Senior Manager, Data Center Commissioning & Validation

Oracle Corporation • Nashville, TN, United States, US • 1m ago

As Senior Commissioning Validation Manager, you will lead commissioning validation governance for Oracle Cloud Infrastructure data center delivery programs, ensuring critical electrical, mechanical, controls, life-safety, and supporting infrastructure systems are tested, validated, documented, and accepted before operational turnover. This role provides site- and program-level leadership across commissioning readiness, test execution oversight, issue resolution, and acceptance quality for new builds, expansions, retrofits, and high-priority capacity programs.

You will serve as a senior people leader within the Data Center Commissioning organization, partnering with Construction, Engineering, Site Deployment, Facilities Operations, Reliability, Security, Network, Supply Chain, and third-party commissioning agents to drive predictable, safe, and auditable commissioning outcomes. The role requires deep mission-critical infrastructure judgment, strong field execution discipline, and the ability to lead managers, engineers, vendors, and cross-functional stakeholders through complex commissioning milestones.

This is not a purely administrative project management role. It is a technical commissioning leadership role responsible for ensuring installed systems perform as designed, commissioning evidence is complete, risks are surfaced early, and operational teams receive facilities that are ready to run without latent defects or unresolved acceptance risk.

Key Responsibilities

Lead commissioning validation execution across assigned data center sites, campuses, regions, or major capacity programs, with accountability for readiness, test governance, quality, safety, and operational acceptance.

Own commissioning validation standards for L1-L5 activities, including factory witness testing, pre-functional checks, functional performance testing, integrated systems testing, failure-mode validation, sequence-of-operations verification, and turnover documentation.

Provide technical and management oversight of internal commissioning teams, commissioning agents, general contractors, trade partners, equipment vendors, and other third-party service providers.

Partner with Engineering and Construction teams to review design intent, submittals, commissioning plans, method statements, test scripts, acceptance criteria, and system readiness before field execution.

Ensure commissioning activities validate critical MEP and controls systems, including medium- and low-voltage power distribution, generators, UPS systems, switchgear, HVAC, chilled water systems, pumps, BMS, EPMS, SCADA/DCIM interfaces, fire/life-safety systems, and supporting infrastructure.

Drive commissioning schedule integration with construction completion, site readiness, network deployment, rack energization, operations staffing, CMMS activation, and customer capacity milestones.

Identify commissioning risks, blockers, failed test conditions, recurring deficiencies, documentation gaps, and acceptance issues; drive clear ownership, escalation, root-cause analysis, corrective action, and closure discipline.

Establish portfolio-level reporting for commissioning progress, defect aging, test completion, system readiness, vendor performance, safety observations, punch-list health, and operational turnover risk.

Ensure commissioning deliverables meet OCI standards for safety, quality, operability, maintainability, security, compliance, and long-term operations supportability.

Lead continuous improvement of commissioning playbooks, validation templates, test-script quality, lessons learned, vendor scorecards, and readiness gates across the data center delivery lifecycle.

Develop and coach commissioning managers and senior technical contributors, building capability, accountability, and consistent execution practices across the organization.

Represent commissioning status, risk, and acceptance recommendations to senior leaders, ensuring executive communications are clear, evidence-based, and tied to business-critical capacity delivery decisions.

Internal Responsibilities

Ideal Candidate Profile

5-7+ years of data center commissioning experience.

5+ years leading commissioning teams, contractors, or commissioning
partners on large-scale, schedule-driven data center projects.

Deep experience with data center commissioning workflows, including
pre-functional testing, functional testing, integrated systems testing,
factory witness testing, site acceptance testing, failure-mode validation, and operational turnover.

Strong technical command of the electrical, mechanical, controls, and
life-safety systems commissioned in high-availability data centers.

Demonstrated ability to manage data center commissioning
schedules, cross-functional dependencies, vendor performance, field
quality, issue resolution, and executive-level risk communication.

Experience building and improving data center commissioning
standards, test scripts, readiness gates, acceptance packages,
operating rhythms, and performance reporting.

Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering,
Construction Management, Facilities Engineering, or related field
preferred; equivalent data center commissioning experience will be
considered.

Skills and Competencies

Senior-level leadership of data center commissioning programs.
Strong field judgment with the ability to challenge incomplete
evidence, weak test scripts, premature acceptance, and unresolved
commissioning risk before turnover.

Ability to translate data center commissioning findings into clear
business, schedule, safety, reliability, and operational-risk
recommendations.

Strong stakeholder management across data center commissioning
engineering, construction, operations, deployment, network, safety,
security, vendors, and executive leadership.

Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including concise
commissioning reporting, executive escalation, issue framing, and
action tracking.

High attention to detail in data center commissioning documentation,
evidence review, punch-list closure, readiness certification, and
turnover package quality.

Bias for structured execution, accountability, repeatable
commissioning mechanisms, and continuous improvement across
multiple data center sites or programs.

Ability to operate effectively in fast-paced, high-visibility data center
commissioning environments where capacity delivery, uptime, safety,
quality, and compliance are critical.

Preferred Skills / Certifications

Experience in hyperscale cloud data centers, colocation campuses, semiconductor facilities, utilities, power generation, or large industrial infrastructure portfolios is strongly preferred.

Professional Engineering (PE), Certified Commissioning Professional (CCP), Certified Commissioning Authority (CxA), PMP, LEED AP, or equivalent technical credential is a plus.

Familiarity with commissioning standards and methods such as ASHRAE commissioning principles, NETA testing practices, NFPA requirements, NEC, OSHA, local authority requirements, and applicable reliability or quality frameworks.

Experience with commissioning management platforms, punch-list systems, CMMS, BMS, EPMS, SCADA, DCIM, asset management, document control, change management, and operational reporting tools.

Experience managing third-party commissioning agents, general contractors, trade partners, equipment vendors, testing firms, and owner’s representatives.

Experience validating control sequences, automation logic, alarm response, failover behavior, emergency operating modes, and integrated system performance.

Physical Demands / Work Environment

This is a mission-critical commissioning leadership role supporting active construction, retrofit, and operational data center environments where safety, uptime, and execution quality are essential. Regular attendance, travel, schedule flexibility, and availability during major commissioning milestones, integrated systems testing, energization activities, or critical escalations may be required.

To perform these duties, you must be able to move between office, campus, construction, commissioning, and active operational environments; walk sites; climb stairs; inspect infrastructure spaces; participate in field validation reviews; and safely engage in commissioning readiness activities, with or without reasonable accommodation.

Market Alignment

This role profile reflects common marketplace expectations for senior data center commissioning leadership roles at hyperscale and mission-critical infrastructure organizations. Comparable postings emphasize testing and validation oversight of electrical and mechanical infrastructure, factory witness testing, pre-functional and functional testing, integrated systems testing, third-party commissioning vendor governance, design and submittal review, scope/schedule/budget alignment, capacity delivery, cross-functional coordination with engineering/construction/operations/network teams, and operational acceptance readiness.

Why Oracle Cloud Infrastructure?

Global impact at scale: Contribute directly to the safe, reliable, and predictable delivery of OCI data center capacity across regions and continents.

Technically rigorous environment: Work alongside experienced engineering, construction, commissioning, automation, reliability, and operations teams in a rapidly scaling hyperscale cloud infrastructure environment.