Senior Manager, Data Center Operations

Join us as we work to create a thriving ecosystem that delivers accessible, high-quality, and sustainable healthcare for all.

**This is a 100% onsite job based out of our data center in Ashburn, VA. It cannot be held remotely**

Position Summary
athenahealth is seeking a Senior Manager, Data Center Engineering to lead critical infrastructure operations that support healthcare at scale. This role drives strategy, execution, and reliability for physical data center infrastructure across production environments, helping ensure the stability and scalability of systems healthcare providers rely on every day.

This is a remote role based in Virginia with an in-person operational requirement for engagement at data center facilities.

About the Team
The Data Center Engineering team is responsible for the stability, capacity, and lifecycle management of physical devices, infrastructure components, and environmental systems within production data centers. The team supports the full server asset journey from procurement and provisioning through decommissioning, while also partnering with data center providers to maintain required environmental conditions and supporting SRE teams as a “remote hands” resource.

This role is central to the reliability and scalability of athenahealth’s infrastructure. It combines technical leadership, operational rigor, and strategic planning to keep production environments stable, efficient, and ready to support future growth.

Essential Job Responsibilities

• Team leadership and development

  • Lead a team of data center engineers in a high-performance, accountable environment.

  • Foster clear communication, professional development, and operational excellence.

  • Contribute to workforce planning, hiring, onboarding, and skills development.

• Data center infrastructure lifecycle management

  • Oversee the full lifecycle of physical infrastructure from capacity planning and procurement through deployment, maintenance, and decommissioning.

  • Manage hardware repairs and modifications that support asset stability.

  • Maintain BIOS configurations and hardware management interfaces.

  • Document infrastructure configurations and team processes to preserve institutional knowledge.

• Capacity planning and strategic execution

  • Develop and maintain capacity planning frameworks aligned to business growth and demand.

  • Track key metrics for reliability, utilization, and project delivery.

  • Contribute to infrastructure roadmaps, budget development, and long-term investment decisions.

• Project and program management

  • Drive execution of hardware refreshes, facility expansions, migrations, and infrastructure upgrades.

  • Deliver initiatives on scope, schedule, and budget.

  • Use project management methods appropriate to the work, including Agile, Waterfall, or hybrid approaches.

Additional Job Responsibilities

• Vendor, colo, and facilities management

  • Manage relationships with colocation providers and hardware vendors.

  • Hold partners accountable to SLAs and environmental standards related to power, cooling, and physical space.

  • Support evaluation and onboarding of new sites or colocation agreements.

  • Coordinate with facilities and security teams to maintain physical access controls and safety protocols.

• Operational reliability and incident readiness

  • Establish operational standards, runbooks, and change management processes.

  • Ensure 24x7x365 on-call coverage with clear rotation structures, escalation paths, and incident response protocols.

  • Assist with business continuity and disaster recovery planning and testing.

  • Support audit and compliance activities related to physical infrastructure and environmental monitoring.

• Cross-functional collaboration and innovation

  • Partner with SRE, Network Engineering, and Platform teams to align infrastructure capabilities with operational needs.

  • Participate in architecture reviews and infrastructure planning discussions.

  • Evaluate emerging data center technologies, power efficiency solutions, and automation tools.

  • Integrate AI-powered tools and workflows into operations where appropriate, including predictive capacity forecasting, automated health checks, and AI-assisted monitoring, with responsible adoption and governance.

Expected Education & Experience

• 5+ years of progressive experience in data center engineering, infrastructure operations, or related disciplines.

• 3+ years of leadership or people management experience in technical infrastructure environments.

• Strong expertise in data center infrastructure including server hardware, power distribution, cooling systems, structured cabling, and colo operations.

• Proven capacity planning experience with forecasting models and frameworks.

• Strong project management skills with experience delivering complex infrastructure initiatives on time and within budget.

• Experience with hardware lifecycle management, including procurement, asset tracking, BIOS/firmware management, and decommissioning.

• Experience managing vendors and colocation providers, including SLA governance and contract oversight.

• Familiarity with DCIM, PUE, or Uptime Institute Tier classifications is a plus.

• Relevant certifications such as CDCP, CDCE, or equivalent are a plus.

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Electrical Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience.

Expected Compensation

$110,000 - $188,000

The base salary range shown reflects the full range for this role from minimum to maximum. At athenahealth, base pay depends on multiple factors, including job-related experience, relevant knowledge and skills, how your qualifications compare to others in similar roles, and geographical market rates. Base pay is only one part of our competitive Total Rewards package - depending on role eligibility, we offer both short and long-term incentives by way of an annual discretionary bonus plan, variable compensation plan, and equity plans.