What are the key responsibilities for a Data Center Operations Manager at Microsoft?

As a Data Center Operations Manager at Microsoft, you will be responsible for people management, overseeing data center operations (including documentation, SLAs, KPIs, and budget alignment), ensuring end-to-end service delivery and quality, fostering a positive data center work environment, and taking ownership of service quality and customer experience.

What qualifications are required for the Data Center Operations Manager role at Microsoft?

Required qualifications include a Bachelor's Degree or equivalent with 5+ years of mission-critical service management experience and 3+ years of experience leading a diverse, technical team. A Microsoft Cloud Background Check is also mandatory.

What are the preferred qualifications for a Microsoft Data Center Operations Manager?

Preferred qualifications include extensive experience (6+ years) in managing large-scale projects, critical environment infrastructures (UPS, generators), physical IT infrastructures (servers, networking), and managing budgets over $1M. A degree in a related field and relevant certifications (ITIL, PMP, CCNA, etc.) are also highly desirable.

How does Microsoft foster employee development in the CO+I division?

Microsoft's Cloud Operations & Innovation (CO+I) division is committed to personal and professional development. They offer opportunities such as Career Rotation Programs, Diversity & Inclusion trainings and events, and support for professional certifications.

What is the application process like for a Data Center Operations Manager at Microsoft?

The application process involves submitting your resume, which will be reviewed against the required and preferred qualifications. If your profile aligns, you may be invited for interviews. Be prepared to discuss your experience in team leadership, data center operations, service management, and budget oversight. A background check is also required.

Does Microsoft offer opportunities for remote work for Data Center Operations Managers?

Based on the job description, this role appears to be on-site, as it involves managing physical data center operations. The description focuses on in-person responsibilities and managing physical infrastructure.

What kind of security screenings are required for this role at Microsoft?

This position requires passing a Microsoft Cloud Background Check upon hire and every two years thereafter, in addition to other potential customer and government security screenings.

How is success measured for a Data Center Operations Manager at Microsoft?

Success is measured across several areas: People Management (empowerment, coaching, team growth), Data Center Operations (documentation, SLAs, KPIs, budget adherence), Service Delivery (compliance, quality, client satisfaction), fostering a positive Data Center Work Environment, and taking personal Ownership of service quality and customer experience.

Data Center Operations Manager

Microsoft · Gävle, Gävleborg County, Sweden

On site
Full-time
$150,000 / year
Gävle, Gävleborg County, Sweden

Job highlights

Manage critical data center operations for Microsoft's cloud services.
Lead and develop a diverse, technical team.
Ensure service delivery, quality, and client satisfaction.
Oversee budget, risks, and operational efficiency.
Drive strategic initiatives and foster a culture of safety.

About the role

Data Center Operations Manager

Microsoft's Cloud Operations & Innovation (CO+I) is seeking a Datacenter Operations Manager (DCOM) to join their team. This role is crucial in delivering the core infrastructure and foundational technologies for Microsoft's global online services, including Azure, Office 365, and Xbox. The CO+I team is dedicated to employee growth, offering extensive training and development opportunities. Our infrastructure is vast, with over 100 datacenters and a million servers worldwide, supporting over a billion customers and 20 million businesses. We are committed to environmental sustainability and continuous evolution to meet the demands of a world-class cloud provider. Join us to empower billions globally! Responsibilities As a Datacenter Operations Manager, your success will be measured by: * **People Management:** * Deliver success through empowerment and accountability by modeling, coaching, and caring. * Live our culture, embody our values, and practice our leadership principles. * Define team objectives and outcomes, enable success across boundaries, and help the team adapt and learn. * Attract and retain great people, know everyone’s capabilities and aspirations, and invest in the growth of others. * **Data Center Operations:** * Document and drive alignment on dependencies, supplier contracts, success metrics, resource readiness, operational, supportability, and manageability criteria. * Review Service Level Agreements (SLAs), Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), and Objectives & Key Results (OKRs) and provide input to improve or increase efficiency across IT and Critical Environment (CE) services. * Partner cross-functionally to support global and regional initiatives (e.g., environmental health and safety, risk assessments, certifications). * Manages/supports alignment to budget of the Data Center and makes tradeoff decisions to adhere to sound fiscal practices. * Support budget planning and forecasting demand costs, driving awareness among business leaders on implications of service management issues and negotiating to win resources of costs, risks, and team leads as required. * Plan and work with business partners when executing their requirements to maintain adherence to datacenter availability, safety, and security. * Follows and adheres to run book provided by Environment, Health, & Safety division. Reports immediately any safety or security issues or concerns. * **Service Delivery:** * Accountable for end-to-end service compliance, quality, and client satisfaction for the agreed-upon service levels. * Manage relationships with clients to ensure that all expectations are clarified and understood and deliver solutions that exceed client expectations while maintaining a strong customer focus. * Applies deep subject matter expertise and escalates to meet SLA/OLAs with minimal disruption to the client/customer and business and reviews metrics with team to ensure understanding of targets and current performance levels. * Share common and repeating cases with regional and global teams, while providing best practices to address and mitigate recurrence of issues and implement more efficient solutions for resolution. * Manage resources appropriately to accommodate pilot programs and task force participation and make recommendations for additional funding where necessary. * Understand future business demand within the datacenter to ensure staffing levels are appropriate. * Ensure teams complete the required training and partner with Learning & Development organization to evolve training portfolio. * Participate in every Sev 1 and Sev 2 Incident Bridge meeting and approve root cause analysis and postmortem reporting. * Empowers teams to work collaboratively and creates visibility to help other teams succeed with regional/global management teams. * **Data Center Work Environment:** * Remove barriers that inhibit agility to enable team to shift priorities quickly without losing productivity. * Maintain a broad perspective and work to incorporate diverse viewpoints while identifying and evaluating opportunities to create strategies that cross organizational boundaries and drive broad business goals. * Establish a culture of safety, quality, and customer obsession while ensuring the team’s standards are consistent with overall service objectives. * Create the type of conditions for successful collaboration, geared toward identifying and resolving organization-wide issues by bringing together creative and relevant solutions from diverse perspectives. * Understand workforce capability and delegate work accordingly across team to effectively deliver results, finding ways to accomplish more by enabling others. * Find opportunities for collaboration across groups within division, ensure that cross-team commitments are set, and achieve scale by enabling the work of others. * Delegate to others to promote growth and development of future leaders. * Act as a trusted resource and advisor to a wide network of colleagues with diverse viewpoints. * Recognize team successes and reward teamwork and contributions to team success while driving a culture that’s focused on meeting strategic goals * **Ownership:** * Have pride and a sense of personal accountability for end-to-end service quality, completeness, and resulting customer experience. * Identify unaddressed issues across service and resolve, escalate, or find the appropriate owner to ensure the highest level of quality. * Drive and own the service management perspective to ensure that business leaders understand the business implications of risks, dependencies, and budgets to enable good business decisions and ensure the long-term value of the service. * Model and foster accountability and morale for the team. * **Other:** * Embody Microsoft's One culture and values. Qualifications **Required Qualifications:** * Bachelor's Degree or equivalent AND 5+ years’ experience of mission-critical service management (e.g., providing IT services, manufacturing, warehouse, retail, military, or managing physical operations in an IT and/or critical environment infrastructure). * 3+ years’ experience in leading a diverse, technical team. **Background Check Requirements:** * Ability to meet Microsoft, customer and/or government security screening requirements is required for this role. These requirements include, but are not limited to, the following specialized security screenings: * Microsoft Cloud Background Check: This position will be required to pass the Microsoft Cloud background check upon hire/transfer and every two years thereafter. **Preferred Qualifications:** * 6+ years enterprise-level experience managing large scale and complex projects/programs AND 6+ years’ experience in Critical Environment infrastructures (e.g., UPS, Generator, AHU) AND 6+ years’ experience in physical IT infrastructures (e.g., Servers, SANs, Networking, Capacity, DC Rack/Enclosures, structured cabling) AND Experience managing budget $1M+. * Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Math, Telecommunications, Electrical/Mechanical Engineering, Supply Chain Management, or related field. * 5+ years’ experience leading diverse, technical workforce or managing global and virtual teams. * Applicable certifications: ASICS/Inventory Control, CompTIA, Microsoft, Network Certifications, CCNA Certifications, ITIL v3 Foundation, Microsoft Operations Framework (MOF) Certifications, Leadership Development Certifications, PMP, CDCP. This position will be open for a minimum of 5 days, with applications accepted on an ongoing basis until the position is filled. Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, citizenship, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, immigration status, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran or military status, race, ethnicity, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable local laws, regulations and ordinances. If you need assistance with religious accommodations and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application process, read more about requesting accommodations. Key skills/competency * Data Center Operations Management * People Management * Service Delivery Management * Budget Management * Risk Management * Cross-functional Collaboration * Technical Leadership * Critical Environment Infrastructure * IT Infrastructure Management * Vendor Management

Skills & topics

Data Center Operations Manager
Data Center Management
Operations Management
IT Infrastructure
Cloud Operations
People Management
Service Delivery
Budget Management
Risk Management
Team Leadership
Microsoft Azure
Critical Environment
UPS
Generators
ITIL
PMP
CCNA
Network Engineering
Server Management
Supply Chain Management

How to get hired

Tailor your resume: Highlight experience in mission-critical service management, team leadership, and data center operations. Quantify achievements with metrics.
Showcase leadership: Emphasize your ability to model, coach, and care for diverse technical teams, aligning with Microsoft's values.
Address technical skills: Detail your experience with IT infrastructure, critical environments (UPS, generators), budget management ($1M+), and relevant certifications.
Demonstrate collaboration: Provide examples of cross-functional partnerships and managing client relationships to exceed expectations.
Prepare for security checks: Be ready for Microsoft's Cloud Background Check, a standard requirement for this role.

Technical preparation

Review critical environment systems (UPS, generators).,Understand IT infrastructure (servers, SANs, networking).,Familiarize with budget management for large projects.,Study data center operational best practices.

Behavioral questions

Describe a time you led a diverse technical team.,How do you handle managing multiple priorities?,Share an example of fostering a positive work culture.,How do you ensure client satisfaction and service quality?

Frequently asked questions

What are the key responsibilities for a Data Center Operations Manager at Microsoft?: As a Data Center Operations Manager at Microsoft, you will be responsible for people management, overseeing data center operations (including documentation, SLAs, KPIs, and budget alignment), ensuring end-to-end service delivery and quality, fostering a positive data center work environment, and taking ownership of service quality and customer experience.
What qualifications are required for the Data Center Operations Manager role at Microsoft?: Required qualifications include a Bachelor's Degree or equivalent with 5+ years of mission-critical service management experience and 3+ years of experience leading a diverse, technical team. A Microsoft Cloud Background Check is also mandatory.
What are the preferred qualifications for a Microsoft Data Center Operations Manager?: Preferred qualifications include extensive experience (6+ years) in managing large-scale projects, critical environment infrastructures (UPS, generators), physical IT infrastructures (servers, networking), and managing budgets over $1M. A degree in a related field and relevant certifications (ITIL, PMP, CCNA, etc.) are also highly desirable.
How does Microsoft foster employee development in the CO+I division?: Microsoft's Cloud Operations & Innovation (CO+I) division is committed to personal and professional development. They offer opportunities such as Career Rotation Programs, Diversity & Inclusion trainings and events, and support for professional certifications.
What is the application process like for a Data Center Operations Manager at Microsoft?: The application process involves submitting your resume, which will be reviewed against the required and preferred qualifications. If your profile aligns, you may be invited for interviews. Be prepared to discuss your experience in team leadership, data center operations, service management, and budget oversight. A background check is also required.
Does Microsoft offer opportunities for remote work for Data Center Operations Managers?: Based on the job description, this role appears to be on-site, as it involves managing physical data center operations. The description focuses on in-person responsibilities and managing physical infrastructure.
What kind of security screenings are required for this role at Microsoft?: This position requires passing a Microsoft Cloud Background Check upon hire and every two years thereafter, in addition to other potential customer and government security screenings.
How is success measured for a Data Center Operations Manager at Microsoft?: Success is measured across several areas: People Management (empowerment, coaching, team growth), Data Center Operations (documentation, SLAs, KPIs, budget adherence), Service Delivery (compliance, quality, client satisfaction), fostering a positive Data Center Work Environment, and taking personal Ownership of service quality and customer experience.