Director, Capacity Planning & Optimization

• POSITION PURPOSE

The Director of Capacity Planning & Optimization plays a critical role in ensuring our data center infrastructure can support both current demand and future growth across power, cooling, space, and network resources. This leader will drive capacity strategy development, forecasting, reporting, and scenario modeling to align with evolving business and customer requirements.

A key focus of the role is leveraging data and analytics to improve capacity accuracy, optimize infrastructure usage, and support capital and operational planning - particularly related to site acquisition, divestiture, utility management, and strategic growth initiatives.

This role requires strong cross-functional leadership and collaboration with engineering, operations, finance, construction, product, and sales to ensure capacity decisions are operationally sound, financially efficient, and scalable.

• RESPONSIBILITIES AND ACCOUNTABILITIES

Capacity Strategy & Optimization

• Develop and refine capacity strategies across power, cooling, space, and network to support projected workloads and business goals.
• Establish and monitor operational performance metrics (e.g., utilization rates, SLOs), benchmarking against internal and industry standards.
• Execute scenario modeling and "what-if" analyses to prepare for demand shifts, coordinating closely with construction and M&A teams.
• Drive optimization initiatives that extend asset life and defer capital expenditures.

Forecasting & Resource Planning

• Forecast capacity needs based on historical data, customer growth trends, and evolving product strategy.
• Model usage scenarios (peak, steady-state, and unexpected surges) to ensure appropriate scaling and resilience.
• Monitor contract and asset lifecycles to predict when capacity will be released or added, aligning with future commitments.

Reporting & Visualization

• Generate regular and ad hoc reports on data center utilization, lifecycle status, and operational risk.
• Develop capacity dashboards and visualization tools for both real-time and long-term planning insights.
• Communicate key metrics and capacity status to senior leadership, highlighting risks, trends, and investment opportunities.
• Support capital and operational budget processes by providing data-driven inputs into planning assumptions.

Analytics & Data Integration

• Aggregate and normalize data from DCIM, BMS, and business platforms to ensure comprehensive and accurate reporting.
• Apply advanced analytics and machine learning (where applicable) to enhance forecasting precision and identify inefficiencies.
• Conduct root cause analyses for capacity-related outages, inefficiencies, or overages, recommending and implementing improvements.

Cross-Functional Leadership

• Collaborate with Sales, Engineering, Operations, Design, Construction, Finance, and Supply Chain to ensure capacity planning is fully aligned with business and technical roadmaps.
• Lead process improvement efforts to automate and streamline capacity-related workflows and reporting processes.
• Mentor and develop team members; lead cross-functional teams for major planning, analysis, and optimization initiatives.

III. MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

Education

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Business, Finance, or a related field. Master's degree (MBA or Technical) preferred.

Experience

• 7+ years in capacity planning, operations, or infrastructure within data centers or similar technical environments.
• Demonstrated success using data analytics to drive operational and financial decisions.
• Familiarity with infrastructure systems (power, cooling, metering) and their cost implications.

Skills

• Advanced Excel and proficiency with data visualization platforms (e.g., Power BI, Tableau).
• Financial fluency in forecasting, ROI modeling, and budget planning.
• Strong collaboration, communication, and stakeholder management across technical and non-technical teams.
• Experience managing or mentoring a small team is a plus.

Centersquare is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, protected veteran status, or disability status.