Director, Core Network Engineering

Position Title: Director, Core Network Engineering

Base Salary: $150,000 to $200,000 annually DOE

Bonus: Target annual bonus

Benefits: Medical, dental, vision, 401k, flexible spending account, paid sick leave and paid time off, parental leave, quarterly performance bonus, training, career growth and education reimbursement programs.

Ziply Fiber is a local internet service provider dedicated to elevating the connected lives of the communities we serve. We offer the fastest home internet in the nation, a refreshingly great customer experience, and affordable plans that put customers in charge. 

As our state-of-the-art fiber network expands, so does our need for team members who can help us grow and realize our goals.  

Our Company Values: 

• Genuinely Caring: We treat customers and colleagues like neighbors, with empathy and full attention. 

• Empowering You: We help customers choose what is best for them, and we support employees in implementing new ideas and solutions. 

• Innovation and Improvement: We constantly seek ways to improve how we serve customers and each other.  

• Earning Your Trust: We build trust through clear, honest, human communication. 

Job Summary

The Director of Core Network Engineering is responsible for the architecture, design, engineering, and technical governance of the company’s core network infrastructure, spanning transport (optical/DWDM), IP/MPLS, Ethernet, and access aggregation layers. This role ensures the network scales reliably, securely, and cost effectively to support growth, modernization initiatives, and high availability services for residential, commercial, wholesale, and data center customers.

The Director partners closely with Network Expansion, Construction, Operations, Product, IT, and Vendor Management to translate business demand into resilient, standards-based network designs and executable engineering plans.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

The Essential Duties and Responsibilities listed below are a range of duties performed by the employee and not intended to reflect all duties performed.

Network Architecture & Strategy

· Define and maintain end‑to‑end network architecture for transport, IP, Ethernet, and access domains.

· Establish technology roadmaps aligned to capacity growth, service evolution, and modernization goals.

· Drive simplification and standardization of network designs across markets.

Engineering & Design Leadership

· Oversee high‑level and detailed engineering for backbone, metro, and aggregation networks.

· Ensure network designs meet performance, resiliency, scalability, and security requirements.

· Own routing, addressing, optical modeling, and capacity planning standards.

Operational Readiness & Reliability

· Engineer networks for carrier‑grade availability, restoration, and fault isolation.

· Partner with Operations to ensure designs are supportable and lifecycle‑managed.

· Lead root‑cause analysis for major network events and drive design improvements.

Capacity Planning & Demand Management

· Forecast traffic growth and translate demand into capital‑efficient engineering solutions.

· Balance build‑ahead investments with just‑in‑time scaling.

· Support data center, wholesale, and enterprise growth initiatives with fit‑for‑purpose designs.

Vendor & Technology Management

· Evaluate, select, and govern core network vendors and platforms.

· Own technical relationships with OEMs and integrators.

· Influence product roadmaps and negotiate technical requirements.

Cross‑Functional Leadership

· Provide clear engineering handoffs to Construction, Provisioning, and Operations.

· Partner with Network Expansion on market entry and major builds.

· Provide thorough technical assistance to both the Product and Sales teams.

People & Culture

· Lead, mentor, and develop senior engineers and architects.

· Build a culture of accountability, documentation, and engineering excellence.

· Ensure succession planning and critical skill development.

Other Duties

· Performs other duties as required to support the business and evolving organization.

Success Measures

· Network capacity scales ahead of demand with minimal service impact.

· Reduced complexity and variability in core network designs.

· High network availability, predictable restoration times, and low repeat incidents.

· Capital efficiency through right‑sized, standards‑based engineering.

· Strong cross‑functional trust and execution predictability.

Required Qualifications:

· High school diploma or GED.

· Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Computer Science, or equivalent experience.

· Minimum of ten (10) years of experience in service‑provider or large‑scale network engineering.

· Minimum of five (5) years of experience leading engineering teams and complex, large‑scale network environments.

· Deep expertise in optical transport (DWDM), IP/MPLS, Ethernet, and access aggregation.

· Strong understanding of capacity planning, resiliency design, and network automation principles.

· Experience working with Tier‑1 equipment vendors and carrier‑grade platforms.

Preferred Qualifications:

· Experience supporting data centers, wholesale transport, and cloud interconnect.

· Familiarity with network automation, telemetry, and model driven interfaces.

· Prior accountability for capital planning and vendor selection.

· Experience operating in high growth or transformation environments.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

· Ability to work independently and apply sound judgment and reasoning skills to a variety of situations.

· Ability to multi-task and collaborate effectively with other personnel to meet deadlines.

· Strong verbal and written communication, attention to detail, and organizational skills.

· Ability to work within critical deadlines.

· Ability to adjust to rapidly changing priorities and schedules.

· Ability to provide excellent customer service.

Work Authorization

Applicants must be currently authorized to work in the US for any employer. Sponsorship is not available for this position.

Physical Requirements

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Essential and marginal functions may require maintaining physical condition necessary for bending, stooping, sitting, walk