Data Center Jobs in Chicago, IL

The Vice President, Data Centers will serve as a key executive leader responsible for driving growth, operational excellence, financial performance, and consistent execution across ABM's Data Centers business in the United States.

This leader will provide strategic and operational direction to division, branch, department, and functional leaders to ensure the business delivers high-quality services, projects, and solutions safely, efficiently, profitably, and to clients' satisfaction. The Vice President will work closely with operations, sales, estimating, finance, human resources, safety, and executive leadership to align resources, standardize operating practices, and execute the go-to-market strategy for ABM's Data Centers platform.

The Vice President will have overall responsibility for revenue growth, profitability, operational performance, client relationships, service delivery, and leadership development across the Data Centers segment. This role is accountable for scaling the business nationally, building sustainable operating models, enhancing organizational capability, and strengthening ABM's position as a trusted partner to mission-critical data center clients.

The ideal candidate will bring a unique combination of technical and operational credibility coupled with strong commercial acumen, demonstrating a proven ability to scale national businesses, drive profitable growth, and cultivate strategic client relationships.

Compensation: $242,900 - $451,100

The pay listed is the salary range for this position. Any specific offer will vary based on the successful applicant’s education, experience, skills, abilities, geographic location, and alignment with market data.

You may be eligible to participate in a Company incentive or bonus program.

Benefit Information:

ABM offers a comprehensive benefits package. For information about ABM’s benefits, visit ABM Employee Benefits | Staff & Management

Essential Functions

• Accountable for the financial performance, revenue growth, profitability, and operational results of ABM’s Data Centers business.
• Lead division, branch, department, and operations leaders to drive consistent execution across all data center operations.
• Develop, own, and execute the core services go-to-market strategy for the Data Centers segment.
• Establish operating policies, procedures, standards, and governance models that align with organizational goals and client expectations.
• Partner with operations management to ensure project management, field personnel, technical resources, and support teams are aligned to deliver quality projects and services on time, within budget, and to clients’ satisfaction.
• Oversee the budget and forecasting process to support accurate projections based on the latest operational, financial, and market information.
• Present monthly, quarterly, and year-end business reviews, including performance against revenue, margin, cash, safety, client, and strategic initiative goals.
• Track and report on strategic initiatives, key performance metrics, operating risks, and business improvement opportunities.
• Directly support job analysis, labor planning, and sustainable staffing models to ensure consistent profitability, service quality, and operational scalability.
• Lead the project and service contract review process for data center engagements of various size and complexity to ensure compliance with operating policies, risk expectations, and margin requirements.
• Collaborate with sales, business development, estimating, engineering, finance, and operations experts to ensure accuracy, profitability, and competitive advantage during the bidding, solutioning, and contracting stages.
• Drive recruitment, hiring, development, and retention of key operations personnel in partnership with branch leadership, Talent Acquisition, and Human Resources.
• Identify and develop leaders within the organization to support future growth, succession planning, and organizational continuity.
• Ensure branch and operations teams are effectively billing contracts and projects, managing working capital, and driving monthly cash collection strategies.
• Build and maintain relationships with key external and internal stakeholders, including strategic clients, executive sponsors, vendors, partners, and cross-functional ABM leaders.
• Serve as a senior company liaison with customer representatives as needed, particularly for strategic accounts, large engagements, escalations, and executive-level relationship management.
• Drive a strong safety culture and ensure compliance with required safety programs, activities, policies, and performance expectations.
• Provide regular updates to executive leadership, including the President and finance leadership, regarding the status of large projects, service delivery, operating performance, client satisfaction, risks, schedule delays, installation challenges, scope changes, and other material business matters.
• Support and promote new company initiatives, process improvements, technology adoption, operational standardization, and continuous improvement across the segment.
• Drive operational efficiency and continuous improvement across all aspects of the Data Centers business.
• Perform other duties and responsibilities as assigned.

• Bachelor’s degree from a four-year college or technical school preferred; equivalent senior leadership experience may be considered.
• Minimum of 12 years of experience with P&L ownership.
• Minimum of 12 years of project management, service management, operations leadership, facilities services, engineering, mechanical, electrical, construction, energy, technical services, or related mission-critical infrastructure experience.
• Data center, mission-critical facilities, critical environments, mechanical/electrical infrastructure, or technical services experience strongly preferred.
• Minimum of 5 years of client-facing sales, account management, executive relationship management, or revenue growth responsibility.
• Minimum of 5 years managing a multimillion-dollar labor budget.
• Demonstrated ability to lead large, geographically dispersed teams with multiple direct and indirect reports.
• Proven experience managing complex operations, large-scale service delivery, project execution, financial performance, and client relationships.
• Strong understanding of budgeting, forecasting, job costing, labor planning, margin management, cash collection, and operational performance metrics.
• Ability to present effectively at the highest executive levels of the company and with senior client stakeholders.
• Ability to lead change at scale, drive accountability, and implement standardized operating practices across a national organization.
• Strong working knowledge of Microsoft Office products, including Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint; experience with Microsoft Project or other project management tools preferred.
• Excellent communication, leadership, problem-solving, financial, and organizational skills.
• Commitment to safety, operational discipline, client satisfaction, and continuous improvement.

Preferred Experience

• Experience leading operations for data centers, mission-critical environments, technical facilities services, integrated facility services, construction, mechanical/electrical services, or energy infrastructure.
• Experience supporting hyperscale, colocation, enterprise, or critical infrastructure clients.
• Experience scaling a national business segment, launching new service offerings, or developing go-to-market strategies.
• Experience partnering with sales and estimating teams on complex commercial proposals, master service agreements, construction scopes, recurring services, and bundled solutions.
• Familiarity with data center operations, uptime expectations, safety requirements, commissioning, preventive maintenance, facility operations, and critical systems support.

Key Leadership Attributes

• Strategic business leader with strong operational discipline.
• Financially accountable and results-oriented.
• Client-focused and relationship-driven.
• Capable of building scalable teams, processes, and operating models.
• Strong communicator who can influence across executive, field, client, and functional teams.
• Committed to safety, quality, accountability, and continuous improvement.
• Comfortable leading through complexity, change, growth, and ambiguity.