Hybrid Senior Design Manager

at Vantage Data Centers

• Job title: Senior Design Manager
• Job type: Full Time
• Experience level: Senior
• Salary: $160,000 - $190,000 per year
• Degree requirement: Bachelor's Degree
• Location requirements: Hybrid, Ashburn, United States

About the role

• Senior Design Manager leading data center design projects throughout the project lifecycle at Vantage Data Centers. Collaborating with cross-functional teams to ensure design excellence and compliance.

Responsibilities

• Lead design projects from concept through handover, ensuring alignment with organizational standards and customer needs.
• Act as the primary point of contact for design-related communication, milestones, and deliverables across Development, Engineering, Construction, and Operations.
• Independently manage project schedules, deliverables, and technical documentation with minimal oversight.
• Drive design phases (concept → schematic → design development → IFC) for hyperscale campuses (50–500+ MW portfolios).
• Collaborate with external architects and consultants, ensuring scope clarity and integration into internal workflows.
• Maintain compliance with hyperscaler design standards, resiliency tiers, redundancy philosophies, and security frameworks.
• Support strategic decisioning and collaborate effectively across other departments.
• Identify and implement value engineering opportunities that reduce cost, schedule, and complexity without compromising resilience.
• Conduct design risk assessments, mitigation planning, and QA/QC audits.
• Support sequencing, schedule planning, and cost modeling for multi-wave campus builds.
• Partner with Construction, Procurement, Telecom, Power, Security, Controls, Commissioning, and Operations teams to ensure seamless execution.
• Coordinate regional design feedback loops to improve product and design standards.
• Mentor junior team members and share technical expertise.
• Promote strategies such as modular design, prefabrication, and advanced cooling/power topologies.
• Validate integration for AI/ML clusters, GPU environments, and next-gen infrastructure.
• Ensure compliance with building codes, energy standards, sustainability goals, and utility requirements.
• Design packages that meet VDC and operational standards—delivered on time, on budget, and in compliance with governance requirements.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Architecture, Construction, Mechanical or Electrical disciplines (or equivalent experience)
• 8+ years in mission-critical, data center, or industrial infrastructure design
• Experience delivering hyperscale facilities, colo campuses, or large critical infrastructure
• Technical leadership across MEP systems, redundancy models, and constructability
• Strong understanding of commissioning, integrated systems testing (IST), and operational handoff

Benefits

• medical, dental, and vision coverage
• life and AD&D
• short and long-term disability coverage
• paid time off
• employee assistance
• participation in a 401k program that includes company match
• many other additional voluntary benefits