Director of Data Center Engineering & Design
Architect the future of edge data center design and delivery.
Data Center Owner, Operator, Developer.
Led by industry veterans who built one of the leading data center companies in the world!
Our client is entering an accelerated, multi-market growth phase and is adding its first dedicated engineering and design leadership role to the organization. This is a senior leadership position responsible for setting engineering strategy, managing external design partners, developing repeatable design standards, and overseeing the technical direction of a rapidly growing national portfolio.
The company operates colocation facilities across multiple major U.S. metros serving AI workloads, carriers, content providers, and network operators pushing infrastructure to the edge. Backed by a publicly traded alternative asset manager with close to $300B in assets under management, the company is positioned to grow from 5 properties to 8-10+ in the next 12-18 months.
The Opportunity
You will own the end-to-end engineering and design strategy across greenfield builds, retrofits, and expansions in multiple simultaneous markets. Design work is approximately 75% greenfield new construction and 25% retrofit and expansion of existing assets.
Your mandate is to establish repeatable engineering standards, manage external design firm relationships, develop base specifications, and create a scalable design framework that supports rapid deployment. You will collaborate closely with development and construction leadership to ensure designs are investment-grade, buildable, and optimized for speed-to-market.
What You Will Own
- Own the engineering and design strategy for the full data center portfolio across multiple simultaneous markets
- Architect and maintain repeatable base designs and standardized SKUs for edge data centers that can be deployed rapidly across new markets
- Manage relationships with external design firms, MEP engineers, and AE consultants, setting specifications, reviewing deliverables, and ensuring quality and consistency
- Develop and enforce engineering specifications, standards, and design guidelines aligned with the company's investment thesis and operational requirements
- Serve as the primary technical authority on data center design across electrical, mechanical, structural, and civil disciplines
- Evaluate and select vendor and partner relationships for critical capital equipment with an understanding of long lead-time procurement cycles
- Provide technical due diligence support for acquisitions, site evaluations, and new market entry decisions
What Success Looks Like in Year One
- A standardized design playbook is established with repeatable base designs, engineering specifications, and SKUs that can be adapted and deployed across markets with minimal rework
- External design firm relationships are structured and performing with clear scopes of work, quality benchmarks, and accountability frameworks in place
- Engineering bandwidth is no longer a bottleneck, freeing senior leadership to focus on strategy, deal structuring, and growth
- Active design work is advancing in parallel across multiple markets aligned to development timelines and construction readiness milestones
Qualifications
- 10+ years of progressive experience in data center engineering, design, or critical infrastructure with direct involvement in the design and delivery of colocation, hyperscale, edge, or enterprise data center facilities
- Demonstrated technical depth across MEP systems, power distribution, cooling architectures, and structural/civil design for mission-critical environments
- Proven ability to manage external design firms and engineering consultants across multiple concurrent projects
- Experience developing repeatable, standardized design frameworks or base building specifications that scale across multiple sites and markets
- Strong investment-oriented engineering mindset balancing technical excellence with capital efficiency and speed-to-market
- Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a related discipline (Master's degree or PE license preferred)
Preferred Experience
- Direct experience with edge data center design and the engineering challenges of urban, space-constrained deployments
- Background in both greenfield and retrofit/adaptive reuse projects
- Experience with data center QA/QC, commissioning, or field engineering
- Familiarity with colocation engineering operations including capacity planning and facility optimization
- Experience in a growth-stage or entrepreneurial environment where you are building processes and teams, not inheriting them
Culture and Values
Our client's core values include Servant Leadership, Integrity, Empathy, and Work-Life Balance. The leadership team has previously scaled nationally recognized data center platforms and brings 20+ years of proven experience in data center development and operations.
Important Distinction
This is not a hands-on design engineer role focused on producing drawings and calculations. This is a senior leadership position responsible for setting engineering strategy, directing external design partners, and overseeing the technical direction of a growing national platform.
Detailed design execution will be outsourced to external firms under this role's direction and quality standards.
This search is being conducted exclusively by Valor Front Executive Search & Leadership Consulting. All inquiries will be handled with complete confidentiality. Interested candidates are encouraged to apply directly through this posting.
