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Data Center Operations Jobs in Seattle, WA (NOW HIRING)

The Data Center Lease Development Manager has deep knowledge of leased data center operations, including site selection, contract negotiation, and lease management and is experienced in navigating ...

Data Center Project Manager

Seattle, WA ยท On-site

$125K - $130K/yr

Ensure the effective and economical use of H5 Data Center's business resources, and to support the financial requirements of the operation at the Data Center facilities. Works to make sure proper ...

Data Center Technician Company: The Archetype Strategy Pay: 22-28 (based on experience) Overview ... Experience working within operational data centers. * Knowledge of structured cabling systems and ...

... operations. This is a full-time role, on-site in Puyallup, Washington. We are not able to provide ... Help maintain hardware in the data center, including tasks such as configuration, maintenance ...

The Archetype Strategy is seeking a detail-oriented and skilled Data Center Technician to join our ... Experience working within operational data centers. * Knowledge of structured cabling systems and ...

Showing results 21-40

Data Center Operations information

See Seattle, WA salary details

$59.2K

$146.3K

$227.6K

How much do data center operations jobs pay per year?

As of Aug 21, 2026, the average yearly pay for data center operations in Seattle, WA is $146,266.00, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $107,000.00 and $186,100.00 per year, depending on experience, location, and employer.

What is data center operations?

Data Center Operations refers to the collective processes and activities that ensure data centers run efficiently, securely, and reliably. These operations include managing servers, networking equipment, cooling and power systems, monitoring performance, and implementing security protocols. Professionals in this field are responsible for maintaining uptime, troubleshooting hardware or software issues, and supporting the technological infrastructure that businesses rely on for data storage and processing.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive in data center operations, and why are they important?

To thrive in Data Center Operations, you need a solid understanding of IT infrastructure, hardware maintenance, network management, and often a relevant degree or technical certification such as CompTIA Server+ or Cisco CCNA. Familiarity with monitoring tools, ticketing systems, and physical security protocols is typically required. Strong problem-solving abilities, attention to detail, and effective communication skills help professionals excel in this environment. These skills are essential for maintaining uptime, ensuring data security, and responding quickly to technical issues in a mission-critical setting.

What are some typical challenges faced in a data center operations role and how can they be managed effectively?

Professionals in Data Center Operations often encounter challenges such as maintaining uptime during hardware failures, managing large-scale equipment upgrades, and ensuring strict adherence to security protocols. These challenges require strong problem-solving skills, attention to detail, and the ability to work efficiently under pressure. Effective communication and collaboration with IT, facilities, and security teams are essential to quickly address incidents and prevent downtime. Staying current with best practices and participating in regular training can also help manage these challenges more effectively.

What is the difference between Data Center Operations vs Data Center Technician?

AspectData Center OperationsData Center Technician
Primary FocusOverseeing overall data center functions, including infrastructure management, monitoring, and maintenance coordination.Performing hands-on hardware installation, troubleshooting, and repairs within the data center.
CertificationsOften requires certifications like CompTIA Data Center or Cisco CCNA.Typically requires certifications such as CompTIA A+ or Network+.
Work EnvironmentOffice-based with some on-site presence; involves coordination and supervision.Primarily on-site, working directly with hardware and equipment.
Employer UsageUsed by data center managers, operations teams, and facilities management.Commonly searched by technicians and entry-level hardware staff.

In summary, Data Center Operations involves managing and coordinating data center functions, while Data Center Technicians focus on hands-on hardware tasks. Both roles are essential but differ in scope and responsibilities.

How much do data center operators make?

Data center operators typically earn between $40,000 and $70,000 annually, depending on experience, location, and certifications. Entry-level roles may start lower, while experienced operators with specialized skills or certifications can earn higher salaries. The job often requires knowledge of hardware, networking, and monitoring tools.

What are the most commonly searched types of Data Center Operations jobs in Seattle, WA?

The most popular types of Data Center Operations jobs in Seattle, WA are:

What cities near Seattle, WA are hiring for Data Center Operations jobs?

Cities near Seattle, WA with the most Data Center Operations job openings:

Infographic showing various Data Center Operations job openings in Seattle, WA as of August 2026, with employment types broken down into 1% As Needed, 82% Full Time, 12% Part Time, 1% Temporary, 3% Contract, and 1% Nights. Highlights an 94% Physical, 2% Hybrid, and 4% Remote job distribution, with an average salary of $146,266 per year, or $70.3 per hour.

Senior Director, Data Center Facilities

DigitalOcean

Seattle, WA โ€ข On-site

Full-time

Re-posted 27 days ago


Job description

Dive in and do the best work of your career at DigitalOcean. Journey alongside a strong community of top talent who are relentless in their drive to build the simplest scalable cloud. If you have a growth mindset, naturally like to think big and bold, and are energized by the fast-paced environment of a true industry disruptor, you'll find your place here. We value winning together-while learning, having fun, and making a profound difference for the dreamers and builders in the world.
The Senior Director of Data Center On-Site Operations is a senior operational leader responsible for driving consistent, scalable, and high-performing execution across DigitalOcean's global data center footprint. This role leads the on-site operations strategy for existing regional data centers and supports rapid expansion into new locations by building the operating model, leadership structure, processes, standards, and performance systems required to scale effectively.
This leader is accountable for improving operational excellence across data center sites, including execution quality, service reliability, staffing readiness, vendor performance, incident response, maintenance discipline, change execution, and customer-impact prevention. The role is focused on strengthening day-to-day operational performance while creating repeatable processes that allow the organization to grow quickly across both existing and new markets.
As DigitalOcean continues to invest heavily in physical infrastructure and AI/GPU capacity, this leader will play a critical role in preparing on-site operations for higher-density environments, liquid-cooled infrastructure, accelerated deployments, and increasingly demanding customer SLAs. The Senior Director will ensure that on-site teams can support rapid growth while maintaining safety, reliability, consistency, and accountability.
This executive serves as a key escalation leader for site-level operational issues, vendor performance concerns, and execution risks. The role requires strong cross-functional partnership with Infrastructure, Engineering, Design, Construction, Capacity Planning, Procurement, Networking, Product, and executive leadership to ensure data center operations are aligned with business growth, customer commitments, and long-term scalability.
Key Strategic Priorities
  • Operational Excellence and Continuous Improvement: Build and mature a disciplined operating model across all data center locations, with clear standards, repeatable processes, strong metrics, and continuous improvement mechanisms.
  • Scalable Site Operations Model: Develop the staffing models, leadership structures, training programs, procedures, and governance required to support rapid growth in both the number of locations and the complexity of operations.
  • Rapid Data Center Expansion Readiness: Ensure new sites can be operationalized quickly and consistently through standardized launch playbooks, readiness checklists, vendor coordination, staffing plans, and operational acceptance criteria.
  • Performance, Reliability, and SLA Improvement: Improve site-level performance against availability, service delivery, maintenance, change management, incident response, inventory accuracy, deployment execution, and customer-impact prevention.
  • AI/GPU Operational Enablement: Prepare on-site operations to support high-density GPU environments, liquid cooling, complex cabling, accelerated hardware deployments, higher-touch customer requirements, and increased operational risk.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Operational Leadership
  • Provides senior leadership for data center on-site operations across DigitalOcean's existing and expanding global footprint.
  • Leads the development and execution of a scalable operating model for data center sites, including standards for staffing, shift coverage, escalation, maintenance, change management, incident response, vendor oversight, inventory control, deployment support, and customer-impact prevention.
  • Drives operational excellence across all data center locations by identifying gaps, standardizing best practices, improving execution discipline, and ensuring consistent adoption of policies, procedures, and operating standards.
  • Leads site operations teams responsible for 24x7 data center support, ensuring availability, reliability, safety, quality, and service delivery meet or exceed business and customer expectations.
  • Improves on-site execution performance by strengthening accountability, defining clear ownership, and implementing measurable performance standards across locations.
Scalable Growth and Process Development
  • Build repeatable operational processes that allow DigitalOcean to scale from a regional data center footprint to a larger, more complex, and more globally consistent operating environment.
  • Develops standardized site launch playbooks, operational readiness checklists, escalation models, staffing templates, maintenance routines, training plans, and vendor management practices for new and existing sites.
  • Partners with cross-functional teams to ensure that site operations are prepared for data center expansions, new technology deployments, new customer requirements, higher-density racks, GPU infrastructure, and liquid cooling environments.
  • Identifies operational constraints that limit growth and develops practical solutions to improve throughput, reduce execution friction, and accelerate site readiness.
  • Creates a process-development roadmap that supports organizational growth, improves consistency, and reduces dependency on individual tribal knowledge.
Performance Management and Metrics
  • Defines and manages key operational KPIs, SLAs, and performance indicators across the data center operations organization.
  • Uses data to identify trends, performance gaps, recurring issues, staffing constraints, vendor deficiencies, and opportunities for automation or process improvement.
  • Develops operational dashboards and review mechanisms for availability, incident response, maintenance completion, change success, inventory accuracy, deployment throughput, backlog management, staffing readiness, vendor performance, and customer-impact events.
  • Leads operational reviews with senior leadership, providing clear visibility into site health, execution risks, improvement plans, and progress against strategic goals.
  • Benchmarks operational performance against industry standards, internal targets, and business requirements.
Site Reliability, Availability, and Risk Management
  • Has responsibility for meeting or exceeding established service levels for data center operations.
  • Oversees site-level execution supporting critical physical infrastructure, including power, cooling, cabling, space, racks, network infrastructure, server deployment, hardware maintenance, and customer environment support.
  • Ensures that work performed in data center environments is completed safely, correctly, and without impact to internal or external customers.
  • Drives stronger change management discipline for work performed in live production environments, including pre-work planning, risk assessment, approvals, execution quality, rollback readiness, and post-change validation.
  • Evaluates and mitigates operational risks across new and existing sites, including staffing gaps, vendor performance issues, maintenance deficiencies, capacity constraints, process weaknesses, and readiness gaps for new deployments.
  • Improves incident response, root cause analysis, corrective action tracking, and recurrence prevention across data center locations.
Data Center Expansion and Readiness
  • Supports data center expansion efforts by ensuring on-site operational requirements are identified early and integrated into planning, design, construction, commissioning, and turnover processes.
  • Partners with Design, Construction, Capacity Planning, Engineering, Procurement, Networking, and Product teams to translate business demand into operational requirements for space, power, cooling, racks, cabling, staffing, maintenance, security, logistics, and site support.
  • Develops operational acceptance criteria for new sites, new data halls, new pods, and major infrastructure deployments.
  • Ensures new sites are handed over with complete documentation, diagrams, procedures, training, spares, escalation paths, vendor contacts, and support models.
  • Drives readiness for accelerated GPU deployments, high-density rack environments, liquid cooling, and other infrastructure programs tied to business growth.
Vendor and Partner Management
  • Leads site-level vendor management to ensure service providers, contractors, colocation partners, and maintenance vendors meet operational expectations, contractual commitments, SLAs, and safety requirements.
  • Serves as a senior escalation point for vendor performance issues, site delivery concerns, maintenance execution problems, and operational deficiencies.
  • Develops consistent vendor governance practices, including performance reviews, issue tracking, corrective action plans, escalation paths, and service-quality metrics.
  • Partners with Procurement, Legal, and Finance to identify opportunities to streamline vendor services, optimize costs, and improve accountability.
  • Builds strong working relationships with vendor stakeholders while maintaining clear expectations for execution, quality, safety, and delivery.
Team Leadership and Organizational Development
  • Leads, coaches, and develops data center operations managers, site leaders, and technical operations teams.
  • Builds a leadership bench capable of supporting rapid site growth, increased operational complexity, and higher customer expectations.
  • Creates training, mentoring, and skill-development programs that improve technical capability, execution discipline, safety awareness, and leadership readiness.
  • Develops staffing models that support service-level requirements, site complexity, customer commitments, GPU concentration, and operational risk.
  • Fosters a culture of ownership, accountability, collaboration, continuous improvement, safety, customer focus, and operational discipline.
  • Removes organizational barriers that slow execution, reduce accountability, or prevent strong cross-functional collaboration.
Governance, Documentation, and Standards
  • Defines and maintains policies, procedures, standards, and documentation related to data center operations, including performance, capacity, availability, continuity, security, safety, maintenance, and change management.
  • Ensures documentation and diagrams accurately capture critical site information, including physical layout, rack elevations, power paths, cooling configurations, cabling standards, escalation paths, maintenance routines, and operational dependencies.
  • Maintains operational governance routines to ensure standards are being followed across sites and that deviations are identified, reviewed, and corrected.
  • Supports budgeting, forecasting, planning, deployment coordination, incident management, problem management, change management, and operational reporting.
  • Creates and delivers executive-level presentations on site operations performance, operational risks, improvement programs, expansion readiness, and organizational needs.
  • Performs other duties as assigned.
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities
  • Strong experience leading data center operations in a large enterprise, cloud, colocation, or high-growth infrastructure environment.
  • Demonstrated ability to improve operational performance across multiple data center locations.
  • Experience building scalable operational processes, playbooks, staffing models, governance routines, and performance systems.
  • Strong understanding of data center on-site operations, including power, cooling, cabling, hardware support, maintenance, vendor management, change management, incident response, logistics, and customer-impact prevention.
  • Experience operating against SLAs and improving performance in environments where availability, reliability, and execution quality are mission critical.
  • Ability to lead in a highly complex, fast-moving, matrixed organization with multiple stakeholders and competing priorities.
  • Strong understanding of data center growth challenges, including new site launches, capacity expansion, staffing readiness, vendor coordination, process standardization, and operational handoff.
  • Experience supporting high-density compute environments, GPU infrastructure, liquid cooling, large-scale server deployments, and complex cabling environments is strongly preferred.
  • Strong knowledge of data center critical infrastructure, including UPS systems, generators, transfer switches, power distribution, DC power systems, HVAC, cooling systems, liquid cooling, racks, structured cabling, and physical security.
  • Ability to translate business, server, storage, networking, and customer requirements into practical data center operational needs.
  • Strong vendor management and negotiation skills, with the ability to hold partners accountable while maintaining effective business relationships.
  • Excellent communication skills, including the ability to present complex operational issues clearly to executive, technical, and non-technical audiences.
  • Proven ability to develop credibility, influence without authority, and drive change across diverse teams.
  • Strong decision-making, problem-solving, prioritization, and risk-management capabilities.
  • Ability to develop and communicate relevant department metrics, SLA performance reports, operating reviews, and executive-level summaries.
  • Demonstrated ability to develop teams, coach leaders, mentor technical staff, and build organizational capability.
  • Familiarity with industry standards, certifications, and operational best practices fo