Regional Design Manager

Role Summary

As Regional Design Manager, you will lead, coordinate and govern the end-to-end design management process for STACK Infrastructure's data centre developments within your allocated region. You will ensure projects remain aligned with STACK's reference design, technical standards, governance processes and cost and programme expectations, while acting as a central point of technical coordination across internal teams, consultants, contractors and hyperscale clients.

Location

Milan, Italy

You will safeguard design quality, identify and manage risk, and create strong cross-functional alignment throughout the project lifecycle. From early-stage land acquisition, diligence and test fits through detailed design and delivery, you will help create the conditions for predictable, buildable and high-quality outcomes across the regional portfolio.

Key Responsibilities

• Act as the regional owner of the full design lifecycle across active and pipeline projects, ensuring consistent application of STACK design governance and stage-gate requirements.
• Maintain alignment with STACK's reference design, Basis of Design, deviation controls and associated technical standards, ensuring deviations are clearly justified, reviewed and approved.
• Provide early-stage design leadership during land acquisition, due diligence, test fits and pre-investment decision cycles.
• Lead the day-to-day coordination of design activities across assigned projects, including design reviews, value engineering sessions, risk workshops and stage-gate approvals.
• Ensure consultant deliverables meet required standards for quality, technical compliance, budget and programme.
• Identify and mitigate design risks across MEP, civil, structural, architectural, BMS/EPMS, utilities and environmental disciplines.
• Act as the primary design interface for Development, Delivery, Procurement, Sales, Commercial and Operations teams, supporting clear and timely cross-functional decision-making.
• Support client technical workshops, clarification processes and design customisation discussions while protecting the agreed design intent and STACK standards.
• Manage and coordinate multidisciplinary consultant teams, including MEP designers, architects, structural and planning consultants and specialist vendors.
• Ensure effective coordination between disciplines to minimise clashes, scope gaps, RFIs, redesign and downstream construction issues.
• Oversee the integration of long-lead OFCI equipment requirements into the design, including generators, UPS systems, chillers, transformers and EPODs.
• Work closely with scheduling and commercial teams to align design programmes, project priorities and CapEx expectations.
• Identify and track design-related risks, constraints, permitting challenges and dependencies, including utility and environmental requirements.
• Mentor and coach junior design management colleagues, supporting consistent adoption of Design & Engineering best practices across the region.
• Represent STACK professionally at project sites, design meetings and technical reviews, with travel and site visits required as project needs dictate.

What You'll Bring

• 7-12 years of experience in data centre design, mission-critical infrastructure or similarly complex large-scale technical projects.
• Strong understanding of MEP systems, electrical topologies, mechanical cooling strategies, civil and structural design, utilities and commissioning.
• Experience with hyperscale client requirements is highly desirable.
• Strong familiarity with RIBA design stages or an equivalent project lifecycle, design governance and consultant management.
• Demonstrated ability to manage complex multidisciplinary design teams across multiple concurrent projects.
• Strong communication and stakeholder-management skills, with the ability to translate complex engineering topics for technical and non-technical audiences.
• Experience managing design budgets, reviewing CapEx models and supporting clear senior or investor-facing technical documentation.
• A structured, accountable and collaborative approach, with the ability to manage risk, drive decisions and create predictable outcomes.
• Experience coaching or mentoring design team members and contributing to a high-performance team environment.// Actually missing closing li? we had issues. Let's continue: