Data Center Design Manager

As a Design Manager (m/f/d), you will lead the technical design and engineering planning, coordination and delivery of complex, mission-critical data centre projects from initial concept through commissioning and handover. As part of the Design, Engineering & Construction organisation, you will be accountable for managing multidisciplinary external and internal design teams, driving technical decision-making, ensuring compliance with global and regional design standards, and maintaining alignment between project requirements, project stakeholders, budget, schedule and operational objectives.

You will serve as the primary design authority throughout the project lifecycle, providing leadership across design, procurement, construction and commissioning activities to deliver high-quality, scalable and operationally resilient facilities.

Your Responsibilities

Design Leadership and Governance

• Lead and manage external design consultants, specialist advisors and other supporting functions..
• Coordinate multidisciplinary design activities across Civil, Structural, Architectural, Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing and Fire Protection disciplines (amongst others).
• Act as the primary point of accountability for all project design and engineering matters.
• Drive technical decision-making and resolve interdisciplinary design conflicts.
• Ensure compliance with global and regional Design Engineering Guidelines, standards, codes and regulatory requirements.
• Lead design reviews, stage-gate approvals and technical governance processes.
• Manage design risks, assumptions, deviations and change control throughout the project lifecycle.

Project Delivery

• Manage design scope, schedules, budgets and consultant deliverables.
• Monitor project progress against key milestones and support recovery planning where required.
• Ensure designs are fully coordinated, buildable and aligned with operational requirements.
• Facilitate timely issue resolution to minimise impacts to project schedules and budgets.
• Support procurement activities including technical evaluations, design clarifications and vendor selection.
• Coordinate utility providers, authorities having jurisdiction and permitting stakeholders as required.

Construction and Commissioning Support

• Provide technical leadership throughout construction execution.
• Manage consultants appointed as Engineers of Record or QA/QC roles.
• Manage Requests for Information (RFIs), technical submittals and design-related queries.
• Maintain strong adherence to production control processes.
• Review and approve design changes arising during construction.
• Support factory witness testing, site inspections and quality assurance activities.
• Ensure design readiness for commissioning, integrated systems testing and handover.
• Coordinate design closeout activities, as-built documentation and operational handover requirements.

Stakeholder Management

• Collaborate with internal stakeholders to optimize project outcomes.
• Manage relationships with contractors, suppliers, consultants, customers and external authorities.
• Present technical recommendations and project updates to senior leadership and decision-makers.
• Communicate complex technical issues clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences. 

Continuous Improvement and Innovation

• Contribute to the development and improvement of design standards, specifications and best practices.
• Capture and implement lessons learned from project delivery.
• Support sustainability, energy efficiency and innovation initiatives.
• Identify opportunities to improve project delivery, design quality and operational performance.

Your Profile

Essential Qualifications and Experience

• Degree in Engineering (Mechanical, Electrical, Civil, Structural or Building Services), Architecture or a related technical discipline.Masters preferred.
• Significant experience delivering data centres or other mission-critical facilities.
• Demonstrated experience leading multidisciplinary design teams throughout the full project lifecycle.
• Strong understanding of construction, commissioning and operational requirements for mission-critical facilities.
• Experience managing external consultants, contractors and specialist suppliers.
• Experience dealing with project budgets, schedules, risk management and change control processes.
• Knowledge of relevant industry codes, standards and engineering best practices.
• Familiarity with BIM, digital design management and common data environment workflows.

Preferred Qualifications and Experience

• Experience delivering large-scale hyperscale or colocation data centre projects.
• Experience working in a client-side design management role or in a consultant design management role within the data centre environment.
• Knowledge of commissioning, integrated systems testing and operational handover processes.
• Professional engineering registration or chartership (or working towards such accreditation).

Competencies

• Strong leadership and decision-making capabilities.
• Excellent stakeholder and relationship management skills.
• Ability to balance technical excellence with commercial, schedule and operational objectives.
• Effective problem-solving and risk management skills.
• Structured, proactive and results-oriented approach.
• Comfortable working within a fast-paced, highly demanding project environment.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English.

A bit about us

Digital Realty is the leading provider of carrier- and cloud-neutral data centre services, delivering the full spectrum of data centre, colocation and interconnection solutions.

PlatformDIGITAL®, our global data centre 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 customers access to the connected data communities that matter to them, with a global footprint of 300+ data centres across 50+ metros in 28 countries on six continents. Our 3,500+ colleagues around the world work together to create innovative solutions and connections that matter every day.

Our industry moves quickly, and that creates opportunities to make a real impact. You’ll join a supportive team where you can bring forward ideas, challenge established approaches and help shape the future of digital infrastructure.

Ready to bring your technical expertise to projects that keep the digital world running? Join Digital Realty and help us build what’s next.