We are looking for a Senior Manager of Design and Deployment who is passionate about data center layouts, rack elevations, BOMs, cable design, point-to-point installation documentation, deployment execution, contractor coordination, commissioning, and operational readiness for global AI/GPU infrastructure.
As Senior Manager of Design & Deployment, you will lead a specialized team of design engineers and a dedicated deployment organization (deployment engineers and deployment managers) responsible for turning approved data center designs into physically installed, commissioned, production-ready infrastructure - on schedule, to spec, and to a repeatable global standard. You own the full path from floor layout through go-live; Data Center Engineering owns the underlying electrical, mechanical, and infrastructure standards your designs must meet. This role reports directly to the VP of Data Center Operations.
Location: Hub locations, Seattle.
Travel: Expect 20-30% travel to active deployment sites globally, with heavier travel during major buildout or refresh cycles.
What You'll Do:- Lead and grow a team of Design Engineers and Deployment Engineers/Managers across multiple concurrent, global deployment programs.
- Own floor layouts, rack elevations, cable routing diagrams, bills of materials (BOMs), and installation packages for new builds, expansions, and hardware refreshes.
- Develop and maintain point-to-point cabling standards, labeling conventions, and deployment documentation used across all sites.
- Build and manage the master deployment schedule across concurrent projects, sequencing site readiness, hardware delivery, and contractor availability to hit committed go-live dates.
- Own the deployment budget for your programs, including contractor labor, equipment staging, and freight/logistics costs; report variances and forecast spend to leadership.
- Source, qualify, and manage relationships with structured cabling and installation contractors and staffing vendors across all regions, including negotiating statements of work and holding vendors to quality and schedule commitments.
- Partner with Data Center Engineering to ensure every deployment package complies with current electrical, mechanical, and safety standards before work begins onsite.
- Partner with Network, Supply Chain, Construction, and Site Operations to align deployment timing with hardware delivery, facility readiness, and network turn-up.
- Own commissioning and handoff criteria - define what "done" means for a deployment before it's turned over to Site Operations, and hold that bar consistently across sites.
- Run root-cause reviews on deployment defects and schedule misses, and drive the resulting process or documentation changes so the same issue doesn't recur at the next site.
- Establish and continuously improve global deployment methodology - playbooks, checklists, and training - so deployment quality doesn't depend on which team or contractor executes it.
- Develop the design and deployment engineers on your team, including career growth planning and technical mentorship; build a succession plan for key roles on your team.
- Represent Design & Deployment in capacity planning and new-site scoping discussions, providing realistic lead times and staffing requirements to leadership.
- Ensure designs from rack layout to network topology are future proof and in a continuous cycle of enhancement
- Investigate and develop faster deployment methodologies
Key Metrics:- On-time deployment rate against committed go-live dates.
- Deployment defect rate (post-commissioning issues attributable to design or install error).
- Design documentation quality and completeness (BOM accuracy, as-built accuracy).
- Cost per deployment against budget.
- Adoption and consistency of global deployment standards across sites.
What You'll Add to DigitalOcean:- 10+ years in data center design, deployment, or infrastructure program management, including large-scale AI/GPU deployments.
- 5+ years leading design or deployment teams, including managing other managers.
- Deep familiarity with GPU rack/cluster network topologies (e.g., rail-optimized fabrics), structured cabling standards (copper and fiber, including MPO/MTP), and commissioning processes for high-density compute.
- Hands-on experience with design and documentation tooling (e.g., AutoCAD, Visio, DCIM/NetBox or equivalent) and project/program management tooling for tracking multi-site deployments.
- Experience negotiating and managing third-party contractor and staffing vendor relationships, including SOWs and performance accountability.
- Track record of building or scaling repeatable deployment processes across multiple sites or regions, not just executing a single build.
- Strong cross-functional partnership skills - this role sits at the intersection of Engineering, Network, Construction, Supply Chain, and Site Operations and needs to align all of them to a schedule.
Compensation Range: - $156,800.00 - $196,000.00
*This is a hybrid role
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