Manager, Telecommunications

Telecommunications Manager

As the nation's first statewide, "transmission only" company, VELCO manages the safe, reliable, cost-effective transmission of electric power throughout Vermont and as a part of the integrated New England regional network.

Why Join Our Team

Unlike traditional enterprise IT roles, this position operates in a no ? fail environment. You will lead a carrier ? class network where seconds matter, redundancy is mandatory, and reliability directly impacts public safety and grid stability. If you are driven by engineering rigor, operational excellence, and real ? world impact, this role offers a uniquely meaningful leadership opportunity.

The Telecommunications Manager is responsible for all activities concerned with planning, direction, selection, acquisition, design, installation, performance and maintenance of ensuring highly reliable telecom services that support SCADA, protection, control, and field operations. This requires continuous monitoring of industry trends and evolving technologies.

The Telecom Manager will lead the telecom team (engineers, technicians, vendors) and align telecom strategy with OT, IT, and corporate environment where Telecommunications continues to be an innovator and leader in advanced technology to continue to shape the industry and unleash value for the company, its owners and Vermont. The Telecom Manager will be accountable for managing multiple projects and their respective budgets involving cross-functional project teams.

Position Summary

The Telecommunications Manager is responsible for the design, operation, and continuous improvement of carrier?grade telecommunications services supporting VELCO's Operational Technology (OT) and enterprise environments.

This role oversees daily operations, long ? term network strategy, staff and vendor management, and multiple concurrent projects. The Manager ensures telecommunications services meet stringent availability, resiliency, performance, and recovery objectives, aligning telecom architecture with OT, IT, cybersecurity, and corporate strategy.

How You Will Make an Impact

You will lead the modernization and operation of a statewide fiber optic and radio communications network, blending legacy infrastructure with modern transport technologies while maintaining uninterrupted service. You will establish operational discipline, performance metrics, and service management processes consistent with carrier and Tier?1 network environments.

Your leadership will directly enable:

• Reliable real ? time grid monitoring and control
• Safe and effective field operations
• Regulatory compliance
• Long ? term scalability and technology evolution

Key Responsibilities

• Functional Management
  • Manage Telecommunications staff and contractors to ensure the successful performance of work in accordance with project plans, permits, and company requirements.
  • Owns the design and operate telecom with utility grade reliability and redundancy (path diversity, failover, environmental hardening) for real time OT applications (protection and control, SCADA, substation automation, and field communications, including coordination with system operations and engineering).
  • The Telecom Manager will develop strong peer relationships with leaders in the Telecommunications/OT environment and throughout the company to ensure consistent alignment with business expectations and commitments.
  • Develop customer services, RF radio services, and maintenance programs to include predictive asset management strategies including the proper data analytics tools.
  • Develop Carrier interconnections and advance external business opportunities. through forecasting future technology requirements based on analyses of trends and business requirements.
  • Develop a technical vision that supports VELCO's corporate vision with its fiber optic network expansion and statewide radio system. Perform cost/benefit analyses of potential technology solutions.
  • Develop and maintain budgets and schedules for departmental Oversee daily operations: monitoring, incident response, troubleshooting, outage management, and change management for telecom services.
  • Own telecom standards, documentation, and policies (architecture, configurations, diagrams, procedures, as built records).
  • Establish, monitor and maintain systems and teams KPI to track performance metrics (availability, latency, incident trends) and drive continuous improvement initiatives
  • Provide business and technical consultation to management, users and staff.
  • Oversee purchasing equipment and supplies in accordance with the company's Procurement policy.
• Staff Management
  • Actively lead, mentor, and coach Telecom team members while fostering a positive environment with a focus on delivering quality work.
  • Plan, evaluate, and improve the efficiency of the department management processes and procedures to enhance safety, speed, quality, efficiency, and output.
  • Develop work, development plans and schedules to effectively manage the Telecom team.
  • Leading knowledge sharing and…