Director of Operations

Director – Critical Infrastructure Operations

Frankfurt, Berlin or Munich

We are supporting a major international organisation in the appointment of a Director of Critical Infrastructure Operations to lead and develop its critical environments capability across Germany and the wider region.

This is a senior leadership position combining critical infrastructure operations, technical leadership, client management and commercial responsibility.

Importantly, you do not necessarily need to come from a data centre background.

We are interested in senior operational leaders from highly regulated, technically complex and mission-critical environments including data centres, defence, life sciences/pharmaceuticals and other critical infrastructure sectors.

The role

You will provide senior operational leadership across multiple critical infrastructure environments, ensuring the safe, resilient and compliant operation of technically complex facilities.

Working with major clients and internal leadership teams, you will act as a senior subject matter expert while helping develop and grow the organisation's Critical Infrastructure offering.

Responsibilities will include:

• Providing strategic and operational leadership across multiple critical infrastructure accounts
• Leading direct and indirect teams responsible for critical engineering and operational delivery
• Driving operational excellence, resilience, compliance and continuous improvement
• Developing and implementing critical environment operating standards, procedures and best practices
• Supporting major operational transitions, technical due diligence and mobilisation programmes
• Providing senior technical guidance during critical incidents and root-cause investigations
• Working with account leadership to improve performance and develop technical capability
• Building relationships with senior client stakeholders, including C-suite decision makers
• Supporting new business pursuits, solutions and account expansion
• Working across engineering, operations, project management and commercial teams
• Managing financial performance and P&L responsibilit y
• Developing technical teams, training programmes and succession capability
• Ensuring appropriate HSE, regulatory and contractual compliance across critical environments

The original brief also places considerable emphasis on maintaining 100% uptime, leading best-practice programmes and acting as the senior operational SME across the assigned geography.

What we're looking for

We are looking for an established senior leader who understands what it takes to operate infrastructure where failure simply isn't an option.

You are likely to bring:

• Significant leadership experience within critical infrastructure / mission-critical operations
• A background within sectors such as data centres, defence, life sciences/pharmaceuticals or comparable critical environments
• Strong technical understanding of complex M&E / critical engineering infrastructure
• Experience leading operations across multiple sites, accounts or a regional portfolio
• Leadership of large direct and/or matrixed operational teams
• Strong knowledge of operational resilience, maintenance, compliance and risk management
• Experience managing senior client relationships
• Commercial awareness and previous P&L responsibility
• Experience supporting mobilisation, transition or expansion of complex operational environments
• Engineering degree, technical qualification or equivalent relevant experience
• Strong German and English communication skills

Experience specifically within data centres would naturally be highly relevant, particularly across colocation, hyperscale or enterprise environments, but we are deliberately interested in leaders from other mission-critical industries.

The opportunity

This is an opportunity to take a senior position within a growing Critical Infrastructure business, combining technical and operational leadership with genuine influence over its future direction.

You'll work across major client environments, help shape operational strategy and best practice, and play an important role in developing the organisation's critical infrastructure capability as it continues to expand.

To discuss the opportunity confidentially, click apply or contact Ben Palmer at DataX Connect.