Director, Category Management - Data Center Cooling & Mechanical System

Director, Category Management – Data Center Cooling The Director, Category Management – Data Center Cooling drives the global end-to-end category strategy, strategic sourcing, and supplier development for hyper-scale data center mechanical infrastructure. In this senior role, you will manage a multi-hundred-million-dollar annual spend across key thermal management systems, including Chillers, Computer Room Air Handlers (CRAHs), Air Handling Units (AHUs), Direct-to-Chip Liquid Cooling, and Containment solutions. You will act as the primary commercial authority for critical thermal suppliers, aligning engineering roadmaps, securing manufacturing capacity, and establishing resilient, cost-optimized supply chains to support rapid global data center deployment. Category Strategy & Execution: Develop and execute multi-year global strategic sourcing strategies for mechanical cooling commodities to ensure capacity, quality, and total cost of ownership (TCO) optimization. Supplier Relationship & Development: Manage executive-level relationships with Tier-1 and Tier-2 cooling OEMs. Drive supplier capacity expansion, technical innovation, and performance scorecards. Commercial Negotiation & Contracting: Lead complex negotiations for Master Purchasing Agreements (MSAs), Long Term Agreements (LTAs), long-lead capacity reservations, and SLA frameworks. Cross-Functional Alignment: Partner closely with Data Center Design Engineering, Operations, and Construction teams to align cooling technology roadmaps with future compute architectures (e.g., high-density AI/HPC workloads).Risk Management & Supply Resiliency: Map multi-tier supply chains to identify and mitigate single-point-of-failure risks, lead-time bottlenecks, and geopolitical constraints across raw materials and components (e.g., compressors, fans, coils).Market Intelligence: Monitor market trends, commodity price fluctuations (copper, aluminum, steel), refrigerant regulations (e.g., HFC phase-downs, low-GWP transitions), and vendor capacity constraints to inform executive decision-making.