Network Operations Leader

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The Network Operations Leader is responsible for the global design, operation, reliability, and lifecycle management of the company’s enterprise network infrastructure across all corporate, regional, and manufacturing locations. This role oversees WAN, LAN, WLAN, SD-WAN, remote connectivity, edge security (firewall), cloud networking, and plant network segmentation, ensuring highly available, secure, and scalable connectivity that supports both commercial and regulated business operations.

This leader manages global network engineering and operations teams, oversees managed service providers (MSPs), and partners closely with cybersecurity, infrastructure, OT/plant operations, and business unit IT teams. The role is accountable for network performance, resilience, capacity planning, incident response, and adherence to compliance frameworks such as SOX ITGC, NIST 800-171, CMMC, DFARS, and ITAR/EAR.

• Manage day-to-day operations for all enterprise networks, including WAN, LAN, WLAN, SD-WAN, VPN, Firewall, cloud network connectivity, and data center interconnects.
• Ensure network availability, reliability, and performance across a global footprint of offices, R&D sites, and manufacturing facilities.
• Define operational standards, runbooks, escalation paths, and service SLAs in partnership with IT leadership.
• Define and report network KPIs aligned to business SLAs and manufacturing uptime requirements.
• Oversee a global team of network engineers and MSP resources, providing coaching, performance management, and strategic direction.
• Own network monitoring, alerting, and performance management using enterprise tools (e.g., Solar Winds, Cisco DNA Center, Palo Alto Panorama, Armis, Netskope, Aruba Air Wave).
• Execute regular capacity planning, traffic analysis, and optimization to ensure consistent performance during business growth, M&A, and digital transformation initiatives.
• Lead operational readiness for new platforms and projects, including M&A integrations and global rollouts.
• Develop strategies for network redundancy, failover, disaster recovery, and high availability.
• Lead continuous improvement efforts—including routing optimization, Wi-Fi modernization, and network upgrades.
• Establish global standards for network hardware, software, segmentation, and cloud connectivity.
• Ensure modernization of network platforms through defined lifecycle and refresh programs.
• Partner with Enterprise Architecture to align network strategy with cloud adoption, Zero Trust initiatives, and IT/OT convergence.
• Lead deployment of SD-WAN architecture and next-generation network technologies.
• Oversee procurement, licensing, and vendor management for network technology platforms.
• Collaborate with Cybersecurity to implement secure configurations, segmentation, firewall rules, IDS/IPS, and remote-access policies.
• Ensure alignment with regulatory frameworks including: NIST 800-171/CMMC, DFARS , SOX ITGC, ITAR/EAR, ISO 27001
• Maintain audit-ready documentation, network diagrams, configuration baselines, and change records.
• Support penetration tests, vulnerability remediation, and risk assessments across IT and OT networks.
• Lead network-related major incident response, ensuring rapid containment, triage, communication, and root-cause analysis.
• Partner with ITSM teams to reduce recurring incidents and drive long-term remediation for systemic issues.
• Serve as an escalation point for complex network issues across global sites and MSP partners.
• Implement structured problem management, trend analysis, and continuous improvement programs.
• Work collaboratively with Plant IT and Operational Technology (OT) teams to support segmentation, monitoring, and security of manufacturing networks.
• Develop governance models for IT/OT convergence ensuring production uptime and cybersecurity integrity.
• Standardize design patterns for SCADA, PLCs, IIoT devices, smart factory solutions, and vendor-access connectivity.
• Oversee network service vendors, telecom providers, MSPs, and hardware/software partners (e.g., Cisco, Palo Alto, Check Point, Fortinet, Aruba).
• Ensure contract alignment to SLAs,…