Vice President Preconstruction

My client, a global data center developer and operator with live campuses across North America, EMEA and Asia Pacific is hiring a VP of Preconstruction to lead the front end of its US expansion. They deliver for the largest hyperscalers, cloud providers and enterprise users in the world, and they build capacity ahead of demand rather than chasing it.

This is an owner side seat with real authority. You decide whether a site is viable, what it should look like, what it should cost and when it can be delivered. The business builds its investment case around your answer.

Where the role sits

You sit inside the development group that shapes the entire US growth plan. Four functions under one roof: market strategy, site selection and acquisition, new site development, and preconstruction. The team assesses power, supply, demand, pricing and network fundamentals long before anyone buys land, then carries those sites through with commercial, sales, solution engineering, design, construction, operations and finance.

You are in the room when the big decisions get made. Preconstruction here is a strategic function, not a service function bolted onto construction.

Location

Washington DC, Virginia

What you own

The full preconstruction lifecycle. Site validation and power feasibility at the front, master planning and design development through the middle, and a permit ready handover to construction at the back.

The mandate is simple. Nothing reaches construction until the power is secured, the site is entitled, the cost is right and the design scales across multiple phases. Get that right and the business can commit hundreds of millions with confidence and execute on a predictable timeline.

You are also the connector between development, design and construction. In most businesses those three groups sit in separate lanes and only meet when something has gone wrong. Here you keep them aligned from day one.

Day to day

• Set the preconstruction strategy, standards and delivery models for hyperscale and AI deployments. You are creating repeatable processes that let the business open new campuses faster than the competition, not inheriting someone else's playbook.
• Lead due diligence with power at the centre of everything. Utility coordination, large contiguous capacity, phased expansion capability and readiness for high density infrastructure. Environmental, zoning and permitting all sit under you, so sites arrive entitled and executable.
• Drive early design. Campus master planning, high density layouts, basis of design, liquid cooling readiness and rack densities built for what is coming rather than what is current. You shape how these campuses look for the next decade.
• Own the cost models and the schedules. Balance cost against speed against scalability, flag risk early and protect delivery certainty in markets where power is scarce and timelines are aggressive.
• Hand construction a project they can start immediately. Scope defined, budget aligned, documents permit ready and risk already stripped out.
• Represent the business externally with utilities, jurisdictions and strategic partners to secure power, entitlements and approvals. These relationships move timelines and you own them.
• Champion new delivery methods, design strategies and technologies that improve density, efficiency and speed to market, and feed lessons learned back across the portfolio.

What they are looking for

• 15 plus years across preconstruction, development, design or construction leadership in data centres, critical infrastructure or large scale industrial
• Proven hyperscale or campus style delivery, including phased execution across multiple buildings
• Genuine depth in power driven site selection, due diligence, design management and cost estimation
• Exposure to high density compute and AI infrastructure is a strong plus rather than a dealbreaker
• Commercial and financial acumen. You will influence investment decisions and portfolio strategy, not just report on them
• Executive presence. You will be in front of senior leadership, utility executives and hyperscale customers regularly
• Comfortable running several large, fast moving projects at once in competitive markets
• Degree in Construction Management, Engineering, Real Estate or similar. Advanced degree welcome
• Travel around 30 percent, sometimes more depending on where the portfolio is active

Why this one is worth the call

The AI build out is the biggest infrastructure story of our generation, and the winners will be the ones who secure power and get capacity live faster than anyone else. This role sits directly on that lever.

You get the front end of a global platform, a power first development strategy, AI driven campus builds, real influence over capital decisions and the room to write the standards rather than follow them. If you have spent years delivering hyperscale work inside a GC or a consultancy and you are tired of executing someone else's strategy, this is the step across the table.

There are not many preconstruction roles at this level, with this much ownership, in this market. When one comes up it usually goes quietly.