Director Site Operations, EMEA in London

The Director, Site Operations is responsible for the overall leadership, operational performance, and strategic direction of one or more data center campuses.

This role provides leadership to a team of Critical Facilities Engineers (CFEs) and/or manager-level leaders operating within a 24x7 mission critical environment.

The Director will partner closely with Reliability Engineering, Design Engineering & Construction, Security, ICT, Customer Success, and other cross-functional teams to ensure the safe, reliable, and efficient operation of the campus whilst delivering an exceptional customer experience.

This individual will be accountable for operational excellence across the campus, including infrastructure reliability, customer satisfaction, people leadership, business continuity, compliance, capacity planning, vendor management, and budget ownership.

The Director, Site Operations will play a key role in supporting campus growth, driving continuous improvement initiatives, and ensuring operational readiness for future expansion.

This is an onsite leadership position based at our LHR data center campus in London and is not a remote role.

Essential Job Functions

• Lead the operations and engineering functions across the campus to ensure the safe and effective operation of all critical building systems and infrastructure.
• Provide leadership and direction to a team of Critical Facilities Engineers and/or managers operating across a 24x7 environment.
• Foster a high-performance, customer-focused culture that promotes teamwork, accountability, continuous improvement, and operational excellence.
• Ensure availability, reliability, and capacity targets are achieved and maintained across all assigned facilities.
• Deliver a world-class customer experience and ensure customer issues are resolved quickly, efficiently, and professionally.
• Serve as the senior operational leader for the campus and act as a key point of escalation during operational incidents and emergency situations.
• Ensure all personnel are appropriately trained and qualified to safely operate, maintain, and repair critical electrical and mechanical systems.
• Ensure the implementation and consistent application of Vantage policies and standards relating to safety, security, quality, compliance, and information systems.
• Contribute to site crisis management planning and ensure business continuity processes are maintained, tested, and continuously improved.
• Partner with cross-functional teams to support customer installations, operational readiness activities, and future campus expansion initiatives.
• Drive operational excellence initiatives focused on reliability, efficiency, sustainability, and continuous improvement.

Duties

• Direct and maintain the campus preventive maintenance and work order programs.
• Schedule, coordinate, and oversee maintenance vendors and contractors during planned maintenance activities and break/fix events.
• Ensure personnel safety whilst protecting the facility's critical infrastructure and assets.
• Develop, review, and maintain MOPs, SOPs, and EOPs in accordance with Vantage standards and industry best practices.
• Ensure all maintenance activities are performed in accordance with approved procedures and Mission Critical Facility work rules.
• Conduct periodic technical and quality reviews to ensure procedures reflect current industry standards, regulatory requirements, and safety guidelines.
• Ensure the campus remains fully compliant with all applicable regulatory, customer, and internal requirements.
• Manage and continuously improve site reliability, availability, and continuity of service.
• Evaluate system performance and implement cost-effective improvements to improve operational efficiency and reliability.
• Assess campus continuity and resilience risks and implement action plans to address identified gaps and vulnerabilities.
• Monitor campus capacity utilisation and participate in the development of short and medium-term capacity growth roadmaps.
• Support the planning and delivery of major infrastructure projects and ensure operational readiness for new capacity deployments.
• Monitor energy performance across the campus, drive initiatives to improve Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE), and support sustainability objectives.
• Prepare and manage both operational and capital budgets for the campus.
• Manage contracted service providers, including scope development, tender participation, contract administration, SLA performance, and vendor relationship management.
• Ensure supplier and vendor performance meets established service expectations and contractual obligations.
• Produce, analyse, and communicate operational metrics, reports, and key performance indicators.
• Maintain accurate and complete operational documentation for the campus.
• Establish team performance objectives and manage performance reviews, coaching, development, succession planning, and talent management activities.
• Lead recruitment, onboarding, and development activities to build and retain high-performing teams.
• Protect and enhance the value and lifecycle of all campus assets.
• Promote and support ISO certifications and other quality initiatives applicable to the site.
• Support customer visits, audits, tours, and technical due diligence activities as required.
• Perform additional duties as assigned by management.
• Job Requirements
• Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, Mechanical Engineering, a technical discipline, business, or equivalent relevant experience required.
• Minimum of 10 years of experience in facility engineering, plant engineering, or mission critical operations, strongly preferred.
• Minimum of 10 years of leadership experience managing teams within a critical environment, strongly preferred.
• Previous experience within the Data Center, Critical Infrastructure, or similarly complex mission critical industries strongly preferred.
• Strong understanding of electrical and mechanical infrastructure associated with mission critical facilities.
• Experience leading large operational teams within a 24x7 environment.
• Experience managing through periods of significant organisational, process, and technology change.
• Strong knowledge of safety, compliance, business continuity, and operational risk management practices.
• Experience managing vendor relationships, service contracts, and supplier performance.
• Knowledge of physical security principles within critical environments is strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated ability to build strong relationships and influence stakeholders across multiple functions and levels of the organisation.
• Proven record of delivering excellent internal and external customer service.
• Strong communication skills, both written and verbal, with the ability to communicate effectively with customers, vendors, senior leaders, and operational teams.
• Excellent planning, organisational, and prioritisation skills, with the ability to manage competing priorities in a fast-paced environment.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications and building automation systems.
• Travel is expected to be up to 5%, although this may increase as business needs evolve.
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