Principal, Data Center Cost Strategy & Operations

Job Description

The Principal, Data Center Cost Strategy & Operations role is the single accountable business partner for Data Center Operations, connecting day-to-day operating context with planning, forecasting, investment decisions, performance management, and executive visibility.

The Principal, Data Center Cost Strategy & Operations role is the single accountable business partner for Data Center Operations, connecting day-to-day operating context with planning, forecasting, investment decisions, performance management, and executive visibility.

Success in this role will be reflected through:

• One clear and trusted accountable partner for Data Center Operations business management.
• Earlier identification and mitigation of budget and forecast risks.
• Improved forecast accuracy, planning transparency, and timeliness of operating reviews.
• Fewer fragmented handoffs across reporting, PAQs, modeling, and planning.
• Faster resolution of cross-functional escalations.
• More consistent, decision-ready models and business cases.
• Greater confidence among Operations and partner leadership in data center performance and planning.

• Serve as the primary business-management partner to Data Center Operations leadership.
• Translate operational conditions, capacity requirements, program changes, supplier dynamics, and execution risks into clear business and financial implications.
• Advise leaders on tradeoffs among cost, capacity, reliability, delivery timelines, and strategic priorities.
• Build strong partnerships across Data Center Operations, Finance, FP&A, Supply Chain, Construction, Capacity Planning, and other critical stakeholders.

• Lead the organization’s annual operating plan, long-range planning, and recurring forecast processes in partnership with Finance.
• Proactively identify budget, forecast, and spend risks; quantify exposure; establish mitigation plans; and ensure timely leadership visibility.
• Develop operating reviews that explain actuals, forecast changes, key drivers, variances, commitments, and risks.
• Establish consistent performance metrics and operating mechanisms across the data center portfolio.
• Ensure material financial assumptions are documented, challenged, and aligned with operational reality.

• Lead or oversee analysis and modeling for data center operational decisions, including capacity, energy, maintenance, labor, vendor services, equipment lifecycle, and infrastructure investments.
• Provide decision-ready recommendations that articulate cost, risk, return, timing, and operational impact.
• Standardize core business models, assumptions, and analytical approaches to improve decision quality, speed, and comparability.
• Partner with Finance and Operations teams to assess the impact of changes in scope, schedule, demand, utilization, and service requirements.

• Create integrated, clear ownership across reporting, PAQs, planning, modeling, and operating governance.
• Ensure data, reporting definitions, business narratives, and escalation paths are consistent across stakeholders.
• Drive timely and accurate responses to leadership reviews, audit needs, and operational business inquiries.
• Identify reporting gaps, process inefficiencies, and recurring control weaknesses; implement durable improvements.
• Establish a regular cadence for reviewing actions, decisions, owners, and risk closure.

• Act as the senior point of coordination for business escalations affecting Data Center Operations.
• Resolve cross-functional issues that create budget, forecast, reporting, capital, or operating-spend risk.
• Escalate…