Director, Critical Operations

Critical Operations Director

STACK Infrastructure (STACK) provides digital infrastructure to scale innovative companies. This role leads the critical operations organization, overseeing mechanical, electrical, fire life safety, and other systems for the data center region.

Gainesville, VA

• Lead and implement a standardized culture of safety across all STACK data centers.
• Serve as data center subject matter expert for electrical, mechanical, fire life safety, and other systems.
• Advise the Regional VP of Critical Operations on the status of site‑level preventative and corrective maintenance programs.
• Operate, monitor, maintain, and respond to abnormal conditions within the facility.
• Implement site‑level efficiency projects and maintain overall site design PUE.
• Ensure the preventative and predictive maintenance program is executed.
• Train and mentor staff and develop individual training plans.
• Manage vendor relationships and service contracts, including procurement, billing, and vendor administration.
• Lead site budgeting and forecasting for both CAPEX and OPEX.
• Evaluate and critique detailed technical procedures for maintenance, emergency, and standard site evolutions.
• Oversee that construction and commissioning activities do not impact existing critical operations.
• Lead incident reporting and root‑cause analysis processes.
• Perform expert technical reviews of procedures, company standards, and policies.
• Manage internal and external site audits.
• Maintain compliance with NFPA and other building codes.
• Prevent unplanned, client‑impacting outages and manage systems to avoid them.
• Ensure the data floor and mechanical loading capacity support optimal cooling.
• Utilize CMMS, EPMS, and BMS systems.
• Provide day‑to‑day exceptional customer service and support.
• Be on‑call to respond to emergency situations at the data centers.
• Perform other duties as required by STACK.

• High school diploma or equivalent;
  Bachelor’s Degree preferred.
• Minimum 5‑7 years’ experience in a data center or related mission‑critical operations role.
• 3‑5 years experience administering and managing facility preventative maintenance programs.
• 3‑5 years experience in vendor and project management.
• Expert understanding of electrical and mechanical systems in a data center (UPS, Transformers, PDU’s, RPP’s, Chillers, CRAH, CRAC, STS, ATS, Pre‑action systems).
• Exceptional leadership and people‑management skills.
• Experience managing multiple multi‑million‑dollar budgets to maintain 100% availability while minimizing total cost of ownership.
• Expert knowledge of NFPA
  70e, NFPA
  72, NFPA
  25, NFPA
  101, and other fire or life‑safety standards.
• Expert knowledge and experience in data‑center trending and analysis, with the ability to use PC‑based monitoring systems.
• Experience in design, construction, and commissioning of critical systems and buildings.
• Strong communication skills with customers and internal staff.
• Ability to coordinate, supervise, and communicate with contractors performing maintenance.
• Proven knowledge of customer contracts and SLA levels in line with ASHRAE standards.
• Experienced people manager who develops team players.

• Health, dental, and vision insurance.
• Life insurance.
• Paid time off and paid leave programs.
• Travel up to 30%.
• 401(k) program and flexible spending accounts.
• Cell phone subsidy.

Must be eligible to work in the United States and pass a comprehensive background and drug screening.

You are a strong communicator, persuasive and clear, blending analytics with decision‑making. You remain calm under pressure and juggle multiple priorities while balancing urgent requests with shifting timelines. You build teams, develop strengths of team members, and continuously improve. You celebrate successes but also analyze performance for future learning.

STACK is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, age, national origin, mental or physical disability, genetic information, veteran status, or any other status protected by federal, state, or local law.