Physical Security Director

Position Title: Director, Global Construction Site Physical Security

Location: Boston, MA , Ashburn, VA or Dallas, TX

Your Role

The Director, Global Construction Site Physical Security is responsible for establishing, governing, and sustaining Digital Realty’s global construction site physical security program. This role serves as the enterprise authority on construction‑phase physical security, defining strategy, standards, and risk frameworks that support safe, secure, and cost‑effective delivery of data center development projects worldwide. The role operates as a senior individual contributor within Global Physical Security, partnering closely with Design & Engineering (DE&C) while maintaining independent decision authority and governance oversight.

What you’ll do

• Own and maintain Digital Realty’s global construction site physical security program, including standards, guidelines, and lifecycle‑aligned implementation frameworks.

• Define risk‑based physical security requirements by construction phase, site profile, and geographic threat environment, with enterprise‑wide visibility across the global portfolio.

• Partner with DE&C leadership, project managers, and construction teams to embed physical security requirements into project design, procurement, mobilization, and site operations.

• Participate in design reviews and mobilization discussions to proactively mitigate risk, reduce rework, and prevent security‑related disruption or change orders.

• Drive cost‑conscious security solutions, evaluating investments using a return‑on‑investment lens and promoting standardized, scalable controls.

• Partner with general contractors to ensure clear understanding, implementation, and accountability for construction site physical security requirements.

• Lead construction site security risk assessments and coordinate responses to incidents or credible threats in partnership with regional security teams, DE&C, and contractors.

• Conduct physical security assessments and control testing, track remediation actions, and confirm closure to defined standards.

• Develop and maintain a standardized metrics and reporting framework measuring prevention effectiveness, loss trends, control performance, and program maturity.

• Produce executive‑level reporting translating operational performance into clear risk‑ and cost‑based insights that inform governance and funding decisions.

What you’ll need

• 12–15+ years of progressive physical security experience, including large‑scale construction sites or capital development environments.

• Demonstrated experience building, operating, or governing global physical security or critical infrastructure security programs.

• Strong understanding of construction workflows, general contractor operations, phased project delivery, and associated risk profiles.

• Proven ability to operate as a senior individual contributor with independent judgment and decision authority, without direct reports.

• Experience working across multiple global regions and diverse threat environments.

• Ability to assess, quantify, and communicate security risk and financial impact to senior stakeholders.

• Experience partnering with engineering, construction, and delivery organizations while maintaining independent security governance.

• Strong risk‑based decision‑making skills during elevated threat or disruption scenarios.

• Ability to develop standards, tools, metrics, and reference materials that enable consistent global execution.

• Willingness and ability to travel extensively, including internationally.

A bit about us

Digital Realty brings companies and data together by delivering the full spectrum of data center, colocation and interconnection solutions. PlatformDIGITAL®, the company’s global data center platform, provides customers with a secure data meeting place and a proven Pervasive Datacenter Architecture (PDx®) solution methodology for powering innovation and efficiently managing Data Gravity challenges. Digital Realty gives its customers access to the connected data communities that matter to them with a global data center footprint of 300+ facilities in 50+ metros across 25+ countries on six continents.

To learn more about Digital Realty, please visit digitalrealty.com or follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

A bit about our team 

Operations

Our Operations team keeps our customers’ infrastructure running safely and securely. We get plenty of opportunities to take on a variety of tasks and develop our technical skills. From overseeing electrical power to cooling and fire suppression systems, our team plays a vital role in making sure everything in our data centers operates as it should.

What we can offer you

Our rapidly evolving business sector offers the opportunity to be part of a courageous and passionate team who work together to understand and meet the changing needs of our global customers. 

Join us and you’ll be part of a supportive and inclusive environment where you can bring your whole self to work. As part of our team, you’ll get to work with people from different business areas, challenge the way we do things and put your ideas into action. We’ll also give you plenty of development opportunities so you can build a rewarding and successful career with us. 

Our Compensation Philosophy

Digital Realty offers its employees a highly competitive compensation package, excellent benefits, and an environment that recognizes and rewards your contributions. Central to our compensation philosophy is rewarding our employees for achieving the values and objectives aligned to the company's overall goals and values.

Our published pay ranges reflect the minimum and maximum target for new hire pay for the full-time position determined by role, level, and geographical location. Individual pay is based on additional factors including but not limited to job-related skills, experience, and relevant education and/or training. Moreover, an employee’s total compensation package varies by role and may include salary, cash bonus or commissions, and equity awards not quantified below.

Compensation range: $150,000 - $187,000 annually.  This compensation range represents the Company’s good faith belief as to what it will pay as a base salary for this position at the time of this posting.

Benefits: For this role, Benefits include medical, dental, vision, life and AD&D insurance, 401k match, disability benefits, wellness and education benefits, employee stock purchase plan, paid time off, holidays, and more. 

Apply today, take charge of your career and grow your talents with us.