Director of Data Center Design Management

Director of Data Center Design Management at Oracle

The Director of Data Center Design Management is accountable for leading a team of Design Managers responsible for the end-to-end design lifecycle of large-scale Oracle Cloud Infrastructure data center programs. This leader drives technical excellence, organizational clarity, and execution discipline across multiple concurrent campuses and regions.

The Design Management team provides strategic oversight across critical infrastructure design (mechanical, electrical, controls), ensuring alignment with OCI’s established requirements. This team partners closely with Engineering, Construction, Planning, Commissioning, Operations, Supply Chain, and executive leadership to enable predictable, high-quality delivery at hyperscale.

Must be able to travel domestically and internationally (10–25%).

Responsibilities

Key Responsibilities

Organizational Leadership & Team Development

• Lead, mentor, and develop a high-performing team of Design Managers responsible for delivery of large-scale data center programs.
• Establish clear ownership models, technical escalation paths, and accountability frameworks across the Design Management organization.
• Drive consistency in standard of care, design review rigor, and execution discipline across projects and geographies.
• Support hiring, workforce planning, succession planning, and talent development to scale with OCI growth.

Strategic Design Oversight

• Provide executive-level oversight of the end-to-end design lifecycle across multiple campuses and regions, from concept through commissioning and operational handoff.
• Ensure alignment of design strategy with Oracle Cloud capacity roadmaps, resiliency requirements, and long-term business objectives.
• Drive cross-disciplinary integration across mechanical, electrical, and controls systems to reduce operational risk and enhance scalability.
• Champion technical due diligence, value engineering, and risk mitigation strategies across major capital programs.

Cross-Functional Alignment & Executive Engagement

• Represent the Design Management organization in executive forums, influencing decisions related to cost, schedule, risk, and capacity.
• Partner with Construction, Commissioning, Operations, and Supply Chain leaders to ensure seamless transition from design intent to field execution and operational readiness.
• Communicate complex technical tradeoffs and program risks clearly and concisely to senior leadership.
• Resolve high-impact technical or execution challenges that span multiple projects or regions.

Governance, Standards & Continuous Improvement

• Establish and enforce design governance frameworks, review gates, and quality assurance processes.
• Drive standardization of design templates, technical standards, lessons learned, and best practices across the portfolio.
• Collaborate on the implementation of scalable tooling, dashboards, and reporting mechanisms to improve visibility into design health, risk, and performance metrics.
• Lead post-mortems and root cause analyses to strengthen processes and prevent recurrence of systemic issues.

Risk & Program Management

• Provide oversight across complex, multi-building hyperscale programs, ensuring proactive risk identification and mitigation.
• Balance cost, schedule, quality, and operational readiness while maintaining long-term reliability and scalability standards.
• Escalate and manage risks with clear mitigation strategies and decision frameworks.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Architecture, or related technical field (Master’s degree preferred).
• 5+ years leading large-scale technical programs within data center, mission-critical, or similarly complex infrastructure environments.
• Demonstrated experience delivering hyperscale or multi-campus data center programs.
• Strong executive presence with ability to influence senior leadership.
• Deep understanding of mission-critical infrastructure systems (mechanical, electrical, controls and commissioning).
• Proven ability to scale organizations, drive process improvement, and lead through ambiguity in fast-growth environments.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience leading distributed or global teams.
• Experience implementing design governance frameworks and quality assurance standards across portfolios.

Key skills/competency

• Data Center Design
• Infrastructure Management
• Hyperscale Programs
• Technical Leadership
• Cross-functional Collaboration
• Risk Mitigation
• Design Governance
• OCI
• Electrical Systems
• Mechanical Systems