Critical Facilities Manager-Data Center

Overview

The Critical Facility Manager (CFM) is responsible for the overall leadership, operation, and performance of mission-critical facility services supporting a 24/7 data center environment. This role provides on-site leadership for operations teams, ensures compliance with contractual and client requirements, and oversees the safe, reliable operation of mechanical, electrical, controls, and vendor-supported systems.

The CFM serves as the primary on-site operational point of contact for the client and coordinates across internal teams, technicians, vendors, OEMs, and subcontractors to maintain uptime, safety, procedural discipline, and operational excellence. This role is especially important during site startup, integrated systems testing (IST), commissioning support, turnover, and transition into steady-state operations.

ABM offers a comprehensive benefits package. For information about ABM’s benefits, visit ABM 

ABM Benefits Information 

Responsibilities

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Provide day-to-day leadership and oversight of mission-critical facility operations, including electrical, mechanical, HVAC, controls, life safety, and vendor-supported services.
• Serve as the primary on-site operational liaison with the client, managing communication, expectations, issue resolution, performance metrics, and service delivery.
• Support site startup, commissioning readiness, integrated systems testing (IST), operational turnover, and go-live preparation.
• Ensure all work is performed in strict accordance with approved SOPs, MOPs, EOPs, safety procedures, change-control requirements, and client expectations.
• Maintain a zero-impact culture focused on uptime, reliability, protection of critical loads, risk mitigation, and procedural compliance.
• Oversee operation of critical infrastructure, including utility service, switchgear, UPS systems, generators, ATS/STS equipment, electrical distribution, chillers, CRAH/CRAC units, pumps, cooling systems, and BAS/BMS controls.
• Monitor facility systems, KPIs/CPIs, SLAs, alarms, maintenance performance, and operational trends to ensure compliance and continuous improvement.
• Lead incident response, escalation, client communication, post-incident review, root cause analysis, and corrective action tracking.
• Review, approve, and coordinate planned maintenance, switching activities, outage-related procedures, vendor work, and high-risk activities.
• Oversee staffing, scheduling, onboarding, training, performance management, and technical development of on-site facility personnel.
• Partner with recruiting and leadership teams to support selection and onboarding of site leads and critical facilities technicians.
• Manage CMMS utilization, including work order accuracy, preventive maintenance compliance, asset documentation, labor reporting, and maintenance history.
• Coordinate third-party vendors, OEMs, and subcontractors performing on-site services.
• Support budget management, cost control, invoice review, change order coordination, and contract-related administration.
• Promote and enforce safety, environmental, regulatory, and site-specific requirements, including participation in audits and inspections.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives focused on uptime, reliability, efficiency, safety, documentation quality, and client satisfaction.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications

• Minimum 7-10 years of experience in mission-critical facilities, data center operations, critical environments, or closely related infrastructure operations.
• Direct experience supporting hyperscale, colocation, enterprise, or large-scale data center environments strongly preferred.
• Prior experience leading technical teams in a 24/7 critical facility environment.
• Demonstrated knowledge of critical electrical infrastructure, including switchgear, UPS systems, generators, ATS/STS equipment, electrical distribution, and emergency power operations.
• Demonstrated knowledge of critical mechanical infrastructure, including chillers, CRAH/CRAC units, pumps, cooling systems, airflow management, BAS/BMS controls, and redundancy strategies.
• Experience with SOPs, MOPs, EOPs, change control, incident response, root cause analysis, and risk mitigation in a critical environment.
• Ability to read and interpret technical documentation, one-lines, P&IDs, sequences of operation, equipment manuals, maintenance procedures, and commissioning documents.
• Strong understanding of uptime expectations, SLA/CPI performance requirements, client reporting, and operational risk management.
• Experience using CMMS platforms for work order management, preventive maintenance tracking, asset management, and documentation.
• Strong leadership, communication, documentation, and client-facing skills.
• Bachelor's degree in engineering, Facilities Management, Construction Management, or related field preferred; equivalent mission-critical experience will be considered in lieu of degree.

Preferred Certifications / Training

• Certified Data Centre Facilities Professional (CDC-FP), Certified Data Centre Professional (CDCP), or similar data center certification
• OSHA 10 or OSHA 30
• NFPA 70E
• Electrical safety, switching, or critical power training
• OEM training related to UPS, generators, switchgear, BAS/BMS, chillers, or critical cooling systems
• Professional Engineer (PE) license a plus

Physical Requirements

• Ability to access all areas of a mission-critical facility, including mechanical rooms, electrical rooms, equipment yards, rooftops, and operations spaces.
• Ability to stand, walk, climb stairs, and navigate industrial environments for extended periods.
• Ability to lift up to 30-50 lbs as required.
• Ability to respond to site conditions, inspections, incidents, and operational needs in a 24/7 critical environment.

Work Environment

• Mission-critical data center environment requiring high reliability, strict procedural compliance, clear communication, and accountability for uptime.
• Primarily day shift, Monday-Friday, with flexibility to support after-hours escalations, emergency response, planned maintenance, commissioning activities, and client needs as required.