Senior Manager, Data Center Operations

Who are we?

Joining our operations team means being at the center of everything – maintaining and evolving critical infrastructure that powers the digital world and delivers real impact for our customers, communities and society. You’ll find belonging, purpose, and a team that welcomes you—because when you feel valued, you’re empowered to do your best work.

Job Summary

The Senior Manager, Data Center Operations is responsible for the overall operational performance, reliability, safety, and customer experience of one or more mission-critical data center facilities. This role leads multiple operational disciplines, ensuring the successful delivery of site operations, critical infrastructure uptime, customer service excellence, regulatory compliance, and operational readiness.

As a senior site leader, the role is accountable for driving operational strategy, workforce planning, risk management, budget management, and continuous improvement initiatives while fostering a culture of safety, accountability, and operational excellence. The Senior Manager partners closely with customers, vendors, and cross-functional stakeholders to support business growth and ensure the highest standards of service delivery across the Data Center portfolio.

Responsibilities

Leadership & Team Management

• Lead, develop, and motivate managers, supervisors, and operational teams to achieve operational, customer, and business objectives

• Build a high-performing organization focused on safety, operational excellence, accountability, and customer satisfaction

• Drive workforce planning, succession planning, talent development, and employee engagement initiatives

• Establish operational objectives, priorities, and performance expectations across multiple functional disciplines

• Foster a culture of continuous improvement, collaboration, and operational discipline

Operational Leadership

• Provide overall leadership for the operation of mission-critical data center facilities, ensuring high levels of availability, reliability, and operational resilience

• Drive operational strategy and execution to support current operations, future growth, and evolving business requirements

• Lead responses to major operational incidents and serve as a senior escalation point for site-critical issues

• Ensure operational risks are identified, assessed, and mitigated through effective processes and controls

• Drive continuous improvement initiatives focused on safety, reliability, efficiency, and customer experience

Technical & Infrastructure Management

• Provide executive oversight for Critical Facilities, Customer Operations, Security, Logistics, and related operational functions

• Ensure data center infrastructure is operated and maintained in accordance with company standards, regulatory requirements, and industry best practices

• Review major incident investigations, root cause analyses, and corrective action plans to improve long-term infrastructure reliability

• Support operational readiness for capacity expansion, infrastructure upgrades, and major capital projects.

• Ensure lifecycle management programs are in place for critical infrastructure assets

Customer & Stakeholder Management

• Act as the senior operational point of contact for customers, supporting strategic engagements, operational reviews, audits, and escalations

• Develop and maintain strong relationships with customers, business partners, regulators, vendors, and internal stakeholders

• Partner with Sales, Customer Success, Compliance, Engineering, and Design & Construction teams to support customer and business objectives

• Influence and align stakeholders during complex operational situations while maintaining strong working relationships

Vendor & Contractor Management

• Establish and oversee vendor performance management processes to ensure service quality, safety, and compliance requirements are achieved

• Review and approve major vendor recommendations, contracts, maintenance activities, and service delivery strategies

• Drive accountability across vendors and contractors to ensure operational excellence and adherence to site standards

Financial & Business Management

• Own site operational budgets and forecasts, ensuring effective allocation of resources to achieve business objectives

• Review, prioritize, and approve infrastructure investment proposals, maintenance programs, and operational improvement initiatives

• Monitor operational costs and identify opportunities to improve efficiency while maintaining reliability and service quality

• Support business planning activities and long-term operational strategy development

Reporting & Governance

• Review operational, customer, financial, safety, and compliance performance metrics

• Provide regular operational reviews and status reporting to senior leadership

• Drive accountability through KPI management, operational reviews, and business performance reporting

• Ensure operational decisions are supported by data, risk assessments, and business priorities

Standards, Compliance & Risk Management

• Accountable for adherence to Equinix global operational standards, policies, and management systems

• Ensure compliance with regulatory, security, environmental, health, and safety requirements

• Lead audit readiness activities and ensure timely closure of compliance findings

• Champion a safety-first culture and promote Environmental, Health & Safety (EHS) excellence across all operational functions

• Drive standardization and continuous improvement initiatives to strengthen operational resilience and operational maturity

Qualifications

Education & Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Facilities Management, Operations Management, Business Management, or a related discipline preferred

• Minimum 10 years of experience in data center operations, with demonstrated leadership responsibility for mission-critical environments. Experience in critical facilities, telecommunications, or other high-availability operations environments will also be considered

• Demonstrated experience leading managers, supervisors, and multi-disciplinary operational teams

• Proven experience managing large-scale operations with responsibility for uptime, safety, customer satisfaction, and business performance

Preferred Skills & Experience

• Strong understanding of Critical Facilities, Customer Operations, Physical Security, Logistics, and compliance functions within a mission-critical environment

• Demonstrated experience managing operational budgets, capital investments, and vendor contracts

• Strong operational decision-making and incident leadership capability

• Excellent stakeholder management, communication, and leadership skills

• Experience supporting data center growth, capacity expansion, and large-scale infrastructure projects

• Experience operating within highly regulated, high-availability environments

Equinix is committed to ensuring that our employment process is open to all individuals, including those with a disability.  If you are a qualified candidate and need assistance or an accommodation, please let us know by completing this form.

Equinix is an Equal Employment Opportunity and, in the U.S., an Affirmative Action employer.  All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to unlawful consideration of race, color, religion, creed, national or ethnic origin, ancestry, place of birth, citizenship, sex, pregnancy / childbirth or related medical conditions, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital or domestic partnership status, age, veteran or military status, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, political / organizational affiliation, status as a victim or family member of a victim of crime or abuse, or any other status protected by applicable law. 

We use artificial intelligence in our hiring process. Learn more here.


This posting is for a backfill position, meaning it is to fill an existing vacancy within our organization.