Operational Excellence Program Manager

Overview

This role ensures consistent execution, transparency, and accountability across a growing and increasingly complex portfolio of operational and CAPEX programs. It does not own day‑to‑day site execution, but owns governance, execution quality, and leadership visibility across sites and programmes.

This role sits at the intersection of Datacenter Operations strategy and execution, providing leadership with a single source of truth across regional initiatives, risks, and operational priorities. The successful candidate will influence executive decision-making, improve execution consistency across the region, and help shape the future operating model of Datacenter Operations as Microsoft's cloud infrastructure continues to scale

Responsibilities

Portfolio Governance & Oversight

Own the regional governance framework for Datacenter Operations initiatives across Operations, IT, CE, Build, and Lease functions.

Establish and enforce standardized approaches for:

Initiative intake and prioritization

Scope definition and success criteria

Decision rights and escalation paths

Governance cadence and artefacts

Eliminate fragmented or overlapping ownership and ensure governance scales with portfolio growth and regulatory complexity.

Execution & Initiative Oversight

Maintain a consolidated, portfolio‑level view of all regional initiatives sponsored by Datacenter Operations leadership.

Ensure every initiative has:

A clear accountable owner and RACI

Defined scope, milestones, and timelines

Transparent, consistent status reporting

Proactively identify execution risks, delivery gaps, and misalignment; escalate early with options and recommendations.

Risk Management & Transparency

Maintain an integrated view of operational, compliance, and regulatory risks across the regional portfolio.

Ensure risks are:

Captured early by working with internal and external teams that impact Operations

Assessed consistently

Actively mitigated with accountable owners

Provide leadership with clear, data‑driven visibility on risk posture, trends, and residual exposure.

Cross‑Campus & Cross‑Program Alignment

Drive alignment across campuses and programs to ensure consistent interpretation and execution of standards and policies.

Act as the integrator between:

Campus Directors

Site Operations Managers

IT Operations and Critical Environment leadership

Build & Lease programs

Regional and global assurance, risk, and compliance functions

Prevent site‑specific deviations from becoming systemic or portfolio‑level risks.

Executive Reporting & Governance Cadence

Build and maintain executive‑ready dashboards covering:

Initiative and portfolio health

Risks, blockers, and dependencies

Decision points requiring leadership input

Prepare monthly and quarterly updates for leadership forums (e.g. MBRs, QBRs).

Ensure leadership decisions are driven by facts and data rather than anecdotal escalation.

Continuous Improvement & Governance Maturity

Use delivery, audit, and compliance insights to identify recurring execution or governance issues.

Drive structural improvements rather than repeated local corrective actions.

Improve predictability of outcomes through standardized tooling, reporting, and governance rhythms. Oversight of Critical & High‑Impact Programs

Maintain a single, authoritative view of critical Datacenter Operations programs, including:

Large‑scale CAPEX initiatives and infrastructure deployments

GPU and AI platform programs

New datacenter builds and campus expansions

High‑risk operational transitions and readiness activities (RFO/RFS)

Ensure leadership receives early warning signals on delivery and risk.

Workforce Planning & Growth Support

Provide structured inputs to Datacenter Operations leadership for workforce and capacity planning.

Support analysis of:

Headcount growth aligned to new datacenters and capacity expansion

Capacity versus demand across IT Operations and CE

Capability gaps and timing risks

Drive discussions on Organisational Design to enable evolving needs of the organisation leveraging design principles for the region

Contribute to Workforce Strategy Planning (WSP) and annual planning cycles.

Qualifications

Required

Diploma in a relevant field AND industry experience OR

Bachelor's Degree in a relevant field AND industry experience

Experience in senior‑level program or portfolio governance roles within complex operational environments.

Strong governance, structure, and execution discipline.

Proven ability to influence across organizations through delegated sponsorship from the DC Ops Director and standing authority in a named governance forum

Experience operating as an individual contributor with executive‑level exposure.

Strong written and verbal communication and executive synthesis skills.

Behavioural Attributes

High ownership and bias for action

Comfortable constructively challenging peers and leaders

Calm, structured, and credible in ambiguity

Trusted advisor to senior leadership

Strategic thinking

Influencing without authority

Cross-functional collaboration

Driving clarity through ambiguity

Customer and business impact

Inclusion and partnership

Key Stakeholders

DC Operations Director (direct reporting line)

Regional IT Operations leadership

Critical Environment (CE) leadership

Central PMO / Biz Ops teams (as applicable)

Program and initiative owners across the region

Required Skills & Experience

Core Capabilities

Strong Program Management / PMO experience (multi‑initiative, multi‑stakeholder).

Proven ability to operate as an individual contributor with executive exposure.

Excellent governance, structure, and execution discipline.

Strong communication and executive synthesis skills.

Experience translating operational data (KPIs / OKRs) into leadership insights.

Understanding of Datacenter Operations, IT Operations, and Critical Environment domains (technical depth not required, dependency awareness essential).

Experience leading portfolio governance across multiple concurrent programs with significant operational, infrastructure, or capital investment scope.

Preferred experience with PM, portfolio management, operational excellence, business operations, governance, risk management, or organizational effectiveness frameworks.

Background Check Requirements:

Ability to meet Microsoft, customer and/or government security screening requirements are required for this role. These requirements include, but are not limited to the following specialized security screenings:

Microsoft Cloud Background Check: This position will be required to pass the Microsoft Cloud background check upon hire/transfer and every two years thereafter.

Additional or preferred qualifications

Experience in Datacenter Operations, IT Operations, Critical Environment, or similar infrastructure environments.

Ability to understand technical dependencies and operational risks without being the technical decision owner.

Data Center Operations Management IC4 - The typical base pay range for this role across Spain is € 52,800.00 - € 89,200.00 per year. Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation.

Find additional benefits and pay information here:

This position will be open for a minimum of 5 days, with applications accepted on an ongoing basis until the position is filled.