Data Center Architect

Company Description

St. Jude is where those with a passion for making a difference come to break new ground. Located in Memphis, Tennessee, the mission of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is to advance cures, and means of prevention, for pediatric catastrophic diseases through research and treatment. We are leading the way the world understands, treats and defeats childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases.

We are seeking a highly experienced Data Center Architect with a strong emphasis on design and planning. This critical role will be instrumental in shaping the future of our data center infrastructure, ensuring its scalability, efficiency, and resilience. You will lead the development and implementation of our data center strategies, from initial concept and design through to deployment and continuous optimization, all while ensuring operational excellence.

• Conduct thorough needs assessments and capacity planning to ensure our data centers can effectively support current and future business demands.
• Research, evaluate, and recommend emerging data center technologies, best practices, and innovative solutions to enhance efficiency, sustainability, and performance.
• Collaborate closely with architects, engineers, and construction teams to ensure data center designs meet operational requirements, industry standards (e.g., Uptime Institute tiers), and regulatory compliance.
• Work with design team on the selection of critical data center infrastructure components (e.g., UPS systems, generators, CRAC units, switch gear, racks, cabling).
• Work closely with datacenter operations, network, and compute planning teams to align infrastructure deployments with power and space availability.
• Develop KPIs and dashboards for real-time visibility into capacity utilization and manage space and power capacity.
• Apply data analysis to inform strategic business decisions prioritizing operational trade-offs and capital spend.
• Collaborate with data engineering and tooling teams to drive automation initiatives to improve capacity planning and operational efficiencies.
• Analyze how datacenter infrastructure and design changes impact capacity and provide feedback to teams and to upper-level management.
• Develop and manage the data center budget for operational expenditures.
• Manage relationships with external vendors, contractors, and service providers involved in data center design, construction, and maintenance.
• Collaborate effectively with internal stakeholders, including IT operations, network engineering, security, facilities, and finance teams, to gather requirements and ensure alignment.
• Present design proposals, project updates, and recommendations to senior leadership.
• Ensure all data center designs and operations adhere to relevant industry standards, regulations (e.g., HIPAA, PCI DSS), and environmental guidelines.
• Develop and implement robust risk mitigation strategies for data center infrastructure and operations.

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, business or related field of study required.
• Master's degree preferred.

• Minimum requirement: 5+ progressive years of IT industry experience in systems operations environment, overseeing complex environment, deployment, and infrastructure management activities.
• Highly prefer 10+ years of progressive experience in data center operations, with at least 5 years in a leadership role specifically focused on data center design, planning, and construction
  .
• Experience in capacity planning for new products or geographic expansions.
• Strong proven experience in business stakeholder engagement and management.
• Some experience working relevant regulatory or statutory compliance requirements.
• Experience providing technical guidance and mentorship within Technology Infrastructure.
• Proven track record of successfully leading large-scale data center infrastructure projects from conception to completion.
• Deep understanding of data center critical infrastructure components (power, cooling, networking, fire suppression, security).
• Strong knowledge of data center design principles
  , best practices,…