Data Center Operations Tower Director

Required Skills & Experience

Required Qualifications:

At least 10 years of experience in data center operations, infrastructure engineering, or enterprise IT operations, including 5 years leading multidisciplinary engineering and operations teams in 24/7 environments. Hands-on knowledge of data center infrastructure, including servers, network, storage, structured cabling, power systems, cooling, and environmental monitoring. Experience with DCIM platforms and IT service management (ITSM) tools such as ServiceNow, including ITIL-aligned incident, change, and asset management. Experience leading large-scale lifecycle modernization, migration, or decommissioning programs, including Windows and Linux platform migrations. Experience operating systems under Federal security requirements, including ATO, POA&M remediation, and patch compliance. Strong executive communication. Must be well-written and comfortable in front of large audiences.

Nice to Have Skills & Experience

Experience working within the Department of Veterans Affairs. Experience in a large Federal, healthcare, regulated, or mission-critical infrastructure environment. Master’s degree in engineering, information technology, or a related field. BICSI Registered Communications Distribution Designer (RCDD), Uptime Institute, Certified Data Center Professional (CDCP), or comparable data center certifications. Experience with Computational Flow. Experience with disaster recovery testing and infrastructure automation using PowerShell, Python, or orchestration tools. Experience leading Government-facing deliverables, performance standards, and corrective-action programs. Experience in an outcomes-based environment, comfortable transforming vague parameters into clear guidelines. Experience applying AI and machine learning to predictive maintenance or capacity forecasting is desirable.

Job Description

The Data Center Operations Tower Director is the single contractor-side leader accountable for Data Center Operations under the contract, including Data Center and Cloud Engineering (DCCE) and Data Center Management and Operations, and owns their deliverables and acceptable quality levels (AQLs). This leader also leads the engineering side of Infrastructure Optimization, which feeds the Strategic Infrastructure Optimization Plan owned by the Financial Operations Tower Director.

This leader must drive collaboration across its peers in Financial Operations, Business Office Integration, and Service Delivery Integration, because the service providers, customers, data, and hand-offs are shared. The role brings engineering, operations, and modernization together, well beyond facility management.

The Data Center Operations Tower Director leads:

24/7/365 operations, monitoring, and incident response at Enterprise and Regional Data Centers, starting with Austin and Philadelphia, with options of additional sites. Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM) as the single source of truth for assets, layouts, and capacity. Platform infrastructure decommissioning and lifecycle modernization across systems. Onsite assessments and recommendations for data centers and telecommunication spaces. Design reviews and 2D and 3D design drawings across Telecommunications, Electrical, Architectural, and Mechanical (TEAM) disciplines. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) airflow and thermal simulation. Standards, handbooks, technical guidance, and training materials. Configuration management materials, including cable schedules, network maps, power panel schedules, and labeling. Infrastructure assessments and baselines, power and cooling optimization, and energy efficiency reporting. Disaster recovery testing, infrastructure risk management, and compliance audits. Automation for configuration, patching, and monitoring, quarterly technology refresh recommendations, and emerging technology pilots. The Director runs engineering and operations as one service that keeps VA’s data centers available, secure, and ready to modernize, measured against the contract’s performance standards. All work stays within the Government’s authority over approvals, policy, prioritization, and risk acceptance.