Vice President, Data Center Operations Remote (anywhere in United States) + 1 more

5C DATA CENTERS

Join the Future of Digital Infrastructure

Are you a passionate Vice President, Data Center Operations looking to make a meaningful impact? We're building the next generation of digital infrastructure powering hyperscalers, AI innovation, and high-performance computing across North America.

JOB TITLE

Vice President, Data Center Operations

DEPARTMENT

DC Operations

LOCATION

USA

WORK ARRANGEMENT

Remote

TRAVEL REQUIREMENTS

20-40%

Role Summary

We are seeking a senior operations leader to own the performance, reliability, scalability, and operational readiness of our US hyperscale and AI data center portfolio.

This role leads site operations, critical facilities, operational readiness, workforce planning, health and safety, maintenance, incident management, vendor performance, and continuous improvement across all US sites. The role partners closely with Construction, Commissioning, Engineering, Quality, and Cloud Operations to move new facilities from construction into stable production operations.

This leader must be equally effective in a live mission-critical environment and in a high-growth organization where facilities, teams, processes, and operating infrastructure are being built at the same time. This role reports to our Senior Vice President, Operations.

How We Work at 5C

Our core values guide how we collaborate, make decisions, support one another, and serve our customers. We're looking for people who embrace them and help us build something great.

What You Will Do

Multi-Site Data Center Operations

Provide executive leadership for operations across all US data center sites (e.g., MEM, PHX, CMH, AUS)

Establish a consistent operating model across sites while accounting for site-specific infrastructure and customer requirements

Hold site leadership accountable, including Site Operations Directors, Chief Engineers, critical facilities teams, and data center technicians

Ensure 24x7 coverage and escalation capability, and intervene when operational, staffing, reliability, or safety risks emerge

Reliability & Critical Infrastructure

Drive operational excellence across:

Electrical distribution, switchgear, UPS, and generators

Mechanical and cooling systems, including liquid cooling

BMS/EPMS, controls, and fire/life-safety systems

Establish preventive, predictive, and corrective maintenance programs

Enforce controls for maintenance, switching, change management, and work on or near critical infrastructure

Partner with Quality, which owns reliability engineering, and ensure sites act on findings through maintenance program changes, procedure updates, and corrective actions

AI & High-Density Compute Operations

Own operational requirements for AI, GPU, and HPC environments, including direct-to-chip liquid cooling, coolant quality, and leak detection and response

Align facility capacity, power, cooling, and readiness with Cloud Operations and deployment schedules

Serve as the operations executive for key customers at each site, owning SLA performance, escalations, and post-incident reviews

New Site Launch & Operational Readiness

Lead operational readiness for new data centers and major capacity expansions, delivered through the site critical facilities engineering teams

Ensure readiness plans cover:

Staffing and training

SOPs, MOPs, and EOPs

Maintenance programs and spare parts

Vendor support, access control, and escalation procedures

Establish formal turnover and acceptance criteria before facilities enter production

Ensure new-site engineering staff are hired and trained early enough that readiness work does not compete with live operations

Build repeatable site-launch models to bring capacity online faster and more consistently

Operational Governance & Incident Management

Maintain consistent standards across all sites for:

SOPs, MOPs, and EOPs

Preventive maintenance and change management

Incident management, escalation, and shift turnover

Training and qualification programs

Provide executive oversight during major events and outages, and ensure root-cause analysis and corrective actions are completed

Health, Safety & Security

Lead the HSE function and champion a strong safety culture across all sites

Ensure compliance with electrical safety, lockout/tagout, energized work, contractor safety, and regulatory requirements

Partner with Security on physical security and access control, and support customer, insurance, and regulatory audits

Workforce Planning & Leadership

Build scalable staffing models based on site capacity, infrastructure, and growth plans

Partner with HR and Talent Acquisition to forecast hiring and build pipelines for critical roles

Coach and develop Site Operations Directors, the HSE leader, Chief Engineers, and other operational leaders

Build succession plans and a culture of accountability, technical discipline, and continuous learning

Financial, Vendor & Capacity Management

Develop and manage operating budgets, and partner with Finance on plans, forecasts, headcount, and capital

Set service-level expectations for critical vendors and monitor performance, cost, and safety

Translate business growth into requirements for power, cooling, space, staffing, and maintenance

Performance Management & Continuous Improvement

Establish operational KPIs and executive reporting, including:

Availability, critical incidents, and MTTR

Preventive maintenance completion and repeat failures

Safety performance and training completion

Operating expenses, energy efficiency, and site-readiness milestones

Use performance data to identify trends, fix root causes, and standardize improvements across sites

What You Bring

Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Facilities Management, Operations, or a related field, or equivalent experience

12+ years of progressively responsible experience in data center operations or critical facilities, including 7+ years of senior leadership

Experience operating hyperscale, colocation, cloud, HPC, or AI/GPU data center environments

Proven experience leading operations across multiple data centers or a large-scale data center campus

Experience opening new data centers and transitioning them from construction and commissioning into production operations

Experience supporting customer-facing data center environments with demanding uptime, capacity, and service requirements

Hands-on experience operating liquid-cooled, high-density environments (direct-to-chip or similar cooling technologies)

Ability to travel 20-40% and provide executive escalation support outside normal hours

Why Join 5C Data Centers?

At 5C, we believe great people build great companies. You'll build a rewarding career while helping shape the future of digital infrastructure - one of the fastest-growing industries in the world.

Career Growth

Build a rewarding career in one of the world's fastest-growing industries.

Industry Leadership

Help power the infrastructure behind AI and high-performance computing.

Entrepreneurial Culture

Your ideas matter - we empower employees to help shape our future.

Comprehensive Rewards

Competitive pay plus meaningful, lasting impact on the work you do.

Life at 5C

We're more than a workplace - we're a team of builders, innovators, and problem-solvers united by a shared purpose: creating infrastructure that powers the technologies transforming our world. Your voice matters here, and we encourage fresh ideas at every level.

Ready to Apply?

If this opportunity sounds like the right fit for you, we'd love to hear your story. Apply today and discover what your future could look like at 5C Data Centers.

5C Data Centers is an equal opportunity employer.

We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment where everyone can thrive. 5C evaluates qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, gender, national origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability status, or any other legally protected characteristic.

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