Director of Network Engineering

Duties / Responsibilities:

1. Directs the Network Engineering and Regional Engineering teams, providing hands-on technical leadership and networking expertise, and serving as technical owner and escalation resource for all network engineering activities.
2. Provide leadership, mentoring, coaching, career development and feedback for performance management to the Network Engineering and Regional Engineering teams, including setting clear priorities, aligning regional field work with network standards, and developing the automation and software skills the teams need.
3. Responsible for the availability, performance, and security of all network infrastructure devices and services, partnering with the Technology/Architecture team, which owns network design, standards, roadmap, and technology decisions, and with the Cyber Security team on security controls, hardening, and vulnerability remediation.
4. Lead the teams’ transition to an automation- and AI-driven operating model, building network automation, observability, and source-of-truth capabilities (e.g., Python, NetBox, NSO, streaming telemetry) and applying AI/ML-assisted operations (AIOps), with measurable goals for reducing manual effort, improving accuracy, and enabling the network to scale.
5. Lead the scale-out of the network, including capacity expansion and new site and market turn-ups, implementing the designs and standards set by the Technology/Architecture team.
6. Research and analyze current industry best practices, new technologies and develop network strategies and solutions
7. Oversee strategic planning, creation, execution, and completion of projects that align with the business needs, continuity, and growth.
8. Ensure department’s goals and project milestones are met in a productive system
9. Act as the highest technical escalation point for the NOC, Regional Engineering, and support teams on chronic, complex, or unknown network issues, and ensure outages are communicated and resolved quickly, with documented root cause analyses (RCAs) and tracked corrective actions.
10. Prepare reports and operational KPIs on network capacity, trends, health, and performance for executive reporting, including IPv4/IPv6 address utilization, subnet allocation for DHCP-served properties, and CGNAT resource consumption, with defined thresholds and escalation triggers.
11. Collaborate with operations and launch team effectively communicate project progress to stakeholders, and service partners as appropriate.
12. Establish operational best practices, policies, and procedures for network implementation and support, aligned with the design and standards set by the Technology/Architecture team.
13. Prepare and present the department’s yearly budget.
14. Prepare and lead network disaster recovery (DR) and business continuity planning, ensuring high availability and network resiliency.
15. Own IP address management, including ARIN resource requests, RPKI/IRR hygiene, IPv4 conservation, IPv6 dual-stack planning and deployment, and utilization policies (e.g., subnet allocation thresholds, CGNAT pool limits), with clear handoffs to the teams that configure router interfaces and DHCP services.
16. Manage vendor and TAC relationships (e.g., Cisco, A10 Networks), including case escalation, software defect tracking, and software lifecycle and version compliance.
17. Own the network change management process, including MOP standards, change review, and maintenance window coordination through the ITSM platform.
18. Define on-call and alerting strategy with the NOC so that alerts are actionable, prioritized, and routed to the right resources.
19. Onboard and manage contract engineering resources as needed.
20. Other duties as assigned.

Minimum Qualifications:

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required.

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technologies or related field, or an equivalent combination of experience, education, and training
• Strong understanding of technical troubleshooting methodology
• Ability to facilitate problem-solving among administrative groups with varying needs and priorities, and to communicate well with administrative users, technical staff, and senior management
• Knowledge of applicable laws, guidelines or regulations as they relate to IT
• 10+ years of service provider or large-scale network engineering experience, including 5+ years leading multi-team or regionally distributed engineering organizations
• Deep hands-on expertise with BGP, IS-IS/OSPF, MPLS/SR-MPLS, and multicast in a service provider environment
• Hands-on experience with carrier-class routing platforms (e.g., Cisco IOS-XR) and carrier-grade NAT
• Experience with IP address management at scale, including subnet allocation, ARIN policy, and IPv4/IPv6 address planning
• Experience with monitoring and NMS tools (e.g., flow analysis, streaming telemetry) and ITSM change management platforms
• Experience scaling a service provider network through significant customer and footprint growth
• Demonstrated success leading engineering teams through the adoption of network automation and modernized operating practices
• Proven record of leading outage response and writing executive-ready RCAs
• Strong executive communication skills, with the ability to translate complex technical issues, risks, and plans into clear business terms for senior leadership

Preferred Qualifications:

• Python or other scripting experience for network automation; familiarity with NetBox, Nornir/NAPALM, or Cisco NSO/Crosswork
• Experience applying AI/ML or AIOps tools to network monitoring, troubleshooting, or operations
• Background in fiber-to-the-home, MDU, residential and commercial broadband, or IPTV delivery
• Experience with managed Wi-Fi platforms

Hotwire Communications reserves the right to add or change Job Descriptions at any time.

Benefits:

We truly appreciate and value all our employees and show our appreciation by offering a wide range of benefits, including:

• Comprehensive Healthcare/Dental/Vision Plans
• 401K Retirement Plan with Company Match
• Paid Vacation, Sick Time, and Additional Holidays (including your Birthday!)
• Paid Volunteer Time
• Paid Parental Leave
• Hotwire Service Discounts – for employees who live on a property serviced by Hotwire. Discounted service offerings are provided for high-speed internet, video service, phone, and security service
• Employee Referral Bonuses
• Exclusive Entertainment Discounts/Perks

Hotwire provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.

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