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Aligned Data Centers · 18 hours ago

Director, Design Management

Frederick County, MD

Full-time

Onsite

Director/Executive

$190K/yr - $230K/yr

12+ years exp

Aligned Data Centers is one of the fastest-growing, privately held data center companies dedicated to driving positive change in the industry. The Director of Design Management will lead the design management team, develop best practices, and ensure project efficiency and innovation throughout the lifecycle of major technical programs.

Information ServicesInformation TechnologyInfrastructure

Growth Opportunities

Responsibilities

Drive projects from inception through customer or business turnover, with heavy focus and leadership in the preconstruction and design phases of projects. The Design Managers assume project lead role at design hand-off meeting from land enablement team and shifts overall project leadership to the Construction Manager (CM) at GC mobilization

Main point of contact for design management team in particular campus or geographic region

Works hand-in-hand with the regional Director, Construction Management to ensure performance certainty across all projects

Direct the day-to-day design management operations and long-term strategic direction of projects

Provide guidance and leadership throughout the entire lifecycle of projects, ensuring they are meeting or exceeding company expectations

Develop and maintain deep-rooted industry relationships with leaders in the contracting community including design partners, AHJ’s, general contractors and trade partners

Create effective tools to empower and incentivize design and contracting partners to innovate approaches and solutions for project delivery and specific challenges

Coordination/communication with the land enablement group to ensure success with offsite improvements, early permitting, easements and environmental studies for all sites in the geographical region

Collaborates with Director, Design Management peers in other regions to maintain consistency across all regions/projects

Assists regional Director, Construction Management in collaborating/coordinating with other construction directors across all regions/projects

Assist to interview, hire, and assure effective training and development of new and existing staff

Reports status, successes, challenges, and plans of action to management team and company on a timely basis

Develop, manage and be accountable for achievement of key departmental metrics

Leads, evaluates, holds accountable and develops the regional Design Management team members in the following: Coordination/creation of project risk registers from land enablement phase through project completion/turnover to Aligned Operations

Coordinating onboarding of third-party design team and creation of design schedule to support project needs

Overseeing management of external third-party design team through project completion/turnover to Aligned Operations

Driving review and management of design deliverables; including stakeholder review and comment cycles

Holding design teams accountable to design progression and design gating

Working with SMEs, Operations, and CMs to ensure design compliance with Aligned Design Efficiency Capture (DEC)

Identifying design variances, tracks them and manages acquisition of necessary approvals, as required

Enforcing design team’s accountability to Aligned’s Cost Control Log (CCL) and Complies, Deviates, Excludes (CDE) matrices

Operating in lockstep with the CM on each project to ensure proper communications/escalations and regular reporting to all internal and external parties and leadership/management

Creating, managing and updating project metrics in Smartsheets (project dashboards) for each project

Owning or directing all administrative duties related to design management process

Assisting CM with building and maintaining budget/cost models/all phase budgets for each project, specifically around design costs and timelines. Working with CM to prepare and present all funding requests

Coordinating with CM to prepare and present quarterly project updates for leadership

In conjunction with CM, supports day-to-day program activities and initiatives (engage with architects, consultants, equipment providers, GCs, etc. Coordinate all project activities with building Operations while promoting safety and compliance initiatives and requirements on site)

Performs as the primary support role to the CM from GC mobilization to turnover to Operations

Integrating with the sales and solutions engineering teams during the revenue generation process to meet with customers and ensure technical deliverables are met

Interfacing with customer through fit-out design, construction and integration; accountable to successful delivery of customer contracts

Managing the project with the business in mind and works to ensure project is meeting directives of CRC/SLT/Board

Operating with a constant mindset of continuous improvement, creativity, efficiency and innovation

Qualification

Design engineering experienceData center design experienceProject Management SoftwareMechanical/Electrical backgroundBuilding design processConstruction managementAdvanced Excel skillsAutoCAD knowledgeTeam managementCommunication skillsOrganizational skillsMentoring skillsProblem-solving skills

Required

Bachelor's degree in Construction Management, Engineering or equivalent

12+ years progressive experience in successfully managing commercial construction project design programs, with data center experience required

Mechanical/Electrical background preferred

Deep network of leaders within the data center design and construction community

Ability to navigate AHJ's within a particular region with depth of understanding of the positions within local zoning, permitting and inspection authorities

Thorough understanding of various project delivery methods including IPD, Design-Build, and Design-Bid-Build

Basic understanding of various contract methods including lump sum, CM at risk, open book GMP, etc

Advanced experience in Excel, Smartsheets and/or AutoCAD

Strong written and verbal communication skills

Ability to multi-task, with strong time and change management/organizational skills

Track record of mentoring and developing teams and individuals to take on new challenges and career opportunities

Ability to always maintain discretion and confidentiality

Ability to understand and follow clear directions and meet specific deadlines with reporting, communication and project schedules

Team player across the organization

Ability to interpret construction drawings and specifications

Knowledge of construction cost estimating methods and development of scopes of work

Ability to understand construction project scopes

Able to monitor and interpret design and schedule changes and forecast their impact on overall project costs

May travel at times up to 25%

Design engineering experience, with at least 5 years of design team management experience

Building design process and design deliverables management

Exposure to IPD, Design-Build, and/or construction management

Data center design/construction experience, especially with MEP systems

Project Management Software (MS Projects, Prolog, Procore, BIM 360, or similar)

Knowledge and experience working with CAD is a plus

Benefits

Health Coverage: Medical, dental, and vision insurance

Health Savings and Flexible Spending Accounts: HSA with employer contribution for eligible participants. FSA's offered for health and dependent care to increase tax savings.

Retirement Savings: 401(k) plan with company match

Paid Time Off and Holiday Pay: Includes sick and safe leave as required by Maryland law

Company-Sponsored Insurance: Short-Term Disability, Life Insurance, and Long-Term Disability (with medical election)

Optional Benefits: Voluntary life, critical illness, legal, and additional disability coverage

Wellness Programs: Employee assistance program (EAP), Wellhub gym membership, and other wellness initiatives