Manager, Network Operations

The Manager, Network Operations provides leadership and operational oversight for the Institute’s network and telecommunications services. The position manages assigned staff, establishes operational priorities, oversees service availability and performance, coordinates incident response and project delivery, and ensures that network and telecommunications services support organizational needs. The manager works with technical staff, Information Systems leadership, business stakeholders, and vendors to develop service strategies, manage technology lifecycles, address operational risk, and plan for growth. The position ensures appropriate staffing, technical coverage, documentation, escalation procedures, and continuity of operations.

1. Provide supervision and leadership for assigned staff, including recruitment, onboarding, coaching and development, performance management, goal setting, progressive discipline, work/leave scheduling, training, retention, and day-to-day workplace interventions and problem resolution. Establish clear performance expectations and build leadership and technical capacity within the team.

2. Oversee the availability, performance, reliability, and ongoing support of network and telecommunications services. Establish operational priorities, assign resources, balance operational and project demands, monitor workloads, and ensure timely response and escalation of incidents and service requests.

3. Ensure network and telecommunications platforms are securely maintained, documented, recoverable, and effectively managed throughout their lifecycle, including capacity planning, licensing, maintenance agreements, technology refresh planning, redundancy, continuity, and related operational requirements.

4. Evaluate and prioritize technology improvements and lifecycle needs, including recommendations from technical staff and vendors related to software and code upgrades, resiliency, security, capacity, performance, and service stability. Provide recommendations on technology advancements that improve network performance and reliability.

5. Plan and oversee special projects, determining appropriate use of staff, vendors, hardware, software, and other resources to accomplish objectives. Coordinate across Information Systems, business stakeholders, and vendors to establish responsibilities, facilitate communication, and support successful project completion.

6. Partner with the Director, Network Operations to establish departmental goals, service priorities, staffing plans, performance measures, budgets, and multiyear technology roadmaps aligned with organizational priorities. Assist in developing and managing operating and capital budgets, including expenditures, forecasts, contracts, licenses, maintenance renewals, and procurement recommendations.

7. Establish and monitor service levels and operational performance measures, including incident trends, recurring problems, capacity indicators, customer-impacting issues, and other relevant metrics. Develop improvement plans and provide statistical and management reporting on service performance, risks, and resource needs.

8. Provide management oversight during significant service disruptions, coordinating technical resources, vendors, stakeholder communications, escalation, restoration priorities, and post-incident reviews. Ensure network and telecommunications changes follow established testing, approval, documentation, communication, and rollback procedures.

9. Manage vendor and service-provider performance, establishing expectations, monitoring service delivery, addressing performance concerns, coordinating escalations, and ensuring contracted services meet organizational requirements.

10. Partner with information security, infrastructure, compliance, and other stakeholders to identify and address operational, cybersecurity, continuity, and regulatory risks affecting network and telecommunications services.

11. Ensure technical and operational documentation is complete, current, and accessible, including technical standards, support procedures, diagrams, inventories, escalation paths, and recovery procedures.

QUALIFICATIONS:

Cisco certification, relevant technical, management, project management, or service management certification preferred.

EDUCATION:

Bachelor’s degree in computer sciences or related field required. Additional years of relevant experience above the minimum requirement may be substituted for the education requirement at the discretion of the Director, Network Operations.

EXPERIENCE:

• Seven years of progressively responsible experience supporting enterprise network, telecommunications, infrastructure, or related technology services required.
• Three years of experience supervising or leading technical staff, including responsibility for performance management, workload prioritization, project delivery, and operational support, required.
• Experience managing service availability, incident response, technology projects, vendors, budgets, and lifecycle planning preferred.
• Experience overseeing enterprise network and telecommunications environments, including wired and wireless networking, voice services, network security, and supporting platforms, preferred.
• Experience working in a complex, highly available, regulated, healthcare, education, or similarly service-sensitive environment preferred.
• Demonstrated experience translating technical risks and recommendations into operational and business terms for leadership and nontechnical stakeholders required.