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Hydra Host is a Founders Fund-backed NVIDIA Cloud Partner building infrastructure to power AI at scale. The company connects AI Factories (high-performance GPU data centers) with research labs, enterprises, and developer platforms that need compute capacity on demand. The core constraint in AI deployment today is not GPUs but power, fiber, and sites capable of hosting high-density GPU clusters. Hydra Host partners with site owners, utilities, network providers, and builders to bring AI-ready capacity online faster than competitors.
In this role, you will lead the Site Accelerator program and own the North American site pipeline from initial identification through first GPU deployment. You are accountable for megawatts delivered and will directly negotiate with utilities and carriers, make go/no-go decisions on sites, and remove obstacles between site qualification and live capacity.
Key responsibilities include:
**Site Sourcing & Qualification**: Build and manage a pipeline of candidate sites and AI Factory partners across North America. Qualify sites against AI-specific requirements including available and expandable power (MW), time-to-energization, rack density (100kW+), liquid-cooling readiness, fiber diversity and latency, and permitting risk. Run technical and commercial due diligence on landlords, operators, and developers. Make clear go/no-go recommendations prioritized by customer demand and Hydra's deployment roadmap.
**Power & Utility Acceleration**: Engage utilities and co-ops early to secure load commitments and navigate interconnection queues. Manage load studies, service agreements, and substation or transmission upgrade timelines. Evaluate bridge and behind-the-meter power options (on-site generation, phased energization) where grid timelines fall short. Track power delivery as the critical path on every site.
**Network & Connectivity**: Build relationships with fiber carriers, dark fiber providers, and network operators. Secure diverse, high-capacity routes and reduce time-to-service for new sites. Negotiate connectivity agreements and hold providers to delivery commitments. Align bandwidth capacity with customer demand forecasts and cluster requirements.
**Build-Out & Delivery**: Own site delivery from qualification through operational readiness and customer handoff. Drive construction firms, engineering partners, and integrators to hit milestones for power, cooling, network, and rack-ready space. Manage schedules, budgets, risks, and critical-path dependencies across multiple sites simultaneously. Escalate and clear blockers fast, internally and externally.
**Partners & Commercial**: Act as the senior point of contact for site partners, utilities, builders, and local stakeholders. Negotiate terms within delegated authority on site, power, and connectivity agreements; partner with leadership and legal on larger commitments. Lead executive-level conversations to align priorities and speed up decisions. Work with Sales and Customer teams to align site timelines with customer commitments.
**Playbooks & Visibility**: Build a repeatable site qualification and onboarding playbook that scales as Hydra grows. Maintain a single source of truth for pipeline status, MW timelines, and partner performance. Deliver concise executive reporting on readiness, risks, and forecasted capacity.
First 90 days: Map Hydra's current site pipeline and partner landscape, stand up a site qualification scorecard and pipeline tracker, and advance at least 2 priority sites to a clear go/no-go decision.
**Requirements**
- 8–12+ years in data center development, site selection, colocation or hyperscale infrastructure, or energy/utility project development
- Direct experience securing utility power for large-load sites, including interconnection, load studies, and service agreements
- Working knowledge of fiber networks and carrier provisioning
- Track record of delivering multiple concurrent infrastructure projects on aggressive timelines
- Strong negotiation skills with utilities, landlords, carriers, and contractors
- Comfort operating with ambiguity and real ownership in a fast-moving startup
- Clear, concise executive communication
**Preferred Qualifications**
- Experience delivering high-density GPU or AI deployments, including direct liquid cooling and NVIDIA reference architectures
- Existing network across utilities, developers, carriers, and data center operators in key North American markets
- Familiarity with permitting, zoning, land entitlement, and local incentives
- Exposure to site financing or capacity offtake structures
- Electrical or mechanical engineering, construction management, or energy background
