Data Center Operations Lead - Partner Site Operations

About the Role

Anthropic's Data Center Operations (DCO) team ensures compute fleet availability through hardware and IT operations. At our partner-operated sites, this role manages the interface between Anthropic and the strategic site operations partner performing day-to-day data hall work. As the site lead, you own site outcomes for your assigned sites including: deployment velocity, availability, and incident response.

Rather than managing operations staff directly, you provide tactical direction, set priorities, and define the standards for the vendor's on-site teams, paired with performance oversight and ongoing operational assessment to ensure all operational commitments are met. You will define the operational processes, quality gates, and governance rhythms for partner-operated sites. Expect to build the playbook as much as you run it, not just at a site level, but defining and developing program improvements fleet-wide.

Responsibilities

• Own site availability, deployment milestones, and repair turnaround, verified with independent data rather than vendor self-reporting.
• Set daily and weekly priorities and lead the operating cadence, including standups and business reviews.
• Author and improve procedures for deployment, break-fix, change management, security, and EHS compliance. Analyze operational trends and standardize lessons across the program.
• Track vendor performance against SLAs and staffing commitments, driving corrective actions when necessary.
• Participate in the incident escalation on-call rotation. When designated Anthropic Incident Commander for a site-specific incident, direct vendor response, own communications, and close out post-incident actions.
• Translate engineering requirements into vendor direction and communicate site constraints and risks to leadership.

Representative work:

• Leading weekly operations reviews and scorecards with vendor site leads.
• Directing deployment surges to meet first-compute-online milestones.
• Analyzing failure patterns to identify root causes and driving fixes with owners.
• Creating break-fix ownership matrices and training vendor teams.
• Serving as Incident Commander for facility events and producing post-mortems.
• Establishing operational readiness for new data halls, including spares and security.
• Identifying process gaps and codifying improvements as program standards.

Requirements

• 8+ years of experience in data center operations (hardware, IT infrastructure, or critical facilities) as a manager, technical lead, or related role, including accountability for production availability.
• Experience managing vendors, MSPs, or contract workforces to measurable outcomes: SOWs, SLAs, operational reviews, and corrective action.
• Hands-on technical depth in server, network, and rack-level infrastructure, enough to independently verify vendor claims and audit quality.
• Experience building or substantially improving operational processes, not just running them.
• Served in an incident command or lead-responder role and communicate clearly under ambiguity.
• Ability to support non-standard hours, including an on-call rotation and availability during deployment surges and maintenance windows.
• Bachelor's degree in a relevant domain or equivalent practical experience.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with third-party colocation providers or partner-operated sites, delivering IT operations outcomes inside a facility someone else runs.
• Experience standing up operations at a new site or data hall, from commissioning handoff through first deployment.
• Experience with GPU/accelerator or high-density liquid-cooled infrastructure.
• Familiarity with multi-vendor sites where facilities and IT operations are performed by different partners.
• Experience leading projects from initiation to completion across teams you didn't own.
• Background in incident management frameworks, contract/SLA design, or EHS programs.

Pay

Annual Salary: $320,000—$405,000 USD

Schedule

• Location-based hybrid policy: Currently, we expect all staff to be in one of our offices at least 25% of the time. However, some roles may require more time in our offices.
• On-call rotation and availability during deployment surges and maintenance windows.

Visa sponsorship: We sponsor visas and will make every reasonable effort to secure one for you if you receive an offer. We retain an immigration lawyer to assist with this process.