The Requirements

To be a good fit for the Director, Portfolio Operations - West, you will have a broad skillset of knowledge and experience including:

• At least 10+ years of experience in property operations, including:
  • Directing large portfolios of properties.
  • Overseeing large-scale operations across multiple functional areas, such as procurement, accounting, maintenance, security, etc.
  • Managing property teams.  Quick question for you - click here
• A bachelor's degree highly preferred; an MBA or other advanced degree and/or certifications such as CPM or RPA a plus.
• Broad-based knowledge of general property/facilities management, accounting and real estate principles.
• Strong leadership skills with the ability to manage seasoned managers remotely.  Quick question for you - click here
• Experience developing and implementing programs or initiatives at a regional or national level to improve operations.
• Proficiency in MS Office applications (e.g. Excel, Word, PowerPoint); familiarity with Yardi is a strong advantage.
• Strong analytical skills and a demonstrated ability to think strategically.
• Data center industry experience is a plus.
• Willingness to travel approximately 25%, primarily within the Western Region 

Just as important as your experience and skills will be the following characteristics and competencies:

• A passion for real estate and business.
• Proven ability to drive results.
• Exceptional leadership skills and the ability to influence, motivate and inspire others
• The ability to:
  • Achieve goals independently and also contribute to teams.
  • Leverage organizational skills to multitask and manage projects to keep teams on track with deliverables in a high-pressure setting.
  • Work in a fast-paced environment with a strong sense of urgency, and to turn in quality work quickly, under strict time constraints.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills, including the ability to present to groups of all sizes.

In addition, to meet the basic qualification for this role you will be legally authorized to work permanently in the United States for any employer without requiring a visa transfer or visa sponsorship.

The Role

Reporting to the Director, Property Operations, as Director, Portfolio Operations, you will be responsible for providing strategic business leadership, managing a senior team, and overseeing day-to-day operations as needed and ensure Property Management activities are aligned with Asset Management's financial and operational objectives for the Western U.S. portfolio. In addition to your supervisor, you will also have a peer managing the Eastern U.S. territory with whom you can confer.  

You will remotely manage a seasoned team of four Regional Managers, each overseeing teams including five indirect reports. Your portfolio will include properties in Washington, Oregon, California, Colorado, Arizona and Texas with Regional Managers working primarily out of our Santa Clara, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Dallas locations and overseeing additional properties as assigned. This is a stable and seasoned team. Of course, as our business grows, so will your team.  

The majority of your time will be spent on the strategic management of the portfolio. You will serve as the COO and champion for your region by taking a high-level approach and driving growth through the strategic implementation and execution of best practices. You will identify continuous improvement opportunities by learning what is already in place, analyzing processes and performance, discovering and creating best-in-class solutions, and becoming a resolution specialist by consistently driving thoughtful and impactful change. Quick question for you - click here  This is a role where you can make a wide and deep impact beyond typical P&L oversight. You will consistently execute on high-level objectives including:

• Coordinating and standardizing property management processes.
• Supporting Property Managers on problem-solving and management decisions, ensuring that Company standards, policies, and procedures are implemented.
• Confirming that Property Managers comply with all local and regulatory requirements.
• Maintaining employee morale, in conjunction with Human Resources, including providing employee succession planning and coordinating all training and on-boarding requirements for new employees within the Property Management organization.
• Helping implement tools, such as a new accounting system.

More specifically, you will:

• Hold responsibility for implementation and adherence to Digital Realty’s operational platform and all related policies and procedures for all data centers in assigned market or territory.
• Serve as point person and collaborate with functional groups to support the development and implementation of business and operational initiatives including determination of financial and operational impact, integration with current policies and procedures and development of training materials and messaging.
• Identify opportunities for NOI generation / process-based improvements, including the definition of the opportunity, development of the analytical support, subject matter expertise, identification of solutions, building consensus, presentation of recommendations and execution.
• Supervise and manage team members to ensure exceptional performance is being achieved. The Director, Portfolio Operations is responsible for setting and attaining performance goals, as well as for the development, coaching, and counseling of team members. 
• Partner with Asset Management to develop and implement the business plan and overall strategy for the property, including leasing and development requirements, and performance-based Property Management strategies.
• Supervise the planning, budgeting and control of operating and capital expenditures.
• Be responsible for the accuracy of annual budgets, forecasts, management plans and monthly performance reports via performance measurement variance reports.
• Supervise the ongoing execution of the Digital Realty Operational Excellence Program, including the Property Audit, Technical Operations Audit, Security Assessment and the completion of janitorial inspections.
• Identify and evaluate sourcing strategies, driving the regional and national contract process including scope review, sourcing qualified vendors, supplying current spend data, analyzing the operational and financial impact of vendor selections, and supporting ongoing vendor evaluation process.
• Oversee the ongoing compliance with all Digital and customer required security audit program requirements and completion of annual recertification audits.
• Ensure health & safety and all other local and regulatory requirements are met.

Note: this description is intended to give you a general overview of the position and is not an exhaustive listing of duties and responsibilities.

Pictured: our regional office in downtown Los Angeles is collocated with a state-of-the-art 489,722 square-foot mission critical datacenter and telecommunications facility.

Why Digital Realty

Newly added impact opportunity
Originally, your supervisor managed this role for the entire U.S., but our strong growth has created a need to add an additional layer of strategic management. Your counterpart in the East has already been added and now it's time to bring an exceptional resource to the West. This opportunity will allow you to spotlight your skill and talent and make a strong impact that can help us continue to profit and grow over the long-haul and have influence to the top of the organization. 

Professional development
While you will leverage the breadth and depth of your skillset in this role, you will also find there is a good deal to learn, especially in the areas of data center operations and technology. That means you can continue to advance your skills and take advantage of your runway for continued growth. And in an industry that is rapidly advancing, we can assure you that you'll always be learning and never be bored.

Retained assets
As a real estate professional you will recognize how rare it is to work for a company that retains its assets. At Digital Realty our assets house our business and we hang onto them. That means the impact that you make at specific locations today will last into the future. You are building the structure and organization, always keeping an eye on the future. 

Exciting time to join
With the acquisition of Telx, Digital Realty adds robust colocation, strategic network dense connectivity, a vast and open partner ecosystem and unmatched freedom of choice to one of the world's largest data center footprints. As we integrate processes and teams from the two companies, you will be in a prime position to make your mark.

The "best of both worlds"
You'll find that working for our company may be a little bit different. We are small enough, with only 1300 employees across our global portfolio, that your hard work will be visible throughout the organization, yet our extensive offering of services and solutions and proven track record of growth; stability and industry-leading innovation give you the resources and tools you need to take your career to the next level.

Unique culture
We are a collaborative, people-focused company dedicated to quality and continuous improvement. When you become a member of our team, you receive our commitment to your continued development and support. As you support those in your client group, we will also support you. 

Strong foundation
Our financial strength and stability provide our customers with the assurance that Digital Realty and Telx will be their partner for current data center needs and those in the future, and our investment credit ratings provide us access to paths for more capital. We view each of our customers as a long-term partner.

Green standard for sustainability
We are committed to improving the performance and energy efficiency of our data centers through the creation, adoption and promotion of industry-leading best data center practices and experience. We are pioneers in thinking about green data centers and are also a Contributing Member of The Green Grid.

Excellent compensation
In addition to a competitive compensation and bonus opportunity, we offer a comprehensive benefits package that includes all you would expect plus some pleasant surprises, like multiple flexible spending plans, a generous company match on the 401(k) plan, and much more.

Video: While each data center campus is unique, this tour of 850 E. Collins gives you a glimpse of the features and amenities that make Digital Realty the data center provider of choice around the world. This site is part of our 69-acre Digital Dallas Data campus in the epicenter of North Dallas' high technology corridor.

Keys to Success

To excel in this role you will bring a demonstrated ability to run a large organization, managing up and down the chain as well as across functional lines. You'll need a commercial mindset and an understanding of how the decisions you and your team make impact our customers. You should take pride in your ability to deliver results with minimal supervision and, a focus on driving solutions. There is a lot going on across Operations, from new construction to service contract re-negotiations. You'll put your organizational skills and big-picture vision to good use. Of course you will delegate many responsibilities, but you'll also need to complement your big-picture vision with a robust attention to detail.

Your success will be quantified through a mix of behavioral and metrics-based measures – your ability to drive and manage the team, work with cross-functional resources, and deliver on concrete objectives, such as financial performance. For example, it won’t be enough to deliver a budget on time if that budget is weak and/or shortsighted. We’re seeking a driver who can help take us to the next level of development. Someone who can work through ambiguity, make sense of the shades of gray, apply sound judgment and do the heavy lifting to make us consistently better tomorrow than we are today. You will need the skills to get into the weeds if needed, but the restraint to stay out and let your team manage the fine details most of the time.

About Digital Realty

Globally delivering the Right Workload, in the Right Place, at the Right Value. ℠

Digital Realty Trust, Inc. supports the data center and colocation strategies of more than 600 firms across its secure, network-rich portfolio of data centers located throughout North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. Digital Realty's clients include domestic and international companies of all sizes, ranging from financial services, cloud and information technology services, to manufacturing, energy, gaming, life sciences and consumer products.

Digital Realty is a publicly traded company (NYSE: DLR) with investment grade ratings from all three major ratings agencies.

Digital Realty offers a highly competitive compensation package, excellent benefits, and an environment that recognizes and rewards your contributions.

Digital Realty is an equal opportunity employer, EOE/AA/M/F/Vets/Disabled

Please do not forward unsolicited resumes to any employee of Digital Realty and its subsidiaries. Digital Realty is not responsible for any fees related to unsolicited referrals.