DC Project Manager

Description

Fermi America is seeking a Data Center Project Manager to assume single-point accountability for delivering all data center buildings associated with an assigned tenant account.

This role owns the outcome across the account—including scope, cost, schedule, quality, and the commercial position with the delivery partner—from the release of each building through commissioning and turnover to operations. This is an owner-side delivery role, not a coordination role. The Data Center Project Manager directs Fermi’s position with the design-build or construction partner executing the work. This individual makes and defends decisions with significant capital and schedule consequences.

Leadership holds this person accountable when a building is late or over budget. The Project Manager also serves as Fermi’s delivery representative to the tenant and is responsible for the credibility of Fermi’s commitments and reporting. The position exists to provide each tenant account with a dedicated delivery owner. The Director of DC Construction governs partner relationships, contracting strategy, and delivery standards across the portfolio, while the Data Center Project Manager is accountable for delivering the assigned account. As additional tenants join the campus, the number of Project Managers will scale with the number of tenant accounts rather than the number of buildings.

This role reports to the Director of DC Construction and works closely with the DC Senior Technical Specialist, DC QA/QC and Commissioning, project controls, Procurement and Sourcing, safety, facility operations, and the tenant’s project team.

When a DC Construction Manager is assigned to the account, the Data Center Project Manager establishes that role’s day-to-day field priorities. The DC Construction Manager will continue to report to the Director of DC Construction. The Project Manager does not direct verification findings, progress confirmation, or maintenance of the field record. Those responsibilities remain independent of the cost and schedule position reported by the Project Manager.

The assigned scope may include buildings delivered through lump-sum turnkey, design-build, construction management at risk, or multiple-prime contracting structures. It may also include concurrent and sequential builds within the same tenant account.

Key Responsibilities

• Serve as the single point of accountability for all buildings within the assigned tenant account throughout the complete delivery lifecycle, including design development, procurement, construction, commissioning, and turnover to operations.
• Own sequencing and prioritization across concurrent and successive buildings within the account, including the allocation of shared resources, contractor capacity, long-lead equipment, and campus infrastructure.
• Drive standardization and repeatability across the account by applying design packages, contracting terms, and execution approaches proven on earlier buildings, enabling each successive release to be delivered faster and with less variance.
• Manage interfaces with shared campus infrastructure serving multiple buildings within the account, including power interconnection, water, connectivity, and common site work.
• Develop and maintain the project execution plan, including the contracting approach, alignment of work and cost breakdown structures, organization and interface plan, risk register, and turnover strategy.
• Establish and defend the project baseline for scope, cost, and schedule. Control deviations through a formal change-management process.
• Administer the delivery agreement as Fermi’s representative, including notice obligations, milestone certification, pay-application recommendations, retention, and liquidated-damages provisions.
• Lead the evaluation, negotiation, and disposition of change orders. Substantiate entitlement and quantum positions while defending Fermi against unsupported cost and time claims.
• Direct Fermi’s review of design deliverables against the approved basis of design in coordination with the DC Senior Technical Specialist, who retains technical authority.
• Own the cost forecast and monthly variance analysis across the account, working with project controls to produce estimate-to-complete and estimate-at-completion positions by building and in aggregate.
• Own the milestone position and schedule outcome across the account, working with the DC Scheduler to validate contractor schedules and quantify the effects of changes and delays on each building and the account as a whole.
• Drive interface definition and closure across power interconnection, connectivity, tenant fit-out, campus infrastructure, and adjacent construction.
• When a building is delivered as a powered shell, assume responsibility for the commercial consequences of changes to the base-building and tenant fit-out demarcation, including pricing, entitlement, and schedule impacts. Definition of the boundary remains the responsibility of the DC Senior Design Integration Manager.
• Drive systems-completion and turnover planning, including system-boundary definition, mechanical-completion walkdowns, punch-list management, and turnover-package acceptance.
• Support commissioning through Level 4 and Level 5 testing and IT load delivery. Validate that demonstrated performance meets contractual requirements before acceptance.
• Coordinate handover to facility operations, including spare parts, training, as-built documentation, and warranty transfer.
• Own the tenant relationship for delivery matters associated with the assigned account, including scope, schedule, technical resolution, and reporting. Protect Fermi’s position while maintaining a productive relationship throughout a multiyear, multi-building program.
• Support Procurement in bid-package development, technical and commercial evaluations, and partner selection for the assigned scope.
• Establish and enforce the safety standard for the assigned scope, holding the partner accountable to Fermi requirements and applicable regulations without exception.
• Deliver decision-grade reporting to leadership concerning cost, schedule, risk, and required decisions so that leadership is never surprised.

AI-Enabled Execution Philosophy

Fermi America integrates artificial intelligence and advanced analytics into its core project-delivery workflows. The Data Center Project Manager will be expected to embrace and champion this philosophy by:

• Using AI-assisted cost and schedule analytics to test the credibility of contractor forecasts and identify differences between reported and actual performance.
• Leveraging AI-driven benchmarking against completed buildings to validate pricing, durations, and change-order positions.
• Applying AI-assisted document and contract analysis to support change-order evaluation, entitlement assessment, and claims defense.
• Deploying automated reporting so that project status is assembled from source systems rather than compiled manually.
• Using predictive analysis of procurement, delivery, and installation data to identify threats to milestone dates before they materialize.
• Incorporating delivery outcomes and lessons learned into Fermi’s execution standards so that each successive building can be delivered faster and with less variance.

Requirements

Relevant Experience

• 15+ years of experience in construction or project delivery, including at least eight years working on data centers, mission-critical facilities, or comparable complex, MEP-intensive programs.
• Demonstrated single-point accountability for at least one building or asset delivered from contract award through commissioning and turnover, with documented performance against the sanctioned baseline.
• Experience delivering multiple buildings or assets concurrently for a single customer or account, including making sequencing decisions, allocating shared resources, and managing the cumulative customer relationship throughout a multiyear program.
• Strong command of major contract structures—including lump-sum turnkey, design-build, construction management at risk, guaranteed maximum price, and multiple-prime arrangements—and an understanding of how owner exposure differs among them.
• Proven success in change-order negotiation, entitlement assessment, and claims defense on large capital projects.
• Strong knowledge of data center scope, including shell and core, MEP systems, critical power, cooling and direct-liquid cooling, controls, and IT infrastructure, as well as how design decisions affect construction and operations.
• Experience owning a project cost forecast and presenting and defending variances to executive leadership.
• Working knowledge of schedule development and analysis in Oracle Primavera P6, with sufficient expertise to critically assess a contractor’s schedule rather than accept it at face value.
• Experience leading commissioning and turnover to operations, including accepting demonstrated performance against contractual requirements.
• Owner-side experience with a developer, operator, or end user, in addition to any contractor-side experience.
• Excellent executive communication skills, with the ability to present positions to leadership, lenders, and customers clearly and precisely.
• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Construction Management, or a related field. Project Management Professional (PMP) certification is preferred.

Preferred Qualifications

• Direct delivery experience on hyperscale data center programs for major technology companies or leading data center developers.
• Experience delivering successive buildings using a repeatable playbook, including standardized design packages and framework agreements.
• Experience with high-density and liquid-cooled deployments and their effects on construction sequencing and commissioning.
• Familiarity with Oracle Primavera P6, Oracle Primavera Unifier, and Oracle Aconex—or equivalent enterprise project-delivery systems.
• Experience managing owner-furnished equipment under an owner-managed delivery model.
• Experience supporting project-financing workstreams, including lender and independent-engineer due diligence and drawdown substantiation.
• Comfort working in a high-growth organization where this role will help define delivery standards as the campus expands.

Work Requirements

• This is a 100% on-site position based at Fermi’s campus in Amarillo, Texas, with periodic travel to vendor facilities, fabrication shops, and partner offices as needed.
• Ability to work on active construction sites, including walking job sites, climbing ladders, and navigating unfinished structures in varying weather conditions.
• Willingness to wear all required personal protective equipment (PPE), including a hard hat, safety glasses, high-visibility vest, steel-toe boots, and hearing protection.
• Flexibility to work extended hours during critical construction milestones, commissioning events, and schedule-recovery efforts as needed.