Director, Development Preconstruction & Cost Management

QTS Data Centers · Irving, Texas

FULL TIME

Job Description

Development Preconstruction & Cost Management Leader At QTS, we are proud to stand at the forefront of today's dynamic digital transformation. Our world-class data centers empower our customers' most strategic growth initiatives, positioning us as a global leader in digital infrastructure. As AI and cloud technologies fuel the demand for increased speed, capacity, and innovation, QTS has emerged as the global digital infrastructure leader. We are committed to connecting the globe for good. Driven by purpose and a spirit of innovation, we design, build, and operate some of the most advanced data centers worldwide. In addition to our cutting-edge technology, we are dedicated to sustainability, incorporating renewable energy solutions to minimize our environmental footprint and drive meaningful impact. As a proud portfolio company of Blackstone, QTS is uniquely positioned to achieve ambitious growth and innovation goals. At QTS, we are Powered by People. Our team members are the cornerstone of our culture, innovation, and growth. They are mission-driven, resourceful, and committed to making a positive impact in the communities where we live and work. Together, we're achieving remarkable things and shaping the future of digital infrastructure. And we'd like to invite you to join us. In addition to a variety of benefit packages, QTS goes above and beyond for our employees:

Roth and Traditional 401(k) matching contributions with immediate vesting Every employee is bonus or commission eligible Generous PTO, Paid Volunteer Days Plus Floating Holidays Stock Purchase Plan (SPP) 11 paid Holidays Annually/Holiday compensation when worked Pet and Legal Insurance Q-Rest Sabbatical Program Q-Anniversary Service Award Program Parental Leave for primary and secondary caregivers Military

Benefits

Package QTS Charitable Matching Gift Program QTS Scholarship for Employee Dependents QTS Crisis Fund Wellness Program Tuition Reimbursement Program

The Development Preconstruction & Cost Management Leader is a strategic member of the QTS Development organization responsible for driving cost certainty, constructability, schedule optimization, and delivery readiness across QTS's rapidly expanding data center portfolio. This role bridges Development, Design, Procurement, Construction, Operations, and Finance to ensure projects are properly scoped, estimated, planned, and positioned for successful execution. The role spans the entire development lifecycle, from site due diligence and master planning through conceptual estimating, design development, procurement strategy, construction mobilization, and project closeout. The successful candidate will establish and maintain financial discipline while supporting QTS growth objectives across hyperscale campuses, build-to-suit developments, and multi-phase expansion programs. This role helps drive QTS's ability to deliver world-class data center campuses by creating cost certainty, reducing delivery risk, improving schedule performance, and enabling informed investment decisions. The leader serves as a critical connection between Development, Design, Construction, Procurement, and Finance, ensuring projects are strategically positioned for successful execution and long-term operational excellence. Development Planning & Project Strategy

Partner with Pre-Development teams during site acquisition, due diligence, entitlement, and master planning activities. Evaluate development opportunities and provide conceptual cost and schedule analysis to support investment decisions. Develop campus-level development budgets, infrastructure forecasts, and long-range capital plans. Collaborate with utility providers, consultants, and jurisdictional agencies to evaluate power, water, fiber, and infrastructure requirements. Support phased campus strategies that align customer demand, infrastructure availability, and capital deployment.

Data Center Cost Management

Develop, maintain, and continuously improve conceptual, schematic, design development, and construction-level cost estimates. Establish baseline project budgets for core and shell buildings, mission-critical infrastructure, utility systems, and site development. Monitor project expenditures, commitments, forecasts, cash flow, and contingencies throughout the development lifecycle. Lead budget reconciliation across Development, Design, Procurement, Construction, and Finance. Provide executive-level cost reporting, variance analysis, forecast updates, cost narratives, and risk assessments. Maintain regional and national benchmarking data for labor, materials, equipment, and subcontract trades.

Estimating & Financial Analysis

Lead ROM, conceptual, schematic, design development, and issued-for-construction estimates for hyperscale and wholesale data center projects. Develop cost models using historical QTS data, market intelligence, contractor feedback, and industry benchmarks. Create infrastructure and campus cost forecasts for future development initiatives and funding requirements. Evaluate the cost impact of design alternatives, customer requirements, delivery strategies, phasing, and construction sequencing. Support capital planning, investment approvals, customer pricing decisions, and executive business cases.

Preconstruction Management

Manage preconstruction activities from project initiation through commencement of construction. Establish project execution strategies, procurement plans, milestone schedules, and delivery roadmaps. Coordinate with architecture and engineering partners, consultants, contractors, and internal stakeholders to ensure design completeness and budget alignment. Lead constructability, scope-gap, design-to-budget, and project-readiness reviews. Facilitate preconstruction workshops focused on schedule optimization, logistics planning, market engagement, and risk mitigation.

Procurement & Contract Management

Support Construction Services Procurement organization (CSP) with contractor selection, bid packaging, tendering, bid leveling, and award recommendations. Support negotiation and administration of general contractor, subcontractor, supplier, and consultant agreements. Review and evaluate change orders, claims, allowances, contingencies, escalation, and commercial impacts. Partner with Supply Chain and Procurement teams to identify cost-saving opportunities, long-lead risks, and sourcing strategies. Support owner-furnished contractor-installed equipment and other strategic equipment procurement initiatives.

Site Logistics & Constructability

Lead development of comprehensive site logistics plans for large-scale, active data center campuses. Evaluate construction sequencing, crane operations, laydown areas, temporary facilities, temporary utilities, access, and workforce requirements. Drive constructability reviews across civil, structural, architectural, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, controls, and technology systems. Collaborate with project teams to identify schedule acceleration, modularization, prefabrication, and offsite manufacturing opportunities.

Risk Management & Value Optimization

Identify, quantify, communicate, and mitigate cost, schedule, procurement, constructability, and execution risks. Develop and maintain project contingency strategies, risk registers, and corrective-action plans. Lead value engineering and value-management efforts that optimize capital deployment without compromising safety, reliability, scalability, quality, or operational requirements. Monitor labor, material, equipment, escalation, and supply-chain conditions that may affect project delivery. Ensure alignment with QTS governance, documentation, audit-readiness, and investment approval requirements.

Stakeholder Leadership & Continuous Improvement

Partner with Development Directors, Design Managers, Construction Leaders, Operations, Finance, Legal, Procurement, and Executive Leadership. Present clear cost, schedule, risk, and decision narratives to senior leadership and investment stakeholders. Mentor and develop preconstruction, estimating, and development personnel. Build and maintain cost governance frameworks, including work breakdown structures, cost breakdown structures, cost codes, control accounts, reporting cadence, and executive dashboards. Drive standardization, lessons learned, benchmarking, digital integration, and continuous improvement across the portfolio.

Required Qualifications

Bachelor's degree in Construction Management, Engineering, Architecture, Cost Engineering, Real Estate Development, or a related field. 10+ years of experience in data center development, preconstruction, cost management, estimating, construction management, or mission-critical infrastructure. Demonstrated experience supporting hyperscale, colocation, mission-critical, industrial, advanced manufacturing, or large-scale infrastructure projects. Strong understanding of data center development and construction, including sitework, utility infrastructure, core and shell, electrical systems

Company	QTS Data Centers
Location	Irving, Texas
Type	FULL TIME
Niche	Management Occupations

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Director, Development Preconstruction & Cost Management

Job Description

Benefits