility availability, training, and regular visits to each market for face-to-face interaction with the regional facilities teams. The ROD will work closely with the SVP-DC Ops and the RFE teams in the overall management and operation of the region’s data centers. The ROD will also work with Flexential corporate in ensuring training of the operations and engineering staff, execution of process and procedures, standardization of workflow, and ensure audit compliancy and consistency across all data centers.

Key Responsibilities and Essential Job Functions:

• Drive operational excellence throughout the region and companywide.
• Demonstrate strong technical leadership with our employees, partners and customers.
• Personnel management and leadership through motivation (“set the example”).
• Collaborate with direct reports on a regular basis to encourage open communications and cohesive teams.
• Mentor the RFE team members on data center operations best practices.
• Assist in mentoring the local TAC staff in facility operations and first responder escalation procedures.
• Support the Data Center Standardization initiatives including, but not limited to, consistency of operations in Equipment Maintenance Recordkeeping, Metrics Reporting, Operating Procedures, Equipment Labeling, Space Planning, Cable Plant Layout, and Vendor Management.
• Enforce industry standard safety guidelines and the proper and consistent use of personal protective equipment across the Flexential data centers.
• Ensure audit compliancy through standardization of the work order management process.
• Work closely with the peer (Regional Operations Director) to ensure consistency of operations across all Flexential data centers.
• Implement and follow the company’s policies and procedures.
• Operational responsibilities for onsite maintenance activities.
• Support the region’s operational reliability and maintenance programs, both predictive and preventive, according to manufacturer recommendations.
• Reduce facility operations costs through green initiatives and national vendor agreements, where practical.
• Oversee disaster recovery “dry run” exercises in each market based on controlled scenarios.
• Gain a deep level understanding of the facility equipment operations, recommended maintenance, and integration of supporting equipment.
• Work with various internal/external groups (such as equipment vendors, the TAC staff, telecommunication service providers, provisioning teams, and Flexential internal departments) to install, troubleshoot, repair equipment, and maintain the facility equipment according to Flexential specifications while considering manufacturer recommendations.
• Drive change toward operational excellence goals.  Identify constraints and propose solutions.
• Drive operational excellence through the use of predetermined and efficient toolsets and metrics.
• Proactively identify key areas of constraints for power, cooling, and white space thru the use of detailed capacity plans and forecasts.
• Support the Data Center Academy program and assist in the development of the training material.

Core Leadership Capabilities:

• Shape the future: create and implement outcome-focused strategic direction for and with the team.
• Inspire others: lead by example to demonstrate and reinforce our core values of being Customer-centric, Collaborative, Competitive, Caring and Committed.
• Optimize talent: provide, ask for, and accept coaching and feedback.
• Foster growth and innovation: Use change management and other leadership tools to implement the best new ideas.
• Drive results: hold people accountable for meeting commitments, and take action when responsibilities are uncertain or when progress falls short.

Required Qualifications:   

• Bachelor’s degree preferred. 
• 5+ years of mission critical data center facility management / maintenance experience with direct reports.
• Data center operations experience
• Solid background, experience, and knowledge of mission critical systems, including but not limited to electric distribution systems, backup generators, UPS, cooling systems, and structured