Kao Data's Lizzy McDowell at Data Centre LIVE: London

Speaking at Data Centre LIVE, Lizzy McDowell, the Director of Marketing at Kao Data, argued that attracting a broader range of talent is essential if the sector is to meet growing demand for AI-ready infrastructure.

Kao Data designs, builds and operates data centres engineered for AI, with facilities in Harlow and expansion projects underway in West London and Greater Manchester.

Yet for Lizzy, one of the industry's biggest opportunities lies in raising awareness of careers in the sector itself.

"Well, I think no one leaves school with hopes and dreams and aspirations of wanting to work in the data centre industry," she said.

"However, I think that is primarily because nobody knows the data centre industry exists."

"And I look back to myself leaving school, not really sure what I wanted to do, and I 100% would have chosen this industry because I adore it.

"I love the criticality of it, I love how essential it is to our everyday lives."

She pointed to the industry's role in enabling everything from digital payments and ride-hailing services to remote collaboration and vaccine development.

Her personal mission is to encourage more people to consider careers in the sector.

Tackling the visibility challenge

Lizzy believes many of the industry's diversity challenges stem from a lack of awareness rather than a lack of opportunity.

"It's probably the same misconception for men who work in data centres – they don't have that first-person experience," she said.

"As an industry, it has been quite insular; they've kept their heads below the parapet, and because there hasn't been that wider pool of women, there just isn't that visibility of the opportunities that exist for women."

She noted that operators and suppliers are making a concerted effort to broaden talent pools across gender, ethnicity and neurodiversity, but visibility is critical to sustaining progress.

One initiative designed to address that challenge is Critical Careers, a project that Lizzy herself co-founded.

Initially launched as a coffee table book, it profiles 30 women from across the industry and highlights a wide range of career paths and experiences.

According to Lizzy, the goal was to show that successful careers in data centres are not limited to senior executives or industry leaders.

It aims to help those who want to enter the industry at a more junior level identify people whose experiences feel relatable and achievable.

A workforce for AI growth

Marketing also has a key role to play in addressing the industry's talent gap.

"We need to talk outside of the industry," Lizzy said.

"It's all very well and good banging the drum inside the industry, saying this is brilliant, this is amazing, there are opportunities. If we're not speaking outside of this industry to the general public, they're never going to know."

The need to recruit more staff while diversifying is becoming especially urgent as AI drives demand for new facilities and infrastructure skills.

"We have to. There's a really, really quite severe skills shortage," Lizzy said.

"If we don't diversify and generate more opportunities for a more diverse pool of people, then we're not going to be able to solve the problems and challenges that we face – simple as that."