Data Center Operations Lead

Data Center Operations Lead

As our Data Center Operations Lead, you will be VC2's on-the-ground owner of our Columbus data center. You will join now, while the site is under construction, and carry it through commissioning, hardware deployment and go-live, then run day-to-day site operations once it is live. Servers, accelerators, networking, power and cooling equipment come from many suppliers. You will make sure the site is ready for that equipment, that it is received, installed and serviced correctly, and that VC2 always has an accurate picture of what has been ordered, what has arrived and where it is installed. This is a hands-on, on-site individual contributor role. You will report to the Director of Data Center Operations, working closely with the Head of Operations, Senior Technical Program Manager, and VC2's construction, colocation and vendor partners.

Responsibilities

• Construction & Site Readiness: Represent VC2 on site during construction, working with the general contractor, trades and facility partners to track progress, resolve issues and confirm power, cooling and network are ready before equipment arrives.
• Commissioning & Acceptance: Participate in commissioning and integrated systems testing, witness tests, manage punch lists and confirm the site meets VC2's requirements before go-live.
• On-Site Coordination: Be VC2's day-to-day presence at the Ohio site, coordinating vendors, colocation partners, remote-hands staff and contractors on deliveries, installs and service work.
• Incident Response: Act as first responder on site for hardware, power and cooling issues: triage the problem, open and track vendor tickets through resolution, and escalate to engineering when needed.
• Receiving & Deployment: Own equipment receiving and staging, confirm shipments match orders, and lead rack-and-stack, cabling and power-up with vendors and remote-hands staff.
• Inventory & Asset Tracking: Own the Ohio site's hardware asset inventory, from purchase order and delivery through installation, service and retirement, in partnership with the Head of Operations.
• Procurement: Gather vendor quotes, track purchase orders and reconcile deliveries against invoices, working with the Head of Operations on sourcing decisions.
• Lead Times & Delivery: Track lead times and delivery commitments for long-lead equipment, and flag risks to the build and go-live schedule early.
• Capacity Reporting: Maintain a current view of installed and planned capacity at the Ohio site, with regular reports for engineering and operations leadership.
• Safety & Change Control: Uphold site safety practices and follow method of procedure (MOP), standard operating procedure (SOP) and emergency operating procedure (EOP) discipline for any work on live power, cooling or network infrastructure.
• Repeatable Processes: Document site readiness, receiving, incident, inventory and procurement processes so VC2 can reuse them at every new site.

Requirements

Required Skills

• Relevant experience: 7+ years in data center, colocation or mission-critical infrastructure operations, including inventory, procurement or asset-management responsibility.
• Build & deployment experience: Supported at least one new data center build, fit-out or major deployment from construction through go-live.
• Inventory & asset management: Hands-on experience tracking hardware assets, serial numbers and stock.
• Procurement: Experience with purchase orders, vendor quotes, delivery tracking and invoice reconciliation.
• Field operations: Hands-on experience working in live data center facilities, coordinating vendors, contractors and technicians, and triaging hardware, power and cooling issues.
• Working knowledge of data center equipment: servers, networking, rack power, electrical distribution and cooling.
• Working knowledge of data center safety practices, including lockout/tagout and arc flash awareness.
• Advanced Excel or Google Sheets skills, and comfort building trackers and simple reports.
• Strong attention to detail; you keep records accurate across vendors and partners.
• Calm under pressure during incidents, with sound judgment on when to escalate.
• Clear, organized communication with engineers, contractors, vendors and leadership.
• Strong follow-through: you keep vendor tickets and open issues moving until they are closed.

Preferred Skills

• Strongly preferred: experience with GPU, AI accelerator or other high-density infrastructure, including liquid cooling.
• Experience with commissioning documentation and test procedures.
• Familiarity with DCIM, asset-tracking, ERP or ticketing tools.
• OSHA 10 or OSHA 30 certification.
• Exposure to vendor contracts, SLAs or commercial terms.