HEAD OF DATA CENTRE OPERATIONS

About RHAELM

RHAELM is the sovereign AI cloud built to accelerate secure AI deployment at scale, combining power and infrastructure pipelines with global capability and local, in-country operations. Headquartered in London, with deployments across Europe and APAC, we deliver ring-fenced compute, networking, and storage infrastructure alongside a sovereign platform and flexible Bare Metal, Kubernetes, and AI-as-a-Service models. Focused on regulated and mission-critical sectors including Government, Defence, Healthcare, and Financial Services, we give organisations sovereign control over their AI infrastructure, platform, and data.

This Role

This role is based in Tokyo, Japan, leading operational readiness across RHAELM's Japan data centre portfolio.

As Head of Data Centre Operations, you will own the operational readiness and in-life running of RHAELM's data centre portfolio, ensuring every facility transitions cleanly from construction handover into safe, resilient, always-on operation.

You will build and lead the operations function from the ground up, setting the standards, governance, and team structure that keep our critical infrastructure available, secure, and compliant as the estate scales across new markets.

Key Responsibilities

Own end-to-end operational readiness for new and existing data centres, from construction handover through to steady-state running

Lead critical facilities operations across power, cooling, BMS, fire and life safety, and physical security, ensuring continuous uptime

Build and lead the operations team, including shift structures, escalation paths, and vendor-managed service arrangements

Own SLAs, KPIs, and reporting for facility availability, PUE, incident response, and maintenance compliance

Direct preventive and corrective maintenance programmes across all M&E and critical systems

Manage relationships with FM providers, equipment vendors, and utility partners across all markets

Ensure compliance with Uptime Institute Tier standards, ISO 27001/9001, and relevant local regulatory requirements

Own major incident management, root cause analysis, and continuous improvement of operational procedures

Partner with Commissioning, Design, and Project Management teams to embed operability and maintainability into new builds

Experience

Extensive experience leading data centre or critical facilities operations at scale, ideally across multiple sites

Proven track record building or scaling an operations function, including team and process design

Deep understanding of M&E systems, BMS/EPMS, and Tier III/IV operational requirements

Experience managing facilities through construction handover and into live operation

Track record of managing FM and vendor contracts, budgets, and SLAs

Experience operating within Japan's construction, engineering, or regulatory market context advantageous

Skills

Strong technical grounding across electrical, mechanical, and controls systems in a mission-critical environment

Confident leader able to build teams and operating rhythms from scratch

Sharp incident management and root cause analysis capability

Strong stakeholder management across engineering, construction, and commercial teams

Comfortable operating across multiple jurisdictions and regulatory regimes

Qualifications

Degree in Electrical, Mechanical, or Building Services Engineering, or equivalent experience

Relevant certifications (e.g. CDCP, CDCS, ITIL) advantageous

Chartered Engineer status desirable

Based in Tokyo, Japan; business-level English required, Japanese language skills advantageous