Head of Project Deployment
The Company
Unison is a global telecom and renewables infrastructure investment firm founded in 2003. We today own 2,200 sites and facilities hosting mission-critical wireless and telecom transmission assets and renewable power generation projects. We own real property or real property interests in the United States and Italy, Spain, France, Germany and Poland. Our capital is provided primarily by Ardian (a $200 billion AUM Paris-based asset manager) and Goldman Sachs. We are growing rapidly and seeking key members of our team.
The Team
Reporting directly to the Head of Product – Data Centers, the Head of Project Deployment serves as a key member to the Unison team. This role provides leadership and oversight of project development, leasing and tenant acquisition, as well as strategy and business development. Our ideal candidate has 7+ years in European data center development with hands on experience overseeing data center construction.
The Job
The Job
Development & Project Oversight
- Lead the technical conversion of target sites into Tier III / IV-ready data center facilities.
- Manage external project managers, MEP engineers, fit-out contractors, and commissioning specialists.
- Own the development program: scope, budget, milestones, and risk management from feasibility through to handover.
- Coordinate with internal asset management and finance teams on capex approvals and drawdown schedules.
- Oversee landlord obligations: power upgrades, planning consents, environmental permitting, and building regulations across multiple jurisdictions.
- Contribute to commercial negotiations: heads of terms, lease structures, and pricing strategy.
- Represent the company at European data center and real estate forums (Datacenter Dynamics, MIPIM, etc.).
- Contribute to go-to-market materials: pitch decks, technical data packs, capacity schedules.
- Evaluate new acquisition targets for data center conversion viability (power, fiber, structural, planning).
- Build relationships with Telco real estate and technical teams, local utility companies, renewable energy providers, and municipal planning authorities.
- Contribute to investment committee presentations and board-level strategy materials.
Leasing & Tenant Acquisition
Strategy & Business Development
Requirements
Experience
- 7+ years of experience in Data Center construction management, MEP infrastructure delivery, or critical facilities engineering, with a proven track record of managing large-scale European projects from inception to commissioning.
- Hands-on experience overseeing data center construction or fit-out projects (MEP, power, cooling, structured cabling).
- Deep knowledge of European DC markets: Frankfurt, Amsterdam, London, Paris, Dublin, Madrid, Warsaw, Stockholm, Milan.
- Comfortable operating across multiple European jurisdictions: planning, utilities, grid connections, employment.
- Entrepreneurial: thrives in ambiguity, builds process from scratch, and acts without a large support apparatus.
- Technical mastery of mission-critical infrastructure, including N+1/2N redundancy architectures and liquid cooling integration; capable of overseeing complex MEP retrofits and power-dense deployments
- Understands triple net leases, sale leasebacks, capital lease backs, PUE economics, power pricing, and DC capex modelling.
- Excellent communicator in English; additional European language a plus.
- Background in Telco infrastructure, tower companies, or real estate asset conversion.
- Existing relationships with EU hyperscalers (AWS, Azure, Google, Oracle, OVHcloud) or Tier 1 colo operators.
- Experience working within a PE-backed growth business.