Director, Construction - Data Centre

Position Title: Director, Construction – Data Centre

Location: Northern Alberta

Employment Type: Full-time permanent

Work Arrangement: On-site at the project site, minimum five days per week

Role Overview

Our client is a global real estate operator and developer that manages a large international portfolio of office, logistics, hospitality, retail and residential assets, and is applying that development expertise to large-scale digital infrastructure. The Director, Construction will act as the senior owner-side construction leader on a new hyperscale data centre campus in Northern Alberta, overseeing the project from development through construction. The campus will be built in phases, starting with a multi-hundred-megawatt first stage targeted for completion in late 2028 and growing toward gigawatt-scale capacity, with full build-out anticipated by 2030.

This leader will run the owner's site delivery team and supervise the selected general contractor/EPC and project team from mobilization through commissioning, ready-for-service and handover, while the contractor keeps ownership of means and methods, subcontractors and field safety. Our client serves as developer and development manager for the program, so this role sits at the centre of the owner, utility, tenant and construction interfaces. Reporting to the senior executive leading data centre development, the right candidate will bring deep mission-critical construction knowledge, the confidence to challenge contractor schedules and costs, and the foresight to plan around Alberta winters.

Key Responsibilities

Site Delivery Leadership

• Act as the owner's senior construction lead on site, working alongside development leadership, the owner group and the electrical/mechanical, procurement, health and safety, quality, commissioning and tenant teams.
• Assess construction readiness across design, permits, procurement, power and site enabling works, and escalate open issues that could affect the field.
• Direct overall site planning, including logistics, laydown areas, temporary works and coordination between work fronts running in parallel.
• Support mobilization and early works such as clearing, grading, underground services, paving and fencing.

Contractor Oversight & Procurement Tracking

• Supervise the general contractor/EPC, key subcontractors and the broader project team, holding them accountable for performance against scope, schedule and budget.
• Track procurement across the program, including the contractor's trade buyout for civil, structural, electrical and other major packages.
• Monitor owner-procured electrical and mechanical equipment, including substation and other long-lead items, and coordinate their site requirements.
• Manage the site interface for owner-furnished equipment, including delivery planning, factory acceptance testing support and receiving inspections.

Cost, Schedule & Reporting

• Feed construction data into project controls covering schedule, cost-to-complete, commitments, cash flow, changes and risk.
• Drive delivery against the approved baseline budget and schedule, flagging scope gaps, omissions and cost pressures early to project controls, finance and leadership.
• Challenge the contractor's CPM schedule, including critical and near-critical paths, float consumption and recovery plans.
• Verify physical progress and milestone completion that support contractor payments and lender draws.
• Produce weekly site reports covering progress, key risks, mitigation actions and a two-week look-ahead.

Critical Systems & Commissioning

• Oversee installation of critical infrastructure, including medium- and high-voltage distribution, switchgear, generators, UPS, cooling, BMS and EPMS.
• Manage the construction interface with the utility on substation works, energization sequencing and grid connection milestones.
• Lead owner-side coordination through Level 1–5 commissioning, integrated systems testing, tenant acceptance and ready-for-service, working with the commissioning agent, contractor, OEMs and tenant.
• Lead the on-site tenant fit-out interface, ensuring tenant changes move through formal design, cost, schedule and change-control approvals before work proceeds.

Quality, Safety & Cold-Weather Execution

• Hold the contractor to the project's quality, safety and specification requirements through inspections, audits and close follow-up.
• Plan and oversee winter and adverse-weather works, including temporary heat, hoarding and cold-weather concrete.
• Spot weather and site risks early and drive mitigation and recovery plans to protect the approved schedule.

Continuous Improvement

• Recommend practical alternatives that improve cost, schedule, constructability, quality or risk.
• Share field feedback with the design team and carry lessons learned into later phases.
• Raise vendor performance concerns with clear corrective action recommendations.

Qualifications & Experience

• Bachelor's degree in Civil, Electrical or Mechanical Engineering, or Architecture.
• 10+ years of construction leadership, including experience leading construction projects end to end.
• Recent data centre project experience is required; hyperscale, campus-scale or multi-phase experience is strongly preferred.
• Proven experience leading a site delivery team, not only working as an individual contributor, ideally including prior field leadership with a general contractor or EPC.
• Background in project management under an EPC or owner's representative delivery model is strongly preferred.
• Hands-on experience carrying projects through commissioning, energization, integrated systems testing, tenant acceptance and ready-for-service.
• Strong working knowledge of data centre electrical and mechanical systems, medium- and high-voltage construction, substation delivery and Level 1–5 commissioning.
• Ability to independently analyze CPM schedules, critical path, float and recovery plans, along with strong risk management skills.
• Experience managing owner-furnished equipment and long-lead procurement.
• Cold-weather construction experience; delivery experience in Alberta or Western Canada is strongly preferred.
• Established relationships with major general contractors, designers, OEMs and data centre vendors.
• Familiarity with tools such as Primavera P6, Procore, Autodesk Construction Cloud, SAP or Unifier.
• P.Eng. (APEGA) or PMP designation is preferred, and Gold Seal or NCSO is an asset; experience building alongside live, operating facilities is an asset.

Why Join?

• Lead construction on one of Canada's largest data centre campuses, with a multi-year program running through 2030.
• Take a senior, highly visible owner-side role with real influence over cost, schedule and quality across multiple phases.
• Build your career within a well-capitalized global organization with room to grow across its broader platform.
• Competitive compensation with comprehensive health, dental and vision coverage, Group RRSP, employer-paid life and disability insurance, and tuition support.