Job Description

Director of Physical Security

Trillium Professional is now seeking a Director of Physical Security for a direct-hire in Phoenix!

Annual salary is $200,000$225,000 base plus a 20% bonus.

Seeking a Head of Physical Security to build, lead, and scale our global physical security program across hyperscale and AI-focused data centers. This role is accountable for physical security strategy, secure-by-design standards, and day-to-day security operations, ensuring the protection of people, assets, and infrastructure while enabling rapid deployment and reliable operations. You will define physical security requirements early in site selection, design, and construction, embed security controls into data center builds, and oversee operational execution in live facilities. The role requires close partnership with construction, engineering, operations, IT, and executive leadership.

Responsibilities:

• Implement physical security standards for data centers, including perimeter security, access control zoning, surveillance, monitoring, and guard post design.
• Partner with site selection, design, and construction teams to ensure physical security requirements are embedded into layouts, workflows, and commissioning plans before facilities go live.
• Manage global physical security policies, standards, and procedures that scale with company growth.
• Oversee day-to-day physical security operations across global data centers, ensuring consistent execution and rapid incident response.
• Manage, and hold accountable security guard forces and third-party security vendors, including contracts, SLAs, staffing models, training requirements, and performance management.
• Manage training programs for security personnel, site operations teams, and relevant internal stakeholders.
• Manage incident response protocols, investigations, escalation paths, and post-incident reviews.
• Partner with Operations and IT to support business continuity, resilience planning, and disaster response readiness across the data center portfolio.
• Collaborate with IT and Information Security teams to align physical security controls with logical security and compliance requirements.
• Conduct risk assessments, site security reviews, and audits, driving corrective actions and continuous improvement.
• Oversee metrics and dashboards to track incidents, compliance, vendor performance, and overall security effectiveness.
• Serve as the executive point of contact for physical security incidents, escalations, and external stakeholders.
• Travel to support site launches, vendor oversight, and incident management as required.

Required Qualifications:

• 10+ years of experience leading physical security programs in data centers, critical infrastructure, or similarly sensitive environments.
• Demonstrated experience designing physical security systems for mission-critical facilities, including secure-by-design integration during construction.
• Demonstrated ability to establish metrics-driven security programs, including incident reduction, audit readiness, and vendor performance improvements.
• Proven ability to manage security programs, standards, and teams in startup or high-growth environments.
• Strong experience managing security guard forces and third-party security vendors across multiple sites or regions.
• Deep understanding of physical security controls, including access control systems, CCTV, intrusion detection, and monitoring platforms.
• Experience developing scalable policies, procedures, and training programs.
• Strong incident management and investigative skills, including executive-level communication.
• Ability to balance security rigor with operational efficiency and business velocity.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience supporting hyperscale cloud providers or large-scale global data center portfolios.
• Experience partnering closely with construction and facilities teams on secure facility design and commissioning.
• Familiarity with ISO 27001 physical security controls, SOC 2, NIST, or similar frameworks.
• International physical security operations experience.
• CPP, PSP, or similar security certifications are a plus.

Trillium has been recruiting and placing clerical and office professionals for over 30 years. From Fortune 100 companies to small businesses, our philosophy remains the same: to achieve excellence by providing quality employees with an uncompromising level of service. We believe in honesty, integrity, and a simple philosophy of providing value to our customers and our employees. We strive to be unsurpassed in the recruitment and placement of professionals. Trillium is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Trillium offers a comprehensive benefit package that includes the ability to participate in health insurance and retirement plans, paid holidays, state required leave, and other leave, if applicable. Trillium's offerings are dependent on the state in which the assignment is located, length of time worked, and may change depending on assignment. Benefit packages for direct hire placements vary based on the client company.

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