Head Data Center Deployment
About the Role
We are seeking an experienced Senior Data Centre Deployment & Infrastructure Assessment Head to assess, plan, estimate, and lead end-to-end data centre infrastructure deployment projects.
The successful candidate will have extensive hands-on experience in physical data centre infrastructure build-outs, including server racks, structured cabling, CPU/GPU servers, enterprise storage, networking equipment, and associated infrastructure.
This role requires a combination of strong technical expertise, practical deployment experience, project estimation capabilities, and technical leadership. The candidate must be able to independently assess customer requirements, develop infrastructure specifications, estimate manpower and project timelines, and lead deployment activities from initial site assessment through commissioning and handover.
Key Responsibilities
- Data Centre Assessment and Planning
- Conduct technical site assessments for new data centre deployments, expansions, and infrastructure upgrades.
- Assess rack capacity, power availability, cooling requirements, connectivity, and site readiness.
- Develop rack layouts, equipment schedules, deployment plans, and infrastructure specifications.
- Identify technical gaps, dependencies, risks, and implementation constraints.
- Physical Infrastructure Deployment
- Lead server rack installation, rack-and-stack activities, and hardware deployment.
- Oversee installation of enterprise servers, CPU/GPU infrastructure, storage systems, network switches, routers, and associated equipment.
- Plan and coordinate copper and fibre-optic cabling, patch panels, transceivers, PDUs, and cable management.
- Coordinate physical connectivity, hardware integration, installation verification, and commissioning.
- Technical Assessment and Project Estimation
- Estimate deployment timelines, labour hours, manpower requirements, and implementation costs.
- Determine the number of technicians, engineers, team leads, and specialist resources required.
- Develop work breakdown structures, resource allocation plans, and deployment methodologies.
- Identify opportunities for parallel execution and resource optimisation.
- Technical Specifications and Bill of Materials
- Prepare and validate technical bills of materials (BOMs), including racks, servers, storage, networking equipment, cabling, and accessories.
- Develop rack elevation diagrams, cable schedules, port mappings, and equipment installation plans.
- Validate equipment compatibility, rack space, power requirements, and connectivity.
- Provide technical inputs for project proposals, quotations, and statements of work.
- GPU and High-Performance Computing Infrastructure
- Assess and plan deployments involving high-density GPU servers and AI/HPC infrastructure.
- Evaluate server configurations, rack density, network interconnects, and infrastructure dependencies.
- Coordinate power and cooling assessments with qualified facilities specialists.
- Assess high-speed Ethernet and InfiniBand connectivity requirements where applicable.
- Testing, Commissioning and Handover
- Oversee physical installation checks, cabling validation, connectivity testing, and hardware verification.
- Coordinate infrastructure readiness checks and troubleshoot deployment issues.
- Prepare as-built documentation, equipment inventories, testing reports, and handover documents.
- Technical Leadership and Stakeholder Coordination
- Lead deployment engineers, technicians, contractors, and specialist teams.
- Coordinate with customers, data centre operators, hardware vendors, network teams, and facilities specialists.
- Conduct technical workshops, site surveys, and deployment planning sessions.
- Communicate project estimates, resource requirements, risks, dependencies, and delivery schedules.
Mandatory Requirements
- Minimum 15 years of relevant experience in data centre infrastructure deployment, engineering, implementation, or physical infrastructure build-outs.
- Demonstrable hands-on experience delivering end-to-end data centre infrastructure deployments.
- Strong experience in rack installation, rack-and-stack activities, structured cabling, server deployment, and network hardware installation.
- Experience with enterprise CPU-based servers and familiarity with GPU server infrastructure.
- Proven ability to independently conduct technical assessments and develop deployment plans.
- Demonstrated experience estimating manpower, labour hours, deployment timelines, resource requirements, and project costs.
- Experience preparing technical specifications, BOMs, rack layouts, and cabling plans.
- Strong understanding of rack capacity, power, cooling, physical infrastructure, and connectivity requirements.
- Ability to lead technical teams and manage deployment activities from assessment through commissioning.
Preferred Qualifications and Experience
- Experience with hyperscale data centres, large enterprise environments, colocation facilities, or major infrastructure build-outs.
- Experience deploying high-density GPU servers, AI infrastructure, or HPC clusters.
- Familiarity with Intel Xeon and AMD EPYC server platforms.
- Familiarity with NVIDIA GPU platforms and high-performance networking.
- Experience with fibre-optic cabling, high-speed Ethernet, and InfiniBand.
- Relevant data centre, server, networking, or structured cabling certifications.
- Experience preparing technical proposals, statements of work, project estimates, and deployment methodologies.
Expected Deliverables
The candidate should be capable of producing:
- Data centre site assessment and readiness reports.
- Infrastructure gap analyses and technical specifications.
- Rack layouts and rack elevation diagrams.
- Detailed hardware and cabling bills of materials.
- Manpower plans and resource allocation schedules.
- Deployment schedules, labour-hour estimates, and project cost estimates.
- Implementation methodologies, risk assessments, and commissioning reports.
- Final installation documentation and handover reports.
Candidate Profile
The ideal candidate is a senior technical professional who combines practical, hands-on data centre deployment experience with strong assessment, estimation, planning, and leadership capabilities.
Candidates must demonstrate the ability to translate customer requirements into actionable deployment plans, accurate resource estimates, and practical implementation schedules.
Important: Candidates whose experience is limited to data centre operations, monitoring, facilities management, server administration, or IT support without demonstrable physical infrastructure deployment experience will not meet the core requirements.