Senior Director, Data Center Operations

Quake AI is seeking a Senior Director, Data Center Operations to lead the full operational lifecycle of a flagship AI compute campus in Maysville, Georgia. This role will own two 90MW, 125,000-square-foot data center buildings engineered for high-density liquid-cooled AI and HPC workloads. As the senior on-site leader, you will be accountable for uptime, safety, cost, operational readiness, and long-term capacity delivery across the campus.

This is a hands-on leadership role spanning late-stage construction, MEP commissioning, and steady-state 24/7 critical operations. You will build and lead the site operations organization, establish operating processes and staffing models, oversee vendor and service-partner performance, and serve as the primary operational leader through the transition from construction turnover to live production environments. The role requires strong technical depth across mission-critical electrical and mechanical infrastructure, along with the leadership judgment to operate in a fast-moving, high-accountability environment.

The ideal candidate brings deep experience operating large-scale or hyperscale critical facilities, with particular strength in commissioning, operational ramp-up, and high-density cooling environments. You should be comfortable leading across both technical and business dimensions of the site, including budget ownership, workforce planning, customer readiness, and incident escalation, while building a culture centered on safety, discipline, and continuous improvement.

Responsibilities

Lead all aspects of data center operations for a two-building AI campus, including staffing, operational readiness, maintenance strategy, vendor management, and site performance. Build and lead the site organization across facility leadership, critical operations, engineering, commissioning, and shift-based support functions. Own the site operating budget across labor, utilities, spares, maintenance programs, and contracted services. Partner through the final phases of construction and commissioning by providing operational input on maintainability, operability, and handoff readiness for critical MEP infrastructure, including medium-voltage distribution, standby generation, UPS systems, chiller plants, dry coolers, CDU and liquid-cooling loops, and controls integration across BMS, EPMS, and DCIM platforms. Oversee integrated systems testing, turnover documentation, spares provisioning, and development of MOPs, SOPs, and EOPs to support safe and reliable operations. Establish and continuously improve preventive and predictive maintenance programs, incident response processes, root-cause analysis practices, and capacity planning models as AI customer loads are commissioned over time. Serve as the primary escalation point for critical events and as the senior operational contact for executive and customer stakeholders.

Qualifications

• 12+ years of experience in mission-critical facilities or data center operations, including 5+ years in a senior leadership role with budget ownership and team leadership responsibility.
• Demonstrated experience commissioning and operating large-scale or hyperscale data centers, ideally in campus environments at 50MW+ scale.
• Deep technical knowledge of critical MEP systems, including medium-voltage switchgear, generators, UPS topologies, chillers, dry coolers, and liquid cooling infrastructure.
• Strong experience leading construction-to-operations transitions, including integrated systems testing, handover planning, documentation, and operational readiness.
• Proven success building and leading site operations teams, including shift-based coverage models for 24/7 critical facility environments.
• Strong financial and operational management skills, including budget development, cost forecasting, service contract oversight, and vendor negotiation.
• Experience developing and maintaining MOPs, SOPs, EOPs, training standards, and safety-focused operating programs in regulated or high-risk environments.
• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Construction Management, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience supporting AI or HPC infrastructure, including high-density rack environments, direct liquid cooling, immersion cooling, rear-door heat exchangers, or related thermal management systems.
• Experience standing up greenfield data center sites or leading major expansion programs from construction through stabilized operations.
• Familiarity with DCIM, EPMS, and BMS platforms, along with energy management, power monitoring, and PUE optimization practices.
• Relevant certifications such as CDCP, CDCS, CDCE, NFPA 70E, NFPA 110, Uptime Institute ATD, or a PE license.
• Experience with on-site or adjacent generation infrastructure, microgrids, or behind-the-meter power strategies.

Work Environment

This is an on-site role based at the Maysville, Georgia data center campus. The position requires availability for 24/7 escalation support and periodic off-hours response during construction, commissioning, and early-stage operations. The role will involve work in industrial and mission-critical facility environments, including electrical rooms, generator yards, and mechanical plants, and requires completion of site-specific safety training related to arc flash, lockout/tagout, and confined space procedures.

Annual Compensation Range: Competitive based on experience + benefits + equity

This posting refers to an active vacancy within the organization.