Principal Datacenter Operations Manager

Overview Microsoft Cloud Operations & Innovation (CO+I) is the engine that powers Microsoft’s cloud services.

Reporting directly to the Metro Leader, the Principal Datacenter Operations Manager ensures new and retrofitted datacenter infrastructure is ready for safe, reliable operations; orchestrates large-scale deployments; and translates metro-wide strategy into coordinated priorities, plans, and governance across campuses and functions.

The role also leads change management and oversees facilities management across the Chicago Metro. Its scope spans design, construction, commissioning, operational readiness, turnover, stabilization, warranty, early-life performance, and modifications within live datacenter environments.

This leader connects the teams that design and deliver Microsoft datacenters with the teams that operate them, providing a coordinated Operations voice across Critical Environments (CE), IT, and Logistics. The role ensures safety, security, reliability, availability, quality, maintainability, and long-term operability are built in from the start.

In parallel, the leader partners with the Metro Leader and functional leaders to align metro priorities, coordinate cross-campus planning, manage dependencies, and resolve gaps in ownership while preserving each Director’s accountability for execution and operational outcomes.

In this role, you will establish the organization’s strategy, governance, priorities, operating model, and culture; build and develop a high-performing team; and oversee operational readiness and infrastructure integrity across new datacenter builds, upgrades, retrofits, and live-site modifications.

You will lead the planning cadence, decision forums, and cross-functional alignment that turn metro strategy into coordinated action, including change-management governance and facilities-management oversight across the Chicago Metro.

Success requires strong organizational leadership, trusted partnerships, disciplined portfolio governance, and the ability to translate technical and operational risk into clear, decision-ready recommendations for leadership.

Responsibilities

1. Organizational Leadership and Strategy

• Build, lead, coach, and develop the Operations integration function across Strategic Design & Construction Operations Coordination, Tactical Construction Site Operations Coordination, and Turnover Deliverables & Post-Operation Coordination.
• Establish organizational strategy, priorities, governance, operating rhythm, performance expectations, resource allocation, and a long-term capability roadmap aligned with CO+I priorities.
• Lead and develop technical and program-management talent, strengthening technical depth, leadership capability, succession readiness, and organizational resilience.
• Lead integrated metro-wide capacity, workforce, and succession planning, allocating resources across campuses, sites, and programs based on business priority, infrastructure complexity, operational risk, portfolio demand, and long-term capability needs.
• Foster a culture centered on safety, security, quality, accountability, inclusion, partnership, operational excellence, continuous improvement, and One Microsoft principles.
• Represent the Operations integration function with Metro, regional, and broader CO+I leadership.
• Partner with the Metro Leader to set metro-wide strategy, priorities, guardrails, and decision rights, and translate that direction into aligned plans across Datacenter IT Operations, Critical Environments (CE), and IAM/Logistics leadership.
• Coordinate a unified planning cadence across campuses and Capacity Clusters, tracking cross-functional dependencies, risks, progress, and ownership gaps against metro priorities.

2. Datacenter Lifecycle Integration and Operational Readiness

• Lead Operations integration across design, construction, commissioning, operational readiness, turnover, stabilization, warranty, and post-turnover lifecycle activities.
• Ensure CE, IT, Logistics, maintainability, reliability, safety, security, and operational requirements are incorporated into infrastructure designs and formal design reviews.
• Establish Operations engagement throughout construction and commissioning, including quality reviews, readiness assessments, L2-L5 commissioning participation, and resolution of operational concerns before turnover.
• Establish standardized operational-readiness governance aligned with site-transition milestones, clear acceptance criteria, and defined decision rights.
• Ensure infrastructure, documentation, procedures, spares, training, tooling, systems, and operational dependencies are ready before operational acceptance, enabling Operations teams to safely and effectively assume ownership on Day 1.
• Support Go/No-Go and readiness decisions with clear, data-driven assessments of infrastructure and operational risk.
• Provide governance for post-turnover stabilization, warranty, and defect resolution, including monitoring early-life performance and driving corrective actions.

3. Infrastructure Integrity, Reliability, and Risk

• Establish a proactive approach to identifying and mitigating infrastructure and operational risk before it affects safety, security, availability, readiness, cost, schedule, or creates long-term technical debt.
• Use reliability data, commissioning findings, defect trends, operational incidents, equipment performance, and field experience to identify systemic risks and recurring issues.
• Partner with engineering, construction, commissioning, Operations, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), and vendors to drive corrective and preventive actions.
• Establish mechanisms for monitoring infrastructure integrity and early-life reliability across the Metro portfolio.
• Ensure lessons learned are converted into measurable improvements in future designs, standards, construction practices, commissioning, and operational-readiness processes.

4. Infrastructure Delivery, Construction Governance, and Live-Site Portfolio

• Provide Principal Datacenter Operations Manager-level governance across new datacenter delivery and a portfolio of Metro Operations construction projects, including infrastructure retrofits, upgrades, corrective work, and design modifications within operating datacenters.
• Maintain portfolio oversight for approved projects ranging from approximately $250K to $100M, with accountability for delivery strategy, prioritization, risk, financial performance, and operational outcomes.
• Ensure construction and infrastructure work in live environments is governed through rigorous change management, risk assessment, Method of Procedure (MOP) and Emergency Operating Procedure (EOP) review, commissioning, and outage planning to protect safety, customer availability, and operational continuity.
• Partner with Datacenter Engineering (DCE), Datacenter Delivery (DCD), Commissioning, and Operations to shape and govern infrastructure changes, ensuring new and modified assets are documented, commissioned, maintainable, and supportable by Operations.
• Drive scalable and cost-effective solutions while reducing rework, warranty exposure, duplicate effort, and avoidable operational cost.

5. Cross-Functional Operations Integration

• Serve as the senior Operations integration leader across CE, IT, Logistics, DCD, DCE, Commissioning, end-to-end organizations, Field Operations, contractors, OEMs, Metro Operations, and other key partners.
• Establish the role as the single integration point and one window into Operations for requirements across electrical, mechanical, controls, IT infrastructure, networking, structured cabling, logistics, spares, receiving, and asset management.
• Build trusted partnerships and establish clear accountability, decision-making, communication, and escalation mechanisms across participating organizations, applying a One Microsoft mindset to align teams around shared operational outcomes.
• Ensure Operations teams have the knowledg