How to become a Critical Facilities Supervisor
Manages the shift crews as people: hiring, rosters, performance and pay, and stands in for the facilities manager.
There’s a page for this role in , with its licences and local details.
What the role does
Manages the shift crews as people: hiring, rosters, performance and pay, and stands in for the manager. The people-management peer of the Chief Engineer.
What a shift looks like
Mostly office hours, with on-call. Rosters and leave, one-to-ones and reviews, recruiting, and reports on the shifts’ work and safety.
What employers call it
- Critical Environment Technician Manager (hyperscale)
- Critical Operations Supervisor (colocation and wholesale)
- Assistant Chief Engineer (FM and service contractor)
- Assistant Chief Building Engineer (FM and service contractor)
- Assistant Critical Facilities Manager (FM and service contractor)
- Supervisor, Critical Facility Operations (hyperscale)
- Supervisor, Data Center Facilities (hyperscale)
- Critical Operations Supervisor – Electrical (colocation and wholesale)
- Critical Operations Supervisor – Mechanical (colocation and wholesale)
Skills
The level the role needs in each, on FacilityVR’s five levels from Aware to Authority.
Site safety
- Assess risk and plan safe work Leads others
Safe isolation
- Authorise isolations Independent
Emergency response
- Evacuate and muster Leads others
- Raise the alarm and escalate Leads others
- Recognise and report a suspected cyber incident Independent
Leadership
- Coach and assess others Leads others
- Coordinate an incident response Leads others
- Lead a shift Leads others
- Supervise contractors and vendors Leads others
- Find root causes and learn from incidents Independent
- Keep customers informed during an incident Independent
Procedures and documents
- Follow an emergency operating procedure (EOP) Leads others
- Work within change management Independent
Monitoring and response
- Triage DCIM and BMS alarms Independent
Licences and credentials
Licences depend on the country you work in, and sometimes the state. The role’s page for Australia lists them there.
Ways in and ways on
From another data centre role
- From Lead Critical Facilities Technician, typically 18 months
Where it leads
- Chief Engineer (a sideways move)
- Critical Facilities Manager, typically 3 years
Jobs open now
None right now. See every open job.
Questions about data centre careers? Ask about data centre careers
Sources and licences
- Critical Facilities reference framework © Facility Labs. (CC BY 4.0)