Principal, Data Center Cost Strategy & Operations

The Principal, Data Center Cost Strategy & Operations role is the single accountable business partner for Data Center Operations, connecting day-to-day operating context with planning, forecasting, investment decisions, performance management, and executive visibility.
This role brings critical data center financial and business-management expertise into the organization. The role proactively identifies budget and forecasts risks, drives timely resolution of cross-functional escalations, and establishes clear ownership across reporting, PAQs, modeling, planning, and governance. This enables Operations leaders to focus on safe, reliable, and scalable execution while maintaining strong financial discipline and visibility.
Success Measures
Success in this role will be reflected through:
One clear and trusted accountable partner for Data Center Operations business management.
Earlier identification and mitigation of budget and forecast risks.
Improved forecast accuracy, planning transparency, and timeliness of operating reviews.
Fewer fragmented handoffs across reporting, PAQs, modeling, and planning.
Faster resolution of cross-functional escalations.
More consistent, decision-ready models and business cases.
Greater confidence among Operations and partner leadership in data center performance and planning.
Acknowledged authority within the Corporation. Acts as a leader of large-scale company initiatives. Viewed by peers as a leader and top contributor and by line management as a key business partner. Ability to collect, organize, and display data in spreadsheet format. Follow-through skills necessary to get information from internal and third parties and have data errors/omissions corrected. For this, relationship management skills strongly desired. Strong written and verbal communication skills. Ability to partner across functions. 10 plus years relevant work experience.
Key Responsibilities
Strategic Business Partnership
Serve as the primary business-management partner to Data Center Operations leadership.
Translate operational conditions, capacity requirements, program changes, supplier dynamics, and execution risks into clear business and financial implications.
Advise leaders on tradeoffs among cost, capacity, reliability, delivery timelines, and strategic priorities.
Build strong partnerships across Data Center Operations, Finance, FP&A, Supply Chain, Construction, Capacity Planning, and other critical stakeholders.
Planning, Forecasting, and Performance Management
Lead the organization’s annual operating plan, long-range planning, and recurring forecast processes in partnership with Finance.
Proactively identify budget, forecast, and spend risks; quantify exposure; establish mitigation plans; and ensure timely leadership visibility.
Develop operating reviews that explain actuals, forecast changes, key drivers, variances, commitments, and risks.
Establish consistent performance metrics and operating mechanisms across the data center portfolio.
Ensure material financial assumptions are documented, challenged, and aligned with operational reality.
Modeling and Decision Support
Lead or oversee analysis and modeling for data center operational decisions, including capacity, energy, maintenance, labor, vendor services, equipment lifecycle, and infrastructure investments.
Provide decision-ready recommendations that articulate cost, risk, return, timing, and operational impact.
Standardize core business models, assumptions, and analytical approaches to improve decision quality, speed, and comparability.
Partner with Finance and Operations teams to assess the impact of changes in scope, schedule, demand, utilization, and service requirements.
Governance, Reporting, and PAQ Ownership
Create integrated, clear ownership across reporting, PAQs, planning, modeling, and operating governance.
Ensure data, reporting definitions, business narratives, and escalation paths are consistent across stakeholders.
Drive timely and accurate responses to leadership reviews, audit needs, and operational business inquiries.
Identify reporting gaps, process inefficiencies, and recurring control weaknesses; implement durable improvements.
Establish a regular cadence for reviewing actions, decisions, owners, and risk closure.
Escalation Management
Act as the senior point of coordination for business escalations affecting Data Center Operations.
Resolve cross-functional issues that create budget, forecast, reporting, capital, or operating-spend risk.