Director of Construction

About Nscale

Nscale is the GPU cloud engineered for AI. We provide cost-effective, high-performance infrastructure for AI start-ups and large enterprise customers. Nscale enables AI-focused companies to achieve superior results by reducing the complexity of AI development. Our GPU cloud bolsters technical capabilities and directly supports strategic business outcomes, including cost management, rapid innovation, and environmental responsibility.

We thrive on a culture of relentless innovation, ownership, and accountability, where every team member takes pride in their work and drives it with excellence and urgency. As an Nscaler, you'll build trust through openness and transparency, where everyone is inspired to do their best work. If you join our team, you'll be contributing to building the technology that powers the future.

About the Role

We are seeking an experienced Director of Construction to join nscale and lead on-site execution teams delivering data center infrastructure from preconstruction through room delivery and turnover. Reporting to the VP of Construction, this individual owns program management across nscale's active construction portfolio, manages the Senior Managers leading each program or region, and coordinates closely with Design & Engineering, Commissioning, Procurement, Legal, Security, and Environmental functions to keep delivery on schedule, on budget, and to spec.

The ideal candidate has led mission-critical data center construction, development, or owner's-representation work at scale, and is comfortable standardizing build processes and design decisions across multiple regions while maintaining owner-side visibility into safety performance, quality, and compliance risk on every active site.

What You'll be Doing

- Lead on-site execution teams delivering data center construction programs from preconstruction through room delivery, commissioning, and turnover, reporting program status directly to the VP of Construction
- Directly manage the Senior Manager(s) assigned to each active program or region; set consistent execution standards, reporting cadence, and quality expectations across all sites
- Develop project scopes and objectives in coordination with Design & Engineering, Commissioning, Procurement, and Operations; ensure resource availability and allocation of materials, labor, and schedule across active programs
- Coordinate across Health & Safety, Security, Environmental, Legal, Engineering, Procurement, Commissioning, Controls, and Operations to keep each program on schedule, on budget, and in compliance
- Maintain owner-side visibility into safety performance, quality issues, and compliance risk across the construction lifecycle of every active site
- Serve as the escalation point for issues that exceed program-level authority, including schedule slippage, cost overruns, contractual disputes, and significant safety incidents
- Review and approve program budgets, major change orders, and contingency draws; report cost and schedule performance to the VP of Construction
- Evaluate designs and analyze contracting scenarios across jurisdictions to improve safety, security, quality, availability, deployment speed, and cost; standardize build processes across regions
- Support negotiation of GC and major subcontractor agreements and long-lead MEP equipment procurement in partnership with Procurement and Legal
- Standardize preconstruction, construction, commissioning, and turnover playbooks across programs; drive continuous improvement based on lessons learned from each site
- Partner with Development and Design leadership to align construction feasibility, constructability, and cost with site selection and early-stage program planning
- Recruit, mentor, and develop the Senior Manager and program controls bench; own performance management and succession planning for program leadership roles
- Protect the independence of the EHS and program controls (scheduling, cost) functions across every program
- Identify and mitigate program and portfolio-level risks including supply chain disruption, labor market constraints, regulatory change, and jurisdictional/permitting complexity

About You

- 10+ years of construction management, development, engineering, or owner's-representation experience, with 5+ years overseeing mission-critical data center or large-scale industrial programs
- Proven experience with meaningful owner-side responsibility for major design and construction decision-making, ideally across multiple concurrent sites or regions
- Direct experience managing Senior Managers or equivalent regional program leaders, including performance management, mentorship, and succession planning
- Solid understanding of electrical and mechanical construction practices and applicable codes and standards (NFPA, NEC, and equivalent)
- Strong command of program-level scheduling (CPM), cost control, contract administration, and risk management
- Experience coordinating cross-functionally with Health & Safety, Security, Environmental, Legal, Engineering, Procurement, Commissioning, and Operations teams
- Strong leadership and executive communication skills; comfortable presenting program status to senior leadership
- Proficiency in Procore, Bluebeam Revu, and Microsoft Office Suite
- OSHA 30 certification required
- Ability to travel across multiple active project sites and regions as required

Nice to Have

- Experience standardizing build processes or design standards across multiple regions or a growing portfolio
- Familiarity with hyperscale, colocation, or Tier III/IV data center construction standards
- Experience with long-lead MEP equipment procurement and jurisdictional permitting strategy across multiple markets
- PMP, CCM, DBIA, or PE license (or equivalent field experience)
- Bachelor's degree in Construction Management, Civil Engineering, Architecture, or related field; advanced degree a plus

Why this role matters

This is a senior accountability role for on-the-ground delivery across nscale's entire data center construction portfolio, reporting into the VP of Construction. As nscale's program pipeline grows, this role's scope will expand to encompass additional programs, regions, and Senior Manager direct reports — making it a foundational leadership position for the company's build-out.

What We Can Offer You

At Nscale, you'll find a collaborative, supportive, and innovative environment where your contributions spark real impact. We're building something extraordinary, and we want you at the core.

- Highly competitive package (base + equity) with reviews every 12 months. 🚀
- Join the fastest-growing tech startup, your chance to push boundaries, collaborate with brilliant minds, and make your mark on cutting-edge AI. ✨
- Expect a dynamic progression plan tailored to your ambitions. Grow by trying new things, leading, challenging the status quo, and owning your impact, always with our full support.
- Human-First Flexibility: We treat you as humans first. 🫶🏽 Our flexible workplace trusts Nscalers to deliver, giving you the autonomy to shape your day around life's moments.

Equal Opportunities Statement

At NScale, we are committed to fostering an inclusive, diverse, and equitable workplace. We believe that a variety of perspectives enriches our work environment, and we encourage applications from candidates of all backgrounds, experiences, and abilities. We strongly encourage applications from people of colour, the LGBTQ+ community, people with disabilities, neurodivergent people, parents, carers, and people from lower socio-economic backgrounds.

If there's anything we can do to accommodate your specific situation, please let us know.

For information on how Nscale handles candidate personal data, please see our Employee & Candidate Privacy Notice: Here.