Data center development and operations executive search

Retained search across data center development and operations, from site selection, power and entitlement through asset management and live operations leadership. Vice president to C‑suite.

Key roles we place ↓

Overview

What we do in data center development and operations

Metric DCX places senior and executive leaders across data center development and operations, covering site selection, power procurement and entitlement, capital and investment work, and the operations leadership that runs the portfolio once it is live. Searches are retained and run from vice president through C-suite.

Development and operations are usually managed as one career path and they are really two. Development is a deal business that rewards people who move quickly and carry risk. Operations rewards people who do the same thing correctly every day for years. Companies that hire one profile for both jobs tend to find out within eighteen months.

Roles

The roles we place in data center development and operations

VP Development Site selection, power, entitlement and the path to a buildable asset.
Head of Site Selection Land, power availability and jurisdiction strategy.
Director of Power Procurement Utility negotiation, interconnection and generation strategy.
VP Operations Live operations leadership across multiple sites.
Head of Entitlement & Permitting Zoning, approvals and community relationships.
Director of Asset Management Portfolio performance, capital planning and returns.
Head of Finance & Investment Finance, capital structuring and transaction support for development platforms.
Chief Operating Officer Operational leadership across a data center platform.
Director of Technical Development Design standards and technical due diligence for new sites.

+ many others

Within this sector

What data center development and operations covers

Site Selection & Land

Finding and securing sites that can actually be powered.

Power & Entitlement

Utility negotiation, interconnection and approvals.

Investment & Asset Management

Underwriting, capital planning and portfolio returns.

Live Operations

Portfolio leadership once buildings are handed over.

Market

Hiring in data center development and operations right now

Development has become the scarcest skill in the sector because the constraint moved. Land is findable. Land with deliverable power inside a workable timeline is not, and the people who can secure it are now the most contested hires in the industry.

That has pulled talent across from energy and utilities, which is a real change. A development director used to come from real estate. Now the ones who close the difficult sites often came from a utility or an independent power producer and learned the data center side afterwards.

On the operations side the hiring is more predictable but no easier. Every building handed over needs a team in place months before, and the planning for that is usually late. We would rather be briefed when the building is financed than when it is finished.

Common questions

Development and operations hiring questions

The questions clients ask most often before briefing a development or operations search.

How long does a development or operations search take?

We work to seven days to a shortlist on most briefs. How long the search takes after that depends on the role and on notice periods, so we set out a realistic timeline with you at the start.

Do you work retained or contingent?

Retained. Our development and operations consultants have spent years building relationships in this market, so most shortlists start from people we already know, and talent mapping, backed by our marketing reach, covers the rest of the market so nobody credible gets missed. Retained is what lets us give that kind of time to one brief.

Do you place below vice president?

Yes. Most briefs sit at vice president and above, but we regularly run director and senior manager searches where the role carries a site or a jurisdiction. A head of entitlement in a difficult jurisdiction, or a site lead through a handover would be typical. What matters is whether it is a hire you cannot afford to get wrong.

Should development and operations report to the same person?

That is your call, but we would flag what we see. The two jobs reward opposite instincts, and where they sit under one leader it is usually operations that gets less attention, because development is louder and closer to the money. Whichever structure you choose, the hire underneath needs to be strong in the half that leader is not.