Data center and AI infrastructure teams in Northern Virginia

CBRE counted 2,420.2 MW under construction in Northern Virginia in H1 2026 and says the pipeline “rose by 16.5%”, at “a slower pace than last year due to land and permitting constraints” (North America Data Center Trends H1 2026, August 27, 2026). The same report has Atlanta overtaking Northern Virginia as the top construction market for the first time.

AWS bought 122 acres in Loudoun County for data center development, according to CBRE (August 27, 2026). Cushman & Wakefield records that deal at $427.3M, for land on George Washington Blvd, Ashburn, in February 2026 (Americas Data Center Update H1 2026, September 14, 2026). In the same update of September 14, 2026, it records a second AWS purchase: 44 acres in Manassas for $120.0M in April 2026.

Further south, CBRE reports that Stack Infrastructure “topped out the first of 19 planned buildings at its 1-GW campus in Stafford County” (August 27, 2026).

Existing capacity is changing hands too. CBRE reports Digital Realty agreeing to buy a stake in three fully leased data centers from Blackstone-affiliated funds for $3.5 billion (North America Data Center Trends H1 2026, August 27, 2026). The same CBRE report of August 27, 2026, records Blue Owl Digital Infrastructure Trust’s $860 million acquisition of a 72-MW facility in Gainesville.

CBRE says “Dominion Energy’s batching system continues to extend power delivery timelines for new projects, intensifying competition for entitled sites” (North America Data Center Trends H1 2026, August 27, 2026).

The Virginia State Corporation Commission’s final order in Dominion’s biennial review creates a new class for customers needing “25 megawatts of power or more”, taking effect on January 1, 2027, with 14-year commitments (Cardinal News, November 26, 2025).

Loudoun County has tightened zoning. On March 18, 2025, its Board of Supervisors eliminated by-right data center development, so data centers now need a special exception (Holland & Knight, April 4, 2025).

In Prince William County, QTS filed to withdraw its appeal on July 2, 2026, ending the 2,100-acre Digital Gateway near Manassas National Battlefield Park; Compass had already declined further appeals in April (FOX 5 DC, July 2, 2026). Cushman & Wakefield says the county “continues restricting by-right approvals” (Americas Data Center Update H1 2026, September 14, 2026).

AWS is advertising across the commissioning chain in Herndon (amazon.jobs, read October 11, 2026). It lists a Commissioning Engineer, a Commissioning Area Manager for retro commissioning and a senior mechanical commissioning subject matter expert, each with a published base salary range in the table below.

AWS also lists a Construction Manager in Sterling and a Critical Infrastructure Mechanical Engineer in Herndon (amazon.jobs, read October 11, 2026). Microsoft lists Manassas among the locations for a Lease Construction Manager, a Sub-Regional Cost Lead and a Metro Estimating Lead, and Reston for a Sub-Regional Planning Leader (Microsoft careers, read October 11, 2026). Its published ranges are US-wide, so those roles are not in the local table.

Northern Virginia Community College’s Loudoun campus offers an Associate Degree in Engineering Technology with a Data Center Operations Specialization, which it calls “the first and only fully accredited two-year program of its kind in Virginia” (read October 11, 2026). It also runs a one-year, 26-credit Data Center Operations Career Studies Certificate that prepares students for BICSI Installer 1 and 2 and OSHA 10 (Northern Virginia Community College, read October 11, 2026).

AWS is also advertising a Data Center Engineering Operations Technician Internship in Sterling, a “6-month work and training internship” running between January 2027 and July 2027 (amazon.jobs, read October 11, 2026).