Senior Manager, Data Center Commissioning & Validation

About the role

This role provides site- and program-level leadership across commissioning readiness, test execution oversight, issue resolution, and acceptance quality for new builds, expansions, retrofits, and high-priority capacity programs.

Responsibilities

• Lead commissioning validation execution across assigned data center sites, campuses, regions, or major capacity programs, with accountability for readiness, test governance, quality, safety, and operational acceptance.
• Own commissioning validation standards for L1-L5 activities, including factory witness testing, pre-functional checks, functional performance testing, integrated systems testing, failure-mode validation, sequence-of-operations verification, and turnover documentation.
• Provide technical and management oversight of internal commissioning teams, commissioning agents, general contractors, trade partners, equipment vendors, and other third-party service providers.
• Partner with Engineering and Construction teams to review design intent, submittals, commissioning plans, method statements, test scripts, acceptance criteria, and system readiness before field execution.
• Ensure commissioning activities validate critical MEP and controls systems, including medium- and low-voltage power distribution, generators, UPS systems, switchgear, HVAC, chilled water systems, pumps, BMS, EPMS, SCADA/DCIM interfaces, fire/life-safety systems, and supporting infrastructure.
• Drive commissioning schedule integration with construction completion, site readiness, network deployment, rack energization, operations staffing, CMMS activation, and customer capacity milestones.
• Identify commissioning risks, blockers, failed test conditions, recurring deficiencies, documentation gaps, and acceptance issues; drive clear ownership, escalation, root-cause analysis, corrective action, and closure discipline.
• Establish portfolio-level reporting for commissioning progress, defect aging, test completion, system readiness, vendor performance, safety observations, punch-list health, and operational turnover risk.
• Ensure commissioning deliverables meet OCI standards for safety, quality, operability, maintainability, security, compliance, and long-term operations supportability.
• Lead continuous improvement of commissioning playbooks, validation templates, test-script quality, lessons learned, vendor scorecards, and readiness gates across the data center delivery lifecycle.
• Develop and coach commissioning managers and senior technical contributors, building capability, accountability, and consistent execution practices across the organization.
• Represent commissioning status, risk, and acceptance recommendations to senior leaders, ensuring executive communications are clear, evidence-based, and tied to business-critical capacity delivery decisions.

Qualifications

• 5-7+ years of experience in data center commissioning, mission-critical facilities, electrical/mechanical infrastructure delivery, critical facilities operations, construction quality, or similarly complex infrastructure environments.
• 5+ years of experience leading teams, managers, contractors, or commissioning partners in large-scale, schedule-driven, high-reliability environments.
• Deep experience with data center commissioning workflows, including pre-functional testing, functional testing, integrated systems testing, factory witness testing, site acceptance testing, failure-mode validation, and operational turnover.
• Strong technical command of electrical, mechanical, controls, and life-safety systems used in high-availability data center environments.
• Demonstrated ability to manage complex commissioning schedules, cross-functional dependencies, vendor performance, field quality, issue resolution, and executive-level risk communication.
• Experience building or improving commissioning standards, test scripts, readiness gates, acceptance packages, operating rhythms, and performance reporting mechanisms.