The teamYou will build and lead the organization responsible for deploying and operating Nebius AI infrastructure at our Independence, Missouri campus. Your team will bring together data center IT operations, critical facilities, networking, logistics, operational readiness, and supporting functions.
You will work closely with hardware, network, engineering, cloud, commercial, and corporate teams to bring compute capacity into service and establish reliable, scalable operations.
The roleWe are seeking a
General Manager, Data Center to lead the organizational build-out, hardware deployment, operational readiness, and ongoing performance of our gigawatt-scale data center campus in Independence, Missouri. This is an on-site leadership role with responsibility for the Independence campus.
You will have autonomy to design the campus organization, select your leadership team, define reporting lines, and establish the operating model within agreed budgets and company standards. You will own operational readiness and campus performance across critical facilities and IT infrastructure, aligning people, systems, and service partners to deliver reliable customer capacity.
The facility is currently under construction. You will partner with construction, engineering, and critical facilities teams to align facility completion, commissioning, and handover with hardware deployment and operational readiness. You will establish the operating team and coordinate GPU, server, network, and storage installation, integration, acceptance testing, and cloud readiness with the responsible technical teams and service providers.
This role offers the opportunity to shape the operating practices that support Nebius as its AI infrastructure business grows.
Your responsibilities will include:Organization Design and Leadership- Design and build the campus organization, including functional leadership, building and shift coverage, reporting lines, and clear decision authority.
- Hire, lead, and develop directors, data center managers, and operations teams in partnership with Talent Acquisition and HR.
- Own the phased workforce plan, aligning recruitment, training, contractor support, and leadership coverage with hardware deployment, acceptance testing, and production milestones.
- Establish performance expectations, consistent technical competency standards, and succession plans that support reliable campus operations and sustained performance.
Operational Deployment and Readiness- Own the integrated operational readiness plan connecting facility completion and handover milestones, equipment delivery, hardware installation, network and storage integration, staffing, and customer service readiness.
- Coordinate with construction and facilities teams to verify power, cooling, and space readiness before deployment; manage dependencies and escalate gaps that could delay bringing capacity into service.
- Define operational acceptance criteria for the campus and deployed infrastructure, coordinate readiness and acceptance testing with technical owners, and accept or withhold operational handover against agreed requirements.
- Ensure trained teams, tested procedures, critical spares, asset records, monitoring, and vendor support are in place before production operations begin.
- Coordinate GPU, server, network fabric, storage, and cloud readiness with technical owners, and jointly confirm that released capacity can support customer workloads.
- Sequence hardware installation, integration, and production changes to protect live environments as additional compute capacity comes online.
Campus Operations and Reliability- Own end-to-end campus operations across critical facilities and IT infrastructure, delivering agreed uptime, performance, and service levels.
- Establish 24/7 coverage, maintenance governance, change control, incident command, root-cause analysis, and business continuity practices.
- Ensure clear responsibility across power, liquid cooling, controls, hardware, networking, and cloud interfaces; hold owners accountable for corrective actions.
- Use monitoring, automation, and performance reporting to improve deployment throughput, repair turnaround, reliability, and operating efficiency.
Financial Capacity and Asset Management- Own campus operating budgets, workforce costs, vendor expenditure, and forecasts within delegated authority; contribute to capital planning and investment priorities.
- Align power, cooling, rack space, equipment, and staffing capacity with deployment plans, and address constraints affecting customer commitments.
- Establish asset inventory, receiving, logistics, critical spares, repair, warranty-return, and secure disposition processes.
- Track budget variance, rework, delayed capacity, and operational losses; drive corrective actions and report financial impacts clearly.
Partners, City Coordination, Safety and Executive Accountability- Serve as the primary operational interface with utilities, infrastructure providers, equipment manufacturers, vendors, and service partners.
- Coordinate with City of Independence departments alongside Public Affairs and Legal on site readiness, permitting and inspections, utility interfaces, emergency preparedness, and ongoing operational matters; align external communications and commitments with the responsible teams.
- Hold providers accountable for safety, quality, delivery milestones, response times, and contractual service performance.
- Ensure safety, environmental, physical security, and applicable compliance requirements are implemented with the responsible specialists and corporate teams.
- Provide executive visibility into launch progress, workforce readiness, operating performance, financial forecasts, and risks requiring decisions.
Operational Scalability and Leadership Development- Develop repeatable deployment standards, staffing models, acceptance practices, and operating procedures that support the campus as compute capacity scales.
- Build leadership succession and delegation practices that sustain reliable operations and develop future infrastructure leaders.
- Share lessons and operational improvements with the broader Nebius infrastructure organization.
We expect you to have:- 10+ years of experience in data center, cloud infrastructure, or comparable mission-critical operations, including senior leadership responsibility.
- A track record of building and scaling organizations and leading managers across multiple technical and operational functions.
- Experience leading hardware deployment, infrastructure integration, operational acceptance, or major compute capacity expansion into production service.
- Strong understanding of critical facilities, including power and cooling, and how those systems affect IT availability and high-density compute operations.
- Leadership experience across compute, networking, storage, and infrastructure lifecycle management, with the technical judgment to coordinate specialist teams.
- Demonstrated ownership of operating budgets, workforce planning, vendor performance, and executive reporting.
- Experience leading incident response, change management, risk reduction, and service improvement in high-availability environments.
- The ability to exercise sound judgment, make decisions with incomplete information, address underperformance directly, and align stakeholders around clear outcomes.
- Ability to work on site in Independence, Missouri and provide visible leadership through deployment, launch, and ongoing operations.
Nice to have:- Experience in hyperscale, AI, GPU, or high-performance computing environments, including large-scale GPU deployments and high-density infrastructure.
- Experience with liquid-cooled environments and the operational interfaces between cooling systems, GPU platforms, and network fabrics.
- Experience managing multiple campuses or regional operations and transferring operating practices across sites.
- Experience building operating organizations and establishing processes during initial hardware deployment and the transition into production service.
- Experience using infrastructure automation, telemetry, and reliability data to improve capacity delivery and operating performance.
Key employee benefits- Health insurance: 100% company-paid medical, dental and vision coverage for employees and families.
- 401(k) plan: Up to 4% company match with immediate vesting.
- Parental leave: 20 weeks paid for primary caregivers, 12 weeks for secondary caregivers.
- Remote work reimbursement: Up to $85/month for mobile and internet.
- Disability and life insurance: Company-paid short-term, long-term and life insurance coverage.
Pay TransparencyWe offer competitive compensation and benefits packages. Actual compensation will be determined based on job-related factors, including experience, skills, qualifications, the level at which the candidate is hired, and geographic location, consistent with applicable law.
Base Compensation Range
$240,500-$300,600 USD
Benefits & Perks:- Competitive compensation
- Career growth and learning opportunities
- Flexibility and ownership
- Collaborative and innovative culture
- Opportunity to work on impactful AI projects
- International environment and talented teams
What's it like to work at Nebius:Fast moving - Bold thinking - Constant growth - Meaningful impact - Trust and real ownership - Opportunity to shape the future of AI
