Do you work for the owner or the contractor?

Both, never on the same project at once. Owners hire the programme leadership; contractors hire project directors and the named key people for a bid.

Can you name key personnel for a tender?

Yes. I map and approach the people, with their consent to be named, before the submission date.

Sectors | Data centre development and construction

Data centre construction leadership search, from land and power to handover.

Campuses are going up faster than the leaders to run the build can be found. I find the programme, construction and commissioning leaders.

Seats like these open quietly. Open to a move? Talk to me in confidence.

Brief me on a search

Not ready to brief? Get a pay benchmark for your open seats

A benchmark of your open seats carries no fee. A full compensation study is a fixed-fee piece, credited against a search.

Last reviewed 31 October 2026, the date of the market facts on this page.

Looking at your next move? See this page for leaders

Hiring for one of these seats? See this page for clients

The seats

Head of development, land and power acquisition
VP and director of construction, programme director (campus and multi-site)
Project directors for EPC and design-and-build contractors
Head of commissioning and integrated systems testing
Head of design and MEP engineering
Commercial and contracts director, head of supply chain for long-lead equipment
Country head for a developer's first Gulf campus

What is driving hiring, and the timelines

The US build is at a record pace. Private data centre construction ran at a USD 84.95bn annual pace in August 2026, up 73% on a year earlier, and passed office construction for the first time in December 2025 (US Census Bureau, via Bloomberg Government and iRecruit, 6 October 2026).
Saudi Arabia is awarding and building. A USD 200m HUMAIN and Center3 phase 1 was awarded in Riyadh on 6 October 2026 (MEED). HUMAIN's USD 1bn, 100MW Al-Saad EPC tender closes on 8 November 2026 (Utilities Middle East).
Delivery leaders are the scarce people. Project directors and contracts leaders "remained difficult to secure" in Q3 2026 (Cooper Fitch Q3 index, via The National, 20 October 2026).

Where I find them

UK, Irish, Nordic and US build teams, their EPC contractors, and the Gulf's own. My background is energy and EPC search across the Middle East.

What I don't do here

Site, trades and technician seats. I run the leadership and the hard specialist seats only.

Questions clients ask

Do you work for the owner or the contractor?: Both, never on the same project at once. Owners hire the programme leadership; contractors hire project directors and the named key people for a bid.
Can you name key personnel for a tender?: Yes. I map and approach the people, with their consent to be named, before the submission date.

Retained search. A fee on signing, a shortlist date in writing, the balance on the start date, a six-month replacement. The terms

Brief me on a data centre development and construction seat

The more you tell me, the more useful my first reply. I'll come back within one working day.

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Please keep this search confidential

Seats I search for in this family

Head of development, land and power acquisition
VP and director of construction, programme director (campus and multi-site)
Project directors for EPC and design-and-build contractors
Head of commissioning and integrated systems testing
Head of design and MEP engineering
Commercial and contracts director, head of supply chain for long-lead equipment
Country head for a developer's first Gulf campus

Most of these searches are confidential and never advertised. Published ones are on the careers page.

What they pay

Seat	Published pay	Source
Data centre project director, Riyadh	USD 280,000 to 285,000 a year, plus housing, transport and relocation	Published figure: Energi People, job advert
Senior project director, UAE	AED 60,000 to 90,000 a month	Published figure: Guildhall, GCC salary benchmarks 2026
Data centre project manager, UK	GBP 75,000 to 110,000 a year	Published figure: CV-Library
Data centre commissioning manager, US	USD 156,000 to 200,000 base (average USD 178,000)	Published figure: dcgeeks salary survey 2026

Published figures from the sources named, not my own data. Base pay unless stated; Gulf packages usually add housing, transport and schooling. For your own seat, ask for a confidential market check.

How a confidential conversation works

A call, not a form. What you run today, what you would move for, and what you would not.
Nothing shared without your say-so. Your profile goes to a client only with your permission for that one role.
The real package, in writing, before you interview: base, housing, schooling, bonus and relocation.
The move handled: notice, visas and family questions, into or out of the Gulf.
You never pay a fee.

Sources

Bloomberg Government, "US construction spending on data centers eclipses USD 50 billion"
iRecruit, "US data center construction spending jumps", 6 October 2026
MEED, Hassan Allam and Sterling & Wilson JV wins USD 200m HUMAIN data centre
Utilities Middle East, HUMAIN tenders Riyadh data centre
The National, 20 October 2026

A campus phase waiting on one leader?

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