Director, Data Center Operations

Lambda, The Superintelligence Cloud, is a leader in AI cloud infrastructure serving tens of thousands of customers. Our customers range from AI researchers to enterprises and hyperscalers. Lambda's mission is to make compute as ubiquitous as electricity and give everyone the power of superintelligence. One person, one GPU.

If you'd like to build the world's best AI cloud, join us.

Lambda, Inc. is seeking a highly skilled and experienced Director of Data Center Operations to lead and support Lambda Data Center Operations in North America.

What You'll Do:

As Director of Data Center Operations for North America you lead and support large-scale AI and high-performance computing (HPC) infrastructure in all of Lambda's North America data centers. This individual will lead and oversee all aspects of data center operations - including reliability, hardware break/fix, capacity planning, provider interface, team mentorship, and new data center setup -ensuring world-class uptime, customer response, and scalability to meet rapidly growing AI infrastructure demands.

Key Responsibilities:

Strategic Leadership

• Develop and execute the North American data center operations strategy aligned with AI infrastructure goals and organizational growth.
• Drive continuous improvement across facility operations, emphasizing sustainability, efficiency, and resilience.
• Partner with Engineering, Capacity Planning, and Infrastructure teams to forecast and support future AI and GPU-based compute requirements. As well as provide operational feedback on designs and system improvements.
• Oversee expansion projects, retrofits, and site selection in collaboration with Data Center Infrastructure Engineering and HPC Architecture teams.

Operational Excellence

• Lead a multi-site operations team ensuring 24/7/365 reliability, availability, and SLA response across all facilities.
• Establish standardized procedures, metrics, and best practices for preventive maintenance, incident management, and service delivery.
• Monitor operational KPIs including uptime, PUE, safety, and compliance with corporate and regulatory standards.
• Implement automation and AI-driven monitoring solutions to optimize system performance and predictive maintenance. Coordinate and communicate data center provider maintenances with customers and impacted teams.

Team Leadership and Development

• Build, mentor, and scale a high-performing team of operations managers, technicians, and engineers across multiple regions.
• Routinely visit all sites to maintain standards, develop relationships, and identify areas of efficiency.
• Foster a culture of safety, accountability, and continuous learning driving data center operations to take on more responsibility and work up the stack.
• Assist in the build out of new data center whitespace and deployment of AI Infrastructure.

Financial and Vendor Management

• Develop and manage operating budgets, capital expenditures, and cost-optimization initiatives.
• Oversee strategic vendor partnerships with numerous data center providers for power, cooling, maintenance, and critical infrastructure components.

Risk and Compliance

• Ensure compliance with environmental, safety, and industry regulations (e.g., NFPA, OSHA, ISO standards).
• Lead incident response and root cause analysis to drive preventive improvements for incidents related to data center operations or infrastructure.
• Act as primary point of contact for audits related to data center operations for compliance such as SOCII, ISO, etc.

Qualifications:

• 10+ years of experience in data center operations, with at least 7 years in a leadership role managing multi-site or hyperscale facilities.
• Proven experience supporting AI, HPC, or cloud infrastructure at scale.
• Deep understanding of power and cooling systems, networking, capacity planning, and facility automation tools (DCIM, BMS, etc.).
• Strong track record of improving operational efficiency and managing relationships with data center providers.
• Preferred Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Computer Science, or related field; Master's bonus.
• Exceptional communication, cross-functional collaboration, and stakeholder management skills. Ability to build relationships and consensus and positive team culture.
• Willingness to travel (up to 50%) to data center sites across North America and data center sites under construction.

Preferred Skills:

• Experience with GPU clusters, AI infrastructure networking, and large-scale storage systems.
• Familiarity with cloud-scale operational practices (e.g., AWS, Google, Microsoft data center standards).
• Certifications such as CDCDP, CDCP, PMP, or PE are a plus.

Salary Range Information

The annual salary range for this position has been set based on market data and other factors. However, a salary higher or lower than this range may be appropriate for a candidate whose qualifications differ meaningfully from those listed in the job description.

About Lambda

• Founded in 2012, with 500+ employees, and growing fast
• Our investors notably include TWG Global, US Innovative Technology Fund (USIT), Andra Capital, SGW, Andrej Karpathy, ARK Invest, Fincadia Advisors, G Squared, In-Q-Tel (IQT), KHK & Partners, NVIDIA, Pegatron, Supermicro, Wistron, Wiwynn, Gradient Ventures, Mercato Partners, SVB, 1517, and Crescent Cove
• We have research papers accepted at top machine learning and graphics conferences, including NeurIPS, ICCV, SIGGRAPH, and TOG
• Our values are publicly available: https://lambda.ai/careers
• We offer generous cash & equity compensation
• Health, dental, and vision coverage for you and your dependents
• Wellness and commuter stipends for select roles
• 401k Plan with 2% company match (USA employees)
• Flexible paid time off plan that we all actually use

A Final Note:

You do not need to match all of the listed expectations to apply for this position. We are committed to building a team with a variety of backgrounds, experiences, and skills.

Equal Opportunity Employer

Lambda is an Equal Opportunity employer. Applicants are considered without regard to race, color, religion, creed, national origin, age, sex, gender, marital status, sexual orientation and identity, genetic information, veteran status, citizenship, or any other factors prohibited by local, state, or federal law.

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