Data Center Service Lead

Job Description

We are seeking an experienced Data Center Lead to oversee and govern all aspects of the Infrastructure Service Providers responsible for delivering Data Center Services. This role serves as the primary point of accountability for ensuring high-quality service delivery, operational excellence, and adherence to contract requirements. The Data Center Lead will drive governance across traditional on premises data centers while supporting hybrid cloud environments within Microsoft Azure.

The ideal candidate has strong experience in data center operations, cloud technologies (Azure or AWS), compute, security, and managing third party service providers.

Key Responsibilities

Lead and govern day to day operations of the Infrastructure Service Provider for Data Center Services, including contract oversight, performance management, invoice validation, change management, disaster recovery operations, SLA adherence, and compliance.

Provide strategic direction and oversight of data center operations, ensuring alignment with organizational objectives, security standards, and architectural principles.

Support and oversee cloud infrastructure components including virtual machines, storage, networking, and hybrid integrations between Azure and on premises environments.

Review and monitor Azure security controls, including identity management, RBAC, governance policies, and threat protection, ensuring the provider aligns with corporate security requirements.

Ensure seamless integration and operational continuity between cloud services and on premises data center environments.

Provide leadership in troubleshooting and resolving complex infrastructure issues across cloud and data center platforms, including performance, connectivity, resilience, and security incidents.

Develop, maintain, and enforce architectural documentation, operational procedures, standards, and governance frameworks related to data center and cloud operations.

Collaborate closely with application, network, and cybersecurity teams to maintain a stable, scalable, and secure environment.

Serve as a senior escalation point for infrastructure issues and participate in on call rotations as needed.

Drive continuous improvement initiatives, including cost optimization, automation opportunities, modernization of infrastructure services, and improved provider performance.

Must Have

Bachelors degree and 10 years of experience

-or-

Masters degree and 8 years of experience

-or-

PHD and 5 years of experience

Nice to Have

Bachelor's degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Cloud Engineering, or a related field (required)

5+ years of enterprise experience working with Microsoft Azure or AWS environments

Hands-on experience with

Cloud servers and virtual machine management

Azure networking, identity, storage, and resource governance

Azure security tools and best practices