Director, Data Center Operations And Strategy

Department

OPS ITS - Chief Technology Office

About the Department

ITS collaborates with campus partners to support the mission of the University of Chicago through the consistent delivery of high-quality solutions and services.   We provide secure, stable, and reliable infrastructure and applications to support the mission of the University.   We support and enable faculty research and teaching with the effective use of technology.   We simplify the technology experience for faculty, students, alumni, and staff, and we ensure technology is mobile-friendly and accessible.   We identify, manage, and mitigate the technology risks of the University.

Job Summary

The Director, Data Center Operations and Strategy provides comprehensive leadership for the University of Chicago enterprise data center environments, encompassing requirements gathering, design, construction, and operations across on-premises, cloud, collocated, and edge facilities. This strategic role ensures the reliability, resilience, and efficiency of data center and campus IT infrastructure, drives operational excellence, and leads the global monitoring and operations center. The Director is responsible for selection, integration, and management of monitoring tools and automation platforms supporting proactive operations across The University's global footprint. Engages multidisciplinary teams, manages stakeholders, and develops vendor relationships to deliver secure, high-availability, innovative technology platforms and services.

Responsibilities

• Develops and implements long-term strategic plans for enterprise data centers and campus-wide IT infrastructure.
• Leads operational excellence programs, benchmarking, continuous improvement initiatives, and technology adoption.
• Translates business objectives and IT service delivery needs into best-in-class operational practices.
• Facilitates requirements gathering sessions with stakeholders, users, and IT/business units.
• Documents functional, technical, and regulatory requirements for new builds, upgrades, and operational strategies.
• Directs the design and engineering of data center infrastructure, including electrical, mechanical, and architectural systems.
• Collaborates with A&E firms and internal resources to deliver robust facility layouts, blueprints, and technical specifications.
• Ensures all solutions are scalable, future-proofed, and compliant with institutional and industry standards.
• Oversees all phases of construction, retrofit, and expansion projects, from RFP through commissioning.
• Manages site selection, vendor sourcing, contract negotiation, permitting, safety, and turnover to operations.
• Ensures adherence to quality, regulatory, and safety standards throughout project execution.
• Leads campus-wide and global monitoring/operations centers for data center and IT infrastructure.
• Selects, implements, and continuously improves monitoring platforms, automation tools, alerting, and reporting solutions.
• Establishes proactive incident response, analytics, and system health oversight to ensure availability and performance.
• Recruits, develops, and mentors engineering, operations, monitoring, and project management teams.
• Promotes a culture of collaboration, high performance, and accountability.
• Fosters professional growth and lead succession planning initiatives.
• Ensures robust day-to-day infrastructure operations, including power distribution, cooling, environmental controls, cybersecurity, and automation.
• Drives sustainability and energy efficiency initiatives such as maintaining and upgrading certifications and regulatory compliance.
• Leads business continuity planning, disaster recovery, and crisis management efforts.
• Develops, implements, and maintains policies and procedures for operational risk minimization and regulatory adherence, such as HIPAA, FISMA, PCI-DSS, SOC2.
• Coordinates and participates in compliance audits and reviews.
• Develops, manages, and optimizes operational and capital budgets for data center and IT infrastructure.
• Oversees vendor relationships, procurement, contract negotiations, and cost-saving strategies.
• Maintains documentation, performance analytics, workflows, and blueprints.
• Directs functional business plans and contributes to the development of IT systems strategy, goals, and priorities.
• Oversees the planning, execution, and management of IT Services projects. Directs front-line troubleshooting and problem solving.
• Performs other related work as needed.

Minimum Qualifications

Education:

Minimum requirements include a college or university degree in related field.

Work Experience:

Minimum requirements include knowledge and skills developed through 10+ years of work experience in a related job discipline.

Certifications:

• --

Preferred Qualifications

Education:

• Master's degree in engineering, computer science, or information technology.

Experience:

• Progressive experience in requirements gathering, design, construction, and operations of enterprise data centers and campus IT infrastructure.
• Demonstrated leadership and management of multidisciplinary teams, including monitoring and operations center staff.
• Design, engineering, and construction management experience.
• Hands-on leadership of global monitoring/operations centers and tools.
• Background in incident management, compliance, and risk mitigation.
• Strong skills in contract negotiation, vendor management, budgeting, procurement, communication, and team collaboration.

Certifications:

• PMP (Project Management Professional), ITIL, LEED AP, Uptime Institute Accredited Tier Designer.

Technical Skills or Knowledge:

• Proven track record in managing large-scale campus-wide or multi-site IT/data center projects through entire lifecycle.
• Skilled in enterprise-grade monitoring platforms such as DCIM, BMS, SolarWinds, Nagios, Splunk, ServiceNow, etc.
• In-depth knowledge of regulatory and industry standards relevant to design, construction, operations, and compliance (HIPAA, FISMA, PCI-DSS, etc.).

Preferred Competencies

• Expert-level knowledge of requirements gathering and design/construction management for data center and campus IT infrastructure.
• Deep technical skills in monitoring and operations center leadership, platforms, and toolsets.
• Operational excellence expertise; adoption of metrics-driven improvement and innovation.
• Comprehensive understanding of power distribution, cooling, security, automation, and sustainability.
• Financial and planning acumen; accountable for operational budgets and strategic resource management.
• Proven ability to lead teams, respond under pressure, and drive best practices campus-wide.

Working Conditions

• Some evening/weekend work.

Application Documents

• Resume/CV (required)
• Cover Letter (required)

When applying, the document(s) MUST be uploaded via the My Experience page, in the section titled Application Documents of the application.

Job Family

Information Technology

Role Impact

People Manager

Scheduled Weekly Hours

37.5

Drug Test Required

No

Health Screen Required

No

Motor Vehicle Record Inquiry Required

No

Pay Rate Type

Salary

FLSA Status

Exempt

Pay Range

$205,000.00

The included pay rate or range represents the University's good faith estimate of the possible compensation offer for this role at the time of posting.

Benefits Eligible

Yes

The University of Chicago offers a wide range of benefits programs and resources for eligible employees, including health, retirement, and paid time off. Information about the benefit offerings can be found in the Benefits Guidebook.

Posting Statement

The University of Chicago is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or expression, national or ethnic origin, shared ancestry, age, status as an individual with a disability, military or veteran status, genetic information, or other protected classes under the law. For additional information please see the University's Notice of Nondiscrimination.

Job seekers in need of a reasonable accommodation to complete the application process should call 773-702-5800 or submit a request via Applicant Inquiry Form.

All offers of employment are contingent upon a background check that includes a review of conviction history. A conviction does not automatically preclude University employment. Rather, the University considers conviction information on a case-by-case basis and assesses the nature of the offense, the circumstances surrounding it, the proximity in time of the conviction, and its relevance to the position.

The University of Chicago's Annual Security & Fire Safety Report (Report) provides information about University offices and programs that provide safety support, crime and fire statistics, emergency response and communications plans, and other policies and information. The Report can be accessed online at: http://securityreport.uchicago.edu. Paper copies of the Report are available, upon request, from the University of Chicago Police Department, 850 E. 61st Street, Chicago, IL 60637.