Director, Operations

The Director, Operations is responsible for the safe, reliable, and efficient operation of the mission critical facilities L5 manages for its clients. This role owns operational performance across a portfolio of sites, including uptime, service level compliance, safety, maintenance excellence, and client satisfaction. The Director leads site and regional operations leaders, sets the operating standards that govern how L5 runs critical infrastructure, and ensures every site is staffed, trained, and equipped to prevent, detect, and respond to incidents.

It is a highly cross-functional role, partnering closely with training, safety, human resources, vendor management and procurement, finance, commissioning, project delivery, and executive leadership to deliver consistent results across a fast-growing national platform.

• Own operational performance across the site portfolio, including availability, incident response, service level agreement (SLA) compliance, and client-defined key performance indicators.
• Direct the operation and maintenance of critical power, cooling, and building systems, including electrical distribution, UPS and battery systems, generators, chillers, and controls.
• Lead incident management and emergency response, including escalation, root cause analysis, corrective action, and client communication.
• Ensure rigorous use of methods of procedure (MOPs), standard and emergency operating procedures (SOPs/EOPs), and change management on every site.
• Drive preventive and predictive maintenance programs, asset management, and capacity and lifecycle planning to extend the life of client infrastructure.

• Enforce a zero-incident safety culture, including electrical safety, lockout/tagout, work permitting, and site access protocols.
• Ensure sites are audit-ready and compliant with client requirements, regulatory obligations, and industry standards.
• Identify operational risks across the portfolio, set mitigation plans, and escalate issues early with clear recommendations.
• Lead drills, readiness reviews, and post-incident reviews to build operational discipline and improve response.

• Serve as a senior operational contact for clients, building trusted relationships through transparent reporting, regular performance reviews, and proactive communication.
• Manage operating budgets, labor plans, and vendor spend, and deliver site and portfolio financial targets in partnership with finance.
• Manage subcontractors and service providers in partnership with vendor management & procurement, holding them accountable to performance and safety standards.
• Support business development with operating plans, staffing models, transition plans, and risk review for new site mobilizations and pursuits.

• Lead, develop, and hold accountable regional and site operations leaders, building a strong bench for growth.
• Partner with talent acquisition and training to staff sites ahead of mobilization and to qualify personnel before they work on critical systems.
• Establish scalable operating standards, playbooks, and governance suited to a fast-growing platform business.
• Track and report operational performance, incident trends, and lessons learned to continuously improve results.
• Serve as a key advisor to executive leadership on operational risk, resourcing, and growth.

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Operations, Business, or a related field, or equivalent experience.
• 12+ years of experience in mission critical operations, data center operations, or facilities management, including 5+ years leading multi-site or large-scale operations teams.
• Deep working knowledge of critical power and cooling…