Role Purpose
The Head of Data Centres is responsible for defining and executing Egis UAE's data centres strategy, building and leading a specialist team, winning and directing major data centre commissions, and ensuring technical excellence and delivery assurance across all data centre projects. The role carries full accountability for the growth, profitability and reputation of the data centres business line in the UAE.
Key Responsibilities
Strategic & Business Leadership
- Define and execute the growth strategy for Egis's data centres practice in the UAE, aligned with the wider Middle East Buildings sector strategy.
- Own the P&L for the data centres business line, including revenue growth, margin, utilisation and profitability targets.
- Identify and prioritise target markets and client segments – hyperscale, colocation, enterprise, government/sovereign and edge.
- Represent Egis at industry forums, conferences and summits to build market presence and thought leadership.
Business Development & Client Relationships
- Build and maintain senior relationships with hyperscale cloud providers, colocation operators, telecom operators, free zone authorities, developers and government entities.
- Lead capture strategy, teaming arrangements and bid/proposal development for major data centre pursuits, working with Egis's international data centres network where relevant.
- Develop and convert Egis UAE's data centres pipeline into signed commissions.
- Act as a trusted advisor to clients on data centre strategy, site selection, capacity planning and resilience/sustainability requirements.
Technical Leadership & Assurance
- Provide technical leadership and assurance across data centre design and delivery commissions, spanning master planning, architecture, structural, electrical (power, standby generation, UPS), mechanical (cooling, including air and liquid/immersion cooling for AI/HPC workloads), fire & life safety, security and controls.
- Ensure designs meet appropriate resilience/availability standards (e.g., Uptime Institute Tier ratings, TIA-942) and align with client-specific and hyperscaler design standards.
- Champion sustainability and energy-efficiency best practice (PUE/WUE optimisation, renewable integration, waste-heat recovery) in line with UAE net-zero and green building requirements.
- Provide senior technical review and assurance (design review, HAZOP/FMEA, commissioning strategy) on major projects.
Project Delivery Oversight
- Oversee delivery of data centre commissions across design, tender, construction supervision, and testing & commissioning stages, ensuring quality, programme and budget are maintained.
- Ensure appropriate resourcing, governance and risk management are in place on all live data centre commissions.
- Support project teams through key stages including authority approvals (Civil Defence, DEWA/Etihad Water & Electricity, and relevant free zone authorities), procurement strategy and contractor/vendor selection.
Team Leadership & Capability Building
- Recruit, lead, mentor and develop a specialist data centres team – design leads, MEP/critical facilities engineers and project managers – as the practice scales.
- Establish standards, tools, templates and quality processes specific to data centre design and delivery.
- Foster collaboration with Egis's global data centres expertise and other regional/sector teams (Buildings, Energy, Digital) to bring best-in-class solutions to UAE clients.
Governance, Risk, HSE & Quality
- Ensure all data centre commissions comply with Egis's HSE, quality and ethics standards and relevant UAE regulatory requirements.
- Manage commercial and contractual risk on data centre commissions, working with legal and commercial teams as required.
- Report regularly on business performance, pipeline, risk and delivery status to Middle East leadership.
Key Working Relationships
Internal: Middle East Buildings Sector Director, UAE Country Director, other Sector/Business Line Heads (Transport, Energy, Water, Urban Development), Egis Group's international data centres network, and the bid/proposal, HSE, legal and finance teams.
External: Hyperscale cloud providers, colocation and enterprise data centre operators, telecom operators, developers, free zone authorities (e.g., Masdar City, DIFC, ADGM), government/regulatory bodies, utility providers (DEWA, Etihad Water & Electricity), main contractors, MEP contractors and specialist vendors.