Kao Data adds four partners to women in infra scheme

Kao Data has added four strategic partners to its Critical Careers initiative, expanding the women in digital infrastructure programme into its second year.

AVK, Eversheds Sutherland, JLL and Mace Construct have joined founding strategic partner CBRE Data Centre Solutions in backing the scheme through 2026 and 2027. Spa Communications has also come on board as media partner.

Launched by the data centre operator to raise the profile of women working across digital infrastructure, Critical Careers has since developed into a broader platform spanning engineering, operations, sustainability, law, finance, real estate and executive leadership.

The enlarged partner group will support a wider programme of activity, including two new podcast seasons aimed at broadening the initiative's reach across the sector.

In its first year, Critical Careers featured contributions from 30 women at 28 companies across six continents for its first book. A supporting digital platform generated more than 1.5 million impressions on LinkedIn.

The first podcast season also recorded thousands of downloads and delivered a conversion rate four times higher than the Spotify average. Its audience was 68 per cent female across the UK, US and continental Europe.

Industry reach

The programme reflects a wider push in the data centre market to address representation and recruitment as operators, suppliers and advisers compete for talent. As demand grows for skills in engineering, construction, operations and specialist support functions, digital infrastructure groups have increasingly sought to widen the pool of candidates entering the industry.

Critical Careers has positioned itself as a shared industry effort rather than a single-company campaign. According to Kao Data, the platform now brings together competing operators, hyperscalers, neoclouds and supply chain businesses around a common aim.

Lizzy McDowell, director of marketing at Kao Data and co-founder of Critical Careers, said the initiative's role had grown well beyond its original scope.

"Critical Careers began as a genuine celebration of women in digital infrastructure, and the response across the industry made it clear that the work had a role to play well beyond any single organisation. Having CBRE Data Centre Solutions, AVK, Eversheds Sutherland, JLL and Mace Construct as strategic partners provides us with the endorsement needed to expand the Critical Careers mission, who it reaches, how it shapes the industry's future and the lasting impact we can have," McDowell said.

Visibility and hiring

The initiative has already influenced recruitment, with women moving into digital infrastructure roles after engaging with its content. That points to an effort to use storytelling and career visibility to attract applicants who may not otherwise have considered the sector.

Joyce Wady, creative director of Critical Careers, said visibility remains central to that approach.

"Through the conversations I've had with women across the Critical Careers books and podcast, one thing has become very clear. Access to this industry does not start with a job description, it starts with visibility. When you can see what careers in digital infrastructure actually look like, including the roles, journeys and people behind them, it becomes much easier to imagine yourself within it.

What we are doing with Critical Careers is turning that visibility into belief. By opening up how careers really take shape, we are challenging outdated perceptions and showing that women belong in this industry and are already building long-term, successful careers within it. The more visible these stories become, the more realistic and achievable that future is for others coming through," Wady said.

The addition of legal, property, construction and technical service groups to the partner roster also underlines how data centre recruitment extends beyond core engineering and operations roles. As campuses expand and projects become more complex, companies across the supply chain are seeking workers in disciplines ranging from development and real estate to compliance and project delivery.

For Kao Data, the broader coalition gives Critical Careers backing from several parts of that ecosystem at a time when the digital infrastructure industry is under pressure to show it can attract a more diverse workforce. The initiative's first-year audience figures and the addition of five backers suggest that message is gaining wider support across the sector.