Hyperscale executive search

Retained search for hyperscale data center leadership, from campus development and construction through critical operations and capacity planning. Vice president to C‑suite.

Key roles we place ↓

Overview

What we do in hyperscale

Metric DCX places senior and executive leaders across hyperscale, covering campus development and delivery, construction management, critical facility operations and the capacity planning behind them. The work spans the operators themselves and the partners building and running their sites. Searches are retained and run from vice president through C-suite.

Hyperscale runs to a schedule nobody wants to slip. A site that comes online a quarter late is a real cost to the business it serves, so leadership here is judged on delivery above almost everything else. That narrows who is credible to the people who have already done it at that size.

Roles

The roles we place in hyperscale

VP Data Center Delivery Multi-site campus delivery from land through energization.
Head of Critical Operations Uptime, incident response and site operations across a region.
Director of MEP MEP coordination, systems delivery and commissioning across data center campuses.
Construction Director Campus construction leadership across general contractors and trades.
Head of Site Selection Land, power availability and jurisdiction strategy.
Director of Critical Facility Engineering Electrical and mechanical design standards across a fleet.
VP Supply Chain Long lead equipment, vendor strategy and procurement at scale.
Head of Energy Strategy Utility relationships, generation and power procurement.
Chief Operating Officer Operational leadership across a data center platform.

+ many others

Within this sector

What hyperscale covers

Campus Development

Land, power, entitlement and the path to a buildable site.

Construction Delivery

Multi-building campus construction and general contractor management.

Critical Operations

Uptime, maintenance and incident leadership across a live fleet.

Capacity & Supply Chain

Forecasting, long lead equipment and vendor strategy.

Market

Hiring in hyperscale right now

AI has changed what hyperscale hiring looks for. Density, cooling and power draw that were edge cases not long ago are now the default, and the leaders who have delivered liquid cooled, high density capacity are a much smaller group than the ones who have delivered traditional halls.

Power is the binding constraint and it has moved into the job description. Site selection and development roles now expect someone who can hold a conversation with a utility about generation and interconnection, not only about land and fiber. That has pulled people in from energy rather than from data centers.

The competition is not really between operators any more. It is between operators, the colocation providers building for them, and the private capital funding both. All of them are hiring from the same small group of people, so a search that starts slowly usually finishes badly.

Common questions

Hyperscale hiring questions

The questions clients ask most often before briefing a hyperscale search.

How long does a hyperscale leadership 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 hyperscale 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 campus or a live site. A construction director on a single campus, or a critical facility manager on a live site would be typical. What matters is whether it is a hire you cannot afford to get wrong.

Do we need someone who has worked for a hyperscaler?

Not always, and insisting on it narrows a search that is already narrow. What matters is whether someone has delivered or operated at the scale and the standard you work to. A lot of that experience sits with the colocation providers and the general contractors who build for hyperscalers, and those people often move more readily.