Principal, Strategic Operations, NA

About this role

About Vantage

Vantage powers, cools, protects and connects the technology of the world’s well-known hyperscalers, cloud providers and large enterprises. Developing and operating across North America, EMEA and Asia Pacific, Vantage has evolved data center design in innovative ways to deliver dramatic gains in reliability, efficiency and sustainability in flexible environments that can scale as quickly as the market demands.

Operational Excellence   Department  

The Operational Excellence team establishes the systems, practices, and culture that enable Vantage to operate at scale across North America with consistency, quality, and speed. We strengthen the scalability and effectiveness of NA Operations - including Mission Critical Operations, Sales Engineering, Customer Experience, and Design Integration - by partnering with business leaders and global functions to standardize how we work, drive process excellence, deliver strategic programs, enable data-driven decisions, and embed continuous improvement and transformation.  

Operational Excellence at Vantage is hands-on and   impact-driven . We blend delivery discipline, systems thinking, and best-in-class operational practices to address root causes, improve efficiency, and accelerate outcomes. Our team members lead high-impact initiatives, shape cross-functional ways of working, and directly influence how Vantage delivers on its growth, operational, and customer commitments.  

Position Overview  

This role will be based in Denver, CO. Following our flexible work policy (3 days in-office, 2 days flexible).   

The  Principal, Strategic Operations, NA serves as a strategic integrator and force multiplier to the Vice President of Operational Excellence and the OE leadership team. The role connects strategy to execution across OE’s priorities, capability and product roadmaps, operating model, leadership rhythm, resources, and cross-functional commitments.  

As a senior individual contributor, this individual orchestrates priorities across OE’s capabilities; anticipates and surfaces risks, dependencies, and trade-offs; translates complex information into clear recommendations; and drives leadership decisions and follow-through. The role also oversees the business operations of the function, including integrated financial, workforce, vendor, and capacity visibility.  

The ideal candidate combines strong judgment, analytical rigor, executive communication, and operational discipline. This individual must be comfortable influencing senior stakeholders, challenging unclear information, navigating ambiguity, and independently advancing work with limited direction.  

Essential Job Functions  

Capability, Product & Maturity Governance  

• Partner with Operations leaders, designated capability and product owners, Global IT, enterprise platform and data teams, and regional and global Operations counterparts to establish and embed clear capability and product ownership, decision rights, interfaces, governance expectations, and escalation paths.    

• Bring together Operations functions and accountable capability, process, data, product, technology, and adoption owners to define the operational maturity journey and orchestrate an integrated roadmap and governance cadence that aligns priorities, ownership, dependencies, outcomes, measures, performance, and adoption.  

• Anticipate future Operations needs and identify, shape, and mobilize new or enhanced capabilities that advance operational maturity, scalability, and innovation, partnering with Operations and technology leaders to define value, ownership, dependencies, and roadmap implications.  

• Lead the operationalization   and enablement   of cross-functional   and cross-regional   Operations management systems by establishing clear ownership, governance cadences, integrated maturity roadmaps, success measures, and executive visibility, and by convening accountable leaders to drive adoption, sustained performance, and continuous improvement.  

• Identify gaps in ownership, roadmap alignment, or decision authority; facilitate resolution and ensure material decisions translate into the appropriate functional planning, portfolio, or execution processes.  

• Maintain executive visibility and follow-through without assuming ownership of individual capabilities or products. Named capability and product owners retain accountability for strategy, roadmaps, requirements, performance, adoption, and decisions.  

Executive Partnership & OE Leadership  

• Serve as a strategic and operational partner to the VP of Operational Excellence and OE leadership team, translating leadership priorities into coordinated execution across the function and broader Operations organization.  

• Own and orchestrate the OE operating rhythm, including leadership meetings, quarterly updates, strategic planning sessions, onsite/offsite meetings, and cross-functional forums.  

• Synthesize complex business, portfolio, financial, and operational information into decision-oriented executive materials, recommendations, and clear leadership narratives for key forums.  

• Translate leadership priorities and decisions into clear actions, ownership, timelines, and outcomes; challenge gaps in priorities, assumptions, ownership, dependencies, or reporting; and surface exceptions requiring intervention.  

• Represent and reinforce the priorities and perspective of the VP in defined forums; independently resolve routine issues within established decision rights and elevate material decisions with clear recommendations.  

• Lead   select   cross-functional strategic initiatives, special projects, and time-sensitive priorities on behalf of the VP where ownership does not naturally reside within an existing OE pillar .  

Portfolio    &   Decision Support  

• Partner with the Ops PMO Senior Director and portfolio owners to translate consolidated Plan of Record information into leadership insights and decision suppor

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