Chief Operating Officer, NA

Operations Department

Vantage operates mission-critical data centers for the world's largest technology firms. The operations department is responsible for setting and maintaining high operating standards across the fleet, and ensuring uptime, reliability, security, and customer service. The team includes Site Operations, responsible for the day-to-day running of the facilities and supporting infrastructure. The sites are staffed 24 x 7 with Critical Facilities Engineers (CFEs) on each shift. The Reliability Engineering Team is responsible for the setting maintenance standards, ensuring consistency and quality of site operations across the fleet, and provides subject matter expertise in the areas of electrical, mechanical, controls & automation, influencing across design, procurement, construction and commissioning. The Security Team ensures Vantage facilities are safeguarded and well monitored, and is responsible for access control, CCTV, security staffing, security design, and engineering. Lastly, the Business Operations Team is responsible for service support, KPI management, vendor relations, standards & transformation, and property management.

Position Overview

This role can be based in our global HQ in Denver, CO, or at one of our major campuses in Santa Clara, CA., Sterling, VA., Phoenix, AZ, Atlanta, GA, or Dallas, TX.

The Chief Operating Officer, NA will play a critical role in our organization, leading operational excellence and customer service across the North America data center fleet. . This role will provide technical expertise and leadership to influence design, construction and commissioning, and will be directly responsible for quality, reliability and efficiency of the operating portfolio. They will be responsible for the NA operations budget and will implement strategies to optimize costs. They will establish vendor relationships and strategic partnerships to enhance operations. They will be highly customer facing, experienced negotiating SLAs, and adept at driving strategic initiatives in conjunction with customers. They will be an executive leader, respected and regarded for their technical acumen and leadership ability, with a track record of developing operations talent in a fast-paced, high-growth environment.

Essential Job Functions

Strategic Operations Management:

• Responsible for the oversight of our North American Data Center Operations.

• Establish, manage and report on operations KPIs to executive leadership and the NA board of directors

• Report on all operations matters including operational risks and incidents to customers, executive leadership and NA board of directors

• Develop and implement strategies to enhance operational performance and reliability across all data center campuses, driving continuous improvement initiatives and maintaining high standards of operational excellence.

• Ensure availability and capacity targets are achieved and maintained for data centers and technical infrastructure for all Vantage Data Center facilities.

Team Leadership and Development:

• Oversee a diverse and skilled team consisting of Vice President, Senior Directors, Directors, Managers, and individual contributors, fostering a collaborative and high-performance culture, and handling matrixed reporting relationships to optimize team efficiency and effectiveness.

• Partner with HR to enhance talent development programs and growth pathways for Operations staff

Budgeting and Financial Management:

• Manage the operations budget, identify and implement cost optimization programs and strategies

• Create and run annual operating expense budgets and capital expenditures, monitoring and updating monthly forecasts to meet and exceed financial targets, and ensuring cost-effective use of resources while maintaining high service levels.

• Continuously monitor and update monthly forecasts to meet and exceed financial NOI targets, ensuring cost-effective use of resources while maintaining high service levels.

• Work with Finance and Management to participate in the preparation of operational expenses and capital portions of the budget.

Operational Excellence and Maintenance:

• Leads nationwide data center operations of the 24x7 data center environment. Identifies and implements critical metrics necessary to run and monitor the performance of overall operations including: capacity, availability, budget, and inventory. Oversees all electrical and mechanical infrastructure such as UPS systems, generators, fire suppression systems, DC power systems, and HVAC systems in order to achieve 100% availability. Has responsibility for meeting established Service Level Agreements (SLAs).

• Hold teams accountable for preventive and corrective maintenance of facility equipment, both critical and non-critical.

• Protect and improve the value of assets, ensuring that building machinery and systems meet or exceed their expected life.

• Provide technical leadership and direction in engineering design and operational aspects of the base building systems; recognize system performance deficiencies and respond to operational and emergency situations.

• Oversee the management of unplanned emergency events and ensure robust risk mitigation strategies are in place, partnering with the Reliability Engineering team to identify and remediate risks.

• Ensure that major projects performed at the campuses are properly planned, completed, and closed out in accordance with the best current practices in our industry.

• Defines policies, procedures, and standards related to performance, capacity, availability, continuity, and security.

Customer Service and Satisfaction:

• Develop and maintain elite customer service for all the company's customers.

• Ensure customers are satisfied and any issues with their services are resolved quickly and efficiently.

• Ensure a consistent and exceptional customer experience across all campuses, addressing and resolving any service issues promptly to maintain high levels of customer satisfaction and retention.

Collaboration and Relationship Management:

• Partner with the Reliability Engineering team to identify and remediate risks and ensure successful commissioning activities enabling turnover to production of new facilities without outstanding issues.

• Collaborate closely with Design, Engineering, and Construction teams to ensure timely and cost-effective delivery of new facilities, ensuring that construction projects are performed without sacrificing maintainability or site availability, and facilitating successful commissioning activities and seamless turnover to production.

• Develop and maintain strong relationships with vendors and service providers, negotiating contracts and agreements to ensure the timely delivery of goods and services, and monitoring vendor performance to ensure compliance with company standards.

• Develop inter-departmental relationships across the organization to understand the roles & responsibilities of each department, exchange information, align on goals and objectives, and partner on improvement needs.

Performance Monitoring and Reporting:

• Implement key initiatives and process improvements to drive desired outcomes across the organization such as the implementation of Service Now FSM, time tracking integration between tools, and implementation of automation, machine learning, and AI.

• Establishes key KPI, SLA's, metrics and measurements demonstrating area health. Communicates through operational reviews. Measures and tracks against industry benchmarks and standards

• Using knowledge of the systems in place coupled with performance data collected, evaluate performance of systems and suggest cost-effective improvements to improve service and operating efficiency.

• Responsible for all key performance indicators reporting internally to the Site Operations team and to the executive team.

• Organize administrative functions related to site operations, such as work orders, maintenance activities, budgets, and ordering supplies.

• Maintains documentation and diagrams collecting all essential parameters of Data Center operations.

• Creates and delivers presentations to leadership team, company meetings, and conferences. Represents Vantage Data Centers at conferences and seminars.

• Additional duties as assigned by Management

Job Requirements

Education:

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience in Engineering, Computer Science, Business Administration, or a related field; advanced degree preferred.

Experience:

• Minimum of 15 years of experience leading large (250+) technical teams in a facility/plant engineering and maintenance environment.

• Minimum of 10 years of direct managerial experience with strong interpersonal skills.

• Proven track record of leading large-scale, multi-site operations in a fast-paced, high-growth environment.

• Must have prior demonstrable experience in delivering large initiatives through cross functional collaboration.

Skills:

• Strong understanding of data center infrastructure, reliability engineering, security, and customer experience management.

• Must be well versed with innovations in the market place with regard to data center facilities.

• Excellent strategic thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making skills.

• Proven capabilities in developing teams, coaching, and skill mentoring.

• Excellent team management and leadership skills, customer/business support experience with highly technical, engineering-oriented organizations/environments.

• Ability to develop and communicate relevant department metrics, SLA and performance reports to executive management.

• Exceptional verbal and written communication and interpersonal skills to technical and non-technical audiences, with the ability to build relationships and influence at all levels of the organization.

• Proficiency in MS Office, Outlook, Word, Excel, and building automation systems.

• Travel required is expected to be up to 50% but may increase over time as the business evolves.

Physical Demands and Special Requirements

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is occasionally required to stand; walk; sit; use hands to handle, or feel objects; reach with hands and arms; climb stairs; balance; stoop or kneel; talk and hear. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 25 pounds.

Additional Details

• Salary Range: $325,000-$375,000 Base + Bonus (this range is based on Colorado market data and may vary in other locations)

• This position is eligible for company benefits including but not limited to medical, dental, and vision coverage, life and AD&D, short and long-term disability coverage, paid time off, employee assistance, participation in a 401k program that includes company match, and many other additional voluntary benefits.

• Compensation for the role will depend on a number of factors, including your qualifications, skills, competencies, and experience and may fall outside of the range shown.