Director of Data Center Construction

Description Role Overview

Fermi America is seeking a Director of Data Center Construction to lead the owner’s representation and field execution oversight for Fermi’s hyperscale data center program. This role will serve as the primary interface between Fermi and both the general contractor and the tenant’s onsite leadership team—including project executives, construction managers, and commissioning leads—ensuring construction delivery aligns with quality standards, schedule commitments, and budget targets across a multi-building, multi-phase campus environment.

The Director of DC Construction will build and lead a team of DC project managers responsible for shell, core, and site work execution. This is a high-visibility leadership role that requires deep experience managing large-scale construction programs in mission-critical or hyperscale data center environments, with a strong command of GMP/EPC contract structures, field operations, and subcontractor management.

This role reports directly to the Head of DC Service & Delivery and works in close coordination with preconstruction, design integration, technical management, project controls, procurement, safety, and quality functions. This is a matrix environment where success depends on influence and partnership as much as direct authority. The right leader builds strong, collaborative relationships across every function and fosters a culture of transparency, shared accountability, and mutual respect.

• Serve as the owner’s representative to both the general contractor and the tenant’s onsite leadership team for all data center construction activities, ensuring field execution meets Fermi’s standards for quality, safety, schedule, and cost
• Lead and manage a team of DC project managers across concurrent building phases, from site mobilization through substantial completion and turnover
• Drive accountability for construction milestones, progress tracking, and schedule adherence across shell, core, MEP rough-in, and building enclosure scopes
• Own the relationship with the GC and the tenant’s onsite leadership team at the program level—including project executives, construction managers, and commissioning leads—managing escalations, resolving disputes, and ensuring alignment on priorities, sequencing, and resource loading
• Oversee GMP and construction contract administration, including change order management, pay application review, and scope validation
• Coordinate with the Sr DC Design Integration Manager and engineering teams to ensure design packages are construction-ready and field issues are resolved without schedule impact
• Establish and enforce field quality standards, safety protocols, and inspection programs in partnership with QA/QC and HSE leadership
• Implement earned value and progress measurement systems to provide real-time visibility into construction performance across all active buildings
• Partner with the Sr DC Preconstruction Manager to ensure smooth transitions from preconstruction into active construction phases
• Support commissioning readiness by coordinating construction completion milestones with MEP integration and IT load delivery timelines
• Drive continuous improvement in construction delivery—identifying lessons learned, standardizing processes, and reducing cycle times across successive building phases
• Build and sustain a strong, collaborative culture across the DC delivery organization—fostering open communication, mutual accountability, and trust with procurement, safety, quality, design, and project controls partners to ensure alignment and shared ownership of delivery outcomes

• Leveraging AI-powered schedule analysis tools to identify critical path risks, forecast delays, and optimize construction sequencing across concurrent building phases
• Utilizing predictive analytics for earned value tracking, resource loading optimization, and early warning detection on cost and schedule variances
• Partnering with project controls to deploy AI-driven reporting dashboards that provide real-time field progress visibility to leadership
• Encouraging adoption of AI-assisted document review for RFIs,…