Regional Data Centre Director

About the Role
The Head of Data Centres is responsible for defining and executing the data centres strategy for the company, building and leading a specialist team, directing major data centre commissions, and ensuring technical excellence and delivery assurance across all projects. This role carries full accountability for the growth, profitability, and reputation of the data centres business line in the UAE.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic & Business Leadership

• Define and execute the growth strategy for the company's data centres practice in the UAE, aligned with the wider Middle East Buildings sector strategy.
• Own the P&L for the data centres business line, including revenue growth, margin, utilisation, and profitability targets.
• Identify and prioritise target markets and client segments – hyperscale, colocation, enterprise, government/sovereign, and edge.
• Represent the company at industry forums, conferences, and summits to build market presence and thought leadership.

Business Development & Client Relationships

• Build and maintain senior relationships with hyperscale cloud providers, colocation operators, telecom operators, free zone authorities, developers, and government entities.
• Lead capture strategy, teaming arrangements, and bid/proposal development for major data centre pursuits, working with the company's international data centres network where relevant.
• Develop and convert the company's UAE data centres pipeline into signed commissions.
• Act as a trusted advisor to clients on data centre strategy, site selection, capacity planning, and resilience/sustainability requirements.

Technical Leadership & Assurance

• Provide technical leadership and assurance across data centre design and delivery commissions, spanning master planning, architecture, structural, electrical (power, standby generation, UPS), mechanical (cooling, including air and liquid/immersion cooling for AI/HPC workloads), fire & life safety, security, and controls.
• Ensure designs meet appropriate resilience/availability standards (e.g., Uptime Institute Tier ratings, TIA-942) and align with client-specific and hyperscaler design standards.
• Champion sustainability and energy-efficiency best practices (PUE/WUE optimisation, renewable integration, waste-heat recovery) in line with UAE net-zero and green building requirements.
• Provide senior technical review and assurance (design review, HAZOP/FMEA, commissioning strategy) on major projects.

Project Delivery Oversight

• Oversee the delivery of data centre commissions across design, tender, construction supervision, and testing & commissioning stages, ensuring quality, programme, and budget are maintained.
• Ensure appropriate resourcing, governance, and risk management are in place on all live data centre commissions.
• Support project teams through key stages including authority approvals (Civil Defence, DEWA/Etihad Water & Electricity, and relevant free zone authorities), procurement strategy, and contractor/vendor selection.

Team Leadership & Capability Building

• Recruit, lead, mentor, and develop a specialist data centres team – design leads, MEP/critical facilities engineers, and project managers – as the practice scales.
• Establish standards, tools, templates, and quality processes specific to data centre design and delivery.
• Foster collaboration with the company's global data centres expertise and other regional/sector teams (Buildings, Energy, Digital) to bring best-in-class solutions to UAE clients.

Governance, Risk, HSE & Quality

• Ensure all data centre commissions comply with the company's HSE, quality, and ethics standards and relevant UAE regulatory requirements.
• Manage commercial and contractual risk on data centre commissions, working with legal and commercial teams as required.
• Report regularly on business performance, pipeline, risk, and delivery status to Middle East leadership.

Key Working Relationships

• Internal: Middle East Buildings Sector Director, UAE Country Director, other Sector/Business Line Heads (Transport, Energy, Water, Urban Development), the company's international data centres network, and the bid/proposal, HSE, legal and finance teams.
• External: Hyperscale cloud providers, colocation and enterprise data centre operators, telecom operators, developers, free zone authorities (e.g., Masdar City, DIFC, ADGM), government/regulatory bodies, utility providers (DEWA, Etihad Water & Electricity), main contractors, MEP contractors, and specialist vendors.

Qualifications

Person Specification

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree (Master's preferred) in Electrical, Mechanical, Building Services Engineering, or a related engineering discipline.
• Chartered/professional engineering status (e.g., CEng, PE, or equivalent) preferred.
• Industry certifications such as Uptime Institute Accredited Tier Designer/Specialist (ATD/ATS), CDCP/CDCE, or equivalent data centre credentials are highly desirable.

Experience

• 20+ years of overall engineering/consultancy experience, including a minimum of 8–10 years focused specifically on data centre design, engineering, and/or delivery.
• Demonstrable track record leading and growing a data centres business line, practice, or major account within a consultancy, engineering firm, hyperscaler, colocation operator, or main contractor.
• Proven experience delivering hyperscale, colocation, and/or enterprise data centre projects, ideally including experience in the UAE/GCC region.
• Strong record of business development, client relationship management, and P&L ownership.
• Experience managing multidisciplinary technical teams and interfacing with authorities, utilities, and free zone regulators in the UAE is highly advantageous.

Skills & Competencies

• Deep technical credibility in mission-critical facilities: power resilience, cooling (including liquid cooling for AI/HPC), fire & life safety, security, and controls/BMS.
• Strong commercial acumen: P&L management, bid strategy, and contract negotiation.
• Excellent stakeholder management and executive presence with C-suite clients and government entities.
• Strategic thinker, able to translate market opportunity into an executable growth plan.
• Strong leadership skills, with the ability to build a team and culture from the ground up.
• Working knowledge of relevant standards and frameworks (Uptime Institute Tiers, TIA-942, ASHRAE thermal guidelines, ISO 27001/22301 as they relate to data centre operations) and the UAE-specific regulatory/utility landscape.
• Fluent English essential; Arabic language skills an advantage.

Business Line: Energy and Sustainable Cities
Type of Contract: Permanent contract
Service Line: Buildings
Region: Middle East and South Asia
Job Family: Engineering Management