Facility / Data Center Manager
Operations leadership for a single campus or multi-site portfolio.
Pay range
$100,000 – $200,000
Entry path
5–10 years of operations experience, usually internal promotion
About the role
Facility Managers run the day-to-day of a data center site or a portfolio: hiring and managing the technician staff, owning operational metrics (uptime, PUE, incident rates), coordinating with the customer-facing teams, and managing vendor relationships. The role is the mid-to-senior destination for the entire operations career path — most managers came up from Critical Facilities Tech roles over 5–10 years.
What you do
- •Manage shift schedules and technician staffing across the site
- •Own uptime, PUE, and other operational metrics for the campus
- •Coordinate with construction PMs on expansions and retrofits
- •Vendor management for cooling, power, and security contractors
- •Customer escalation handling for major colo accounts
Certifications and credentials
- •Uptime Institute ATD (Accredited Tier Designer) or AOS (Accredited Operations Specialist)
- •BICSI DCDC for design-aware managers
- •PMP for managers who handle expansion projects
- •MBA or operations management coursework helps for senior roles
Best fit for
- •Mid-career trades workers ready to move into leadership
- •Operations managers from adjacent industries (manufacturing, refining)
- •Internal promotion from Critical Facilities Tech
A typical day
Morning standup with the shift lead. Review yesterday's PUE and incident logs. Interview a candidate for an open electrician role. Walk the floor with the customer ops team on a complaint. Lunch with a vendor over a generator-maintenance proposal. Afternoon spent on the quarterly capex review for the cooling upgrade.
See open roles
Browse the live data center map to find facilities near you, then use the job-board matrix on any facility page to search for Facility / Data Center Manager openings on Indeed, LinkedIn, Glassdoor, and ZipRecruiter.