Remote Category Manager (Data Center Cooling Equipment)

Required Skills & Experience

• 10+ years in supply chain, category management, or technical program management in hyperscale data center or critical infrastructure environments.
• Demonstrated experience OWNING an equipment category and driving standardization across multiple sites or design envelopes (not project-by-project buying).
• Direct cooling / thermal systems depth: chillers, CDUs, fan walls, dry coolers, liquid cooling components.
• Ability to balance cost, schedule, and equipment flexibility, and to tell that story with real examples.
• Owner's-representative mindset: you drive oversight, standardization, and strategy without directing or taking over the developers' and contractors' execution.

Nice to Have Skills & Experience

• Experience across large capital programs at portfolio scale (billions in aggregate equipment spend).
• Track record driving cost efficiency through standardization and design fungibility.
• Comfort operating with light tooling; this is category strategy, not a systems-heavy procurement seat

Job Description

ROLE OVERVIEW

Own cooling equipment strategy across a large, developer-led hyperscale data center portfolio. Developers go to market, bring back suppliers, and execute the buy. Your job is to sit on the owner side and drive category strategy across the whole portfolio: standardizing equipment, protecting flexibility across design envelopes, and holding cost and schedule. This is a strategy and category management role, not a buying desk.

WHAT YOU WILL OWN

Category Strategy Own the cooling category (chillers, CDUs, fan walls, dry coolers, air-cooled chillers, and related thermal systems) across the portfolio. Define how equipment is standardized and deployed across multiple design envelopes and sites. Standardization and Fungibility Work through engineering and technical leads to standardize the subset of items each envelope manages, so the same equipment types work across sites. Protect flexibility so equipment can be reallocated when sites shift, delay, or cancel. Cost and Schedule Hold cost and schedule targets for the category. Support budget baselines, variance visibility, and forecast accuracy. Drive cost efficiency through standardization and design leverage rather than one-off negotiation. Item Master and BOM Governance Maintain and govern item master data and bill-of-materials standards for the cooling category. Keep specifications, quantities, and cost baselines aligned across envelopes. Stakeholder Interface Serve as the connective tissue between internal engineering and envelope leads on one side and external developers on the other. Drive alignment through influence, analysis, and clear recommendations.