Data Center Expert Specialist Manager

Job Description

Job Description

As a Specialist Manager at Kearney, you will be a key contributor to the growth and development of our Technology Center or Excellence for Telecom (TCOE)as we offer honest advice and practical guidance to our clients.

Working alongside a dedicated and diverse set of people, you will work with our clients to define and implement strategies that will deliver both short-term results and longer-term competitiveness in this ever-changing market environment.

Through unique hands-on experiences, you will broaden your knowledge across a breadth of topics while developing relationships with clients and colleagues across the firm. With the freedom to be yourself and recognition for what you bring to the table, you can put your purpose into action and help build a future that works for everyone, everywhere—as a Kearney Original.

The TCOE is a small group of expert consults who work alongside Kearney’s broader consulting teams to bring deep, practical technology expertise into client engagements. The TCOE focuses on highly technical topics across network and IT domains, enabling effective collaboration with telecom engineering and operations teams. By combining rigorous consulting problem-solving with extensive industry experience, the TCOE has an unmatched ability to ensure recommendations are grounded in real-world feasibility and deliver measurable impact to clients.

Who you are

After nearly 100 years, we know this business is fundamentally about making connections—between facts, figures, insights, strategies, tools, technologies, and above all, people. That’s why we look for collaborative, insightful, and inquisitive problem-solvers who don’t accept the first thing in front of them and who are always unapologetically themselves.

As a Data Center Expert Specialist Manager in the Technology Center of Excellence for Telecom, you will:

• Bring deep, hands-on expertise in one or more core data center domains, including but not limited to full rack architecture and design (e.g., compute, memory, storage, and network configurations), power and cooling systems, DCIM software, facilities and fit-out, and data center operations,

• Complement above depth in one or more domains with strong working knowledge across adjacent areas – including coverage of both regular and AI-focused data centers

• Act as a senior technical authority on client engagements, leading and owning technically complex workstreams related to data center design, expansion, modernization, and operational optimization

• Evaluate, challenge, and guide data center architectures, technical specifications, and vendor proposals, ensuring solutions meet performance, resilience, scalability, regulatory, and cost requirements

• Support clients across the infrastructure lifecycle, including site selection, capacity planning, design standards, technology selection, and delivery / commissioning approaches

• Translate technical trade-offs into clear business implications while retaining the ability to engage credibly and in depth with client engineering, facilities, and operations teams

• Engage across the broader infrastructure value chain—including facilities, power and environmental systems, servers and IT equipment, colocation, and interconnect

• Independently structure and lead technical work streams, combining rigorous analysis with practical execution planning, risk identification, and delivery oversight

• Work closely with generalist consulting teams, providing technical direction, raising solution quality, and ensuring recommendations are grounded in real-world feasibility

• Coach junior and non-specialist consultants, contributing to the development of reusable technical frameworks, standards, and methodologies within the TCOE

• Support business development through technically credible input into proposals, client discussions, and the shaping of new data center and digital infrastructure offerings

What we can offer you

Every day, our people work to be the difference for our clients, our communities, and our colleagues. Helping them make an impact, they are sustained by a competitive remuneration package plus comprehensive benefits and perks, including but not limited to:

• Generous retirement/pension savings contributions

• Comprehensive medical insurance for employees and immediate family

• Gym membership discounts

• Non-partner equity-based awards (for consulting managers and above)

• Structured and on-the-job learning and development opportunities

• Personalized opportunities including talent mobility, flexible work programs, and externships to help you chart a unique career journey to pursue your own personal and professional goals

• 
  
  Manager compensation range : $194k to $212k

It is important to note that at Kearney, it is not typical for an individual to be hired at the top of the range for their role. Individual salaries within each range are determined through a wide variety of factors including but not limited to education, experience, knowledge, and skills. Kearney reviews compensation regularly and may adjust base salaries to reflect market competitiveness. In addition to salary, individuals may be eligible for a discretionary performance bonus. Our full suite of benefits includes paid time off, 401(k) match and profit sharing, medical, dental and vision coverage, healthcare concierge, backup child/adult care, annual employer HSA contribution, home office stipend, subsidized Gympass and annual wellness program, and leaves of absence when needed to support employees’ physical, mental, and emotional well-being.

Rabout our benefits and a career at Kearney.com/careers.

Equal employment opportunity and non-discrimination
Kearney prides itself on providing a culture where our employees belong and thrive equally, which means our people feel comfort, confidence, and joy as they do great things for our firm, our colleagues, and our clients. That’s why Kearney is committed to building a diverse workforce and inclusive environment. Kearney is an equal opportunity employer; we recruit, hire, train, promote, develop, and provide other conditions of employment without regard to a person’s gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, race or ethnicity, religion, age, national origin, disability, marital status, pregnancy status, veteran status, genetic information, or any other differences consistent with applicable laws. This includes providing reasonable accommodation for disabilities or religious beliefs and practices. We encourage everyone to apply, including those who may not feel historically represented in consulting.