We are seeking a new Data Center Selection team member to improve the quality and unit cost and grow the size and number of our colocation sites/PoPs, and help us understand where on the map Cloudflare’s infrastructure needs to go next. You possess a broad set of contacts across the data center industry and are able to navigate local and international businesses in various markets to drive the best possible deal parameters. You will unlock efficiency within our vendor partner portfolio by understanding how to structure contracts to follow demand, keeping abreast of unique market dynamics and insights that help us negotiate, and managing vendor partner relationships to know where to invest and partner further with existing or new partners. We are looking for someone who excels at progressing many projects in parallel, managing dynamic day to day priorities with many stakeholders, and has experience implementing and refining sourcing best practices in a high growth environment. Getting stuff done is a must!
What you get to do in this role:
- Define regional vendor strategy for data centers
- Own deals end to end involving new and existing data center vendors and sites to support Cloudflare’s infrastructure growth including planning, RFP, commercial negotiation and execution
- Work cross-functionally with legal, operations, capacity planning, network strategy and security teams to understand requirements and project timelines
- Establish and conduct scheduled QBR and other vendor management activities with top category partners
- Represent Cloudflare credibly to external partner C-level senior management and at public conferences/events
- Expert point of contact for internal business customers & external colocation partner vendors as needed
- Contribute information to annual data center budget for effective tracking and benchmarking of infrastructure costs
- Review colocation spend & invoices for management approval
- Other duties as assigned
Skills/Experience:
- 10+ years in planning and managing data center footprints within a fast moving enterprise technology organization or cloud services, software or colocation company
- Ability to multi-task and manage complex projects across multiple teams and geographies within set deadlines
- Ability to navigate, solve problems and answer questions with minimal supervision
- Relationship management experience and excellent communication skills
- Demonstrated experience in commercial negotiation
- Experience with rack, site power and white space planning (data center sales engineering) a plus
- Experience with or understanding of network concepts a plus
- Experience in budget planning, financial analysis, or other analytical role a plus
- Experience with Jira a plus
- Multilingual and/or experience living/working/conducting business in another country a plus
- Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience required
