Data Center Program Director

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Base pay range: $80,000.00/yr - $/yr

As our Program Director, you will architect a hands‑on training pathway that prepares learners for entry‑level installation, remote hands, and operations/maintenance roles in colocation and enterprise data centers. You’ll own the curriculum, build the lab environment (server racks, UPS demos, CRAC/CRAH demonstrators, DCIM/BMS sims, fiber/copper benches), teach and mentor cohorts, and run a continuous‑improvement loop with employer feedback and safety/quality standards.

You’ll also recruit and coach adjuncts, cultivate employer partners for site tours and guest lectures, and build job placement pipelines in North Jersey’s high‑density market.

• Program Teaching & Curriculum Design — 60%
  • Design a modular, stackable curriculum covering structured cabling, IT hardware, power train, HVAC systems, and communications.
  • Deliver high‑energy lectures, demonstrations, and shop labs (fiber/copper benches, rack builds, power‑path walk‑downs).
  • Coach students on professional habits: documentation, work orders, tool control, PPE, and radio/slack ticketing.
  • Run formative checks (skills check‑offs), capstones, and employer‑observed performance evaluations.
• Program Operations, Lab Build‑Out & Continuous Improvement — 30%
  • Maintain training racks (server/storage/network), cable certification tools, fiber scopes/OTDR, UPS demo carts, mini‑CRAH demonstrators, leak detection, and DCIM/BMS simulators.
  • Track outcomes: attendance, lab mastery, credential pass rates, placement.
  • Update curriculum each term for changing standards (e.g., TIA‑942, ASHRAE updates).
  • Author lab SOPs and MOPs/EOPs; enforce lockout/tagout and PPE controls.
• Employer Partnerships & Placement — 10%
  • Align skills to colo/hyperscale hiring screens (rack/stack, cross‑connects, L1–L3 triage).
  • Coordinate on‑site observations, interviews, and job placement pipelines.

• Installations: read build sheets; rack/stack servers and network gear; ground/bay cabinets; deploy copper and fiber; label and document.
• Fiber hygiene & testing: scope/clean LC/MPO; perform OTDR and loss testing; manage high‑count harnesses.
• Break/Fix & Remote Hands: swap FRUs; KVM workflows;
  Layer‑1 to Layer‑3 triage; ticket hygiene and closure with documentation.
• GPU/HPC clusters: handle QSFP/QSFP‑DD optics, AOCs/DACs, leaf‑spine bundles, and tray loading used in AI racks.
• Operations awareness: understand power paths (utility → UPS → PDU/RPP → rack PDUs); cooling and environmental ranges per ASHRAE TC 9.9.
• Procedure training: write and execute MOPs, SOPs, and EOPs for safe change and incident response.
• Server & core skills: OS install; IP/DNS/DHCP/VLANs; roles/monitoring; virtualization; IAM/MFA; hardening, patching, backup/DR; HW/SW/Network troubleshooting.
• Safety & compliance: ESD control, lockout/tagout, NFPA 70E awareness.
• Decommission & chain of custody: media sanitization, asset lifecycle documentation.
• Security: badging, access control, cabinet etiquette, audit basics.

• 7–10+ years in data center operations, remote‑hands/colocation, structured cabling, or critical‑facility maintenance.
• Hands‑on literacy in power/cooling fundamentals (UPS → PDU path, CRAC/CRAH, containment) and ASHRAE thermal guidelines.
• Experience authoring and running MOP/SOP/EOPs; fluent in lockout/tagout and electrical‑safety principles (NFPA 70E).
• Evidence of teaching/mentoring (apprentices, technicians, military NCO, FSE team lead, or classroom).
• Clear, concise documentation; strong “radio discipline” and shift‑turnover habits.

• BICSI Installer 1/Installer 2 (Copper or Fiber), FOA CFOT, CompTIA Server+ or Data Sys+, or EPI CDCP/CDCS.
• Experience with DCIM/BMS (e.g., Sunbird/Nlyte/Schneider Eco Struxure).
• Prior community‑college/trade instruction or military technical training experience.