Director, Network

Ready to build what's next with one of the world's most iconic brands?

Why Join Subway?

At Subway, we are not standing still. We are building.

This is a business focused on what matters most: growing franchisee profitability, strengthening our brand and creating long-term value. The people who thrive here are the ones who want to make a real impact.

You will not just do the work. You will shape it.

We move fast. We think like owners. We make decisions that matter. We hold ourselves to a high standard because what we do directly impacts thousands of franchisees around the world.

If you bring energy, accountability and a bias for action, you will fit right in.

We take the work seriously, but we also know the best results come from teams that support each other, celebrate wins and show up ready to build something better every day.

This is your chance to be part of what’s next.

About the Role:

The Director of Network is a senior technology leader responsible for the strategy, architecture, and operational excellence of Subway’s enterprise network infrastructure. Reporting to the Sr. Director of Platform Engineering, this role owns the end-to-end lifecycle of WAN/LAN, SD-WAN, ZTNA, DNS, and load balancing across corporate, cloud (Azure and AWS), and franchise restaurant environments. The ideal candidate combines deep technical expertise in network engineering and multi-cloud networking with a strong infrastructure-as-code foundation, proven leadership of blended teams (FTE and managed-service providers), and the ability to translate infrastructure investments into business outcomes for a global franchise brand.

Responsibilities include but not limited to:

Network Strategy & Architecture

• Define and execute the enterprise network strategy spanning corporate WAN/LAN, SD-WAN (Silver Peak/Aruba EdgeConnect), restaurant connectivity, data center interconnects, next-generation firewall platforms (Palo Alto Networks - PAN-OS, Panorama), and cloud networking across Azure (vNET, ExpressRoute, Azure Firewall, NSGs) and AWS (Transit Gateway, VPC, Direct Connect, Security Groups).
• Own the ZTNA roadmap, evaluating and implementing zero trust network access solutions to replace legacy VPN architectures and align with Zero Trust principles.
• Design and maintain DNS, DHCP, IPAM (DDI), load balancing, and traffic management architectures to support high availability and performance across corporate and franchise environments.
• Partner with Cyber Security leadership to ensure network segmentation, micro‑segmentation, and firewall policies meet regulatory and compliance requirements.
• Drive cloud‑native network architecture across Azure and AWS, including hub‑and‑spoke topologies, shared services models, and automated network provisioning through infrastructure-as-code.

Infrastructure-as-Code & Automation

• Lead the adoption and maturation of Terraform as the primary tool for managing network infrastructure across cloud and on‑premises environments; enforce IaC standards, module governance, and state management practices across the team.
• Build and maintain CI/CD pipelines for network configuration deployment using GitHub Actions or Azure DevOps, enabling automated testing, validation, and promotion of network changes.
• Extend automation primarily through Terraform, supplementing with lightweight scripting (Python, Ansible, or equivalent) only where Terraform alone can’t close the gap - eliminating manual operations toil, accelerating incident response, and improving consistency across the network estate.
• Champion an automation‑first engineering culture across the network team - systematically identifying and eliminating repetitive manual tasks through scripting, tooling, and self‑service capabilities.
• Implement automated drift detection and remediation pipelines to ensure cloud network configurations remain consistent with declared infrastructure state.
• Own the multi‑cloud network architecture and operations across Azure and AWS, ensuring consistent security posture, routing design, and connectivity patterns across both hyperscalers.
• Design and manage cloud network constructs including virtual networks, peering, private endpoints, network security groups, route tables, and cloud‑native firewall policies.
• Lead cloud network observability - implementing flow logging, network performance monitoring, and automated alerting to provide full visibility into multi‑cloud traffic and anomalies.
• Partner with Cloud Engineering and Application teams to design scalable, secure cloud network architectures that support Subway’s cloud‑first application portfolio.
• Drive cloud network cost optimization through right‑sizing, traffic engineering, and governance of data egress patterns across Azure and AWS.
• Oversee network connectivity and performance for 37,000+ Subway restaurant locations globally, partnering with franchise operations teams and third‑party managed network providers.
• Drive standardization of restaurant network architectures including POS connectivity, guest Wi‑Fi, digital menu boards, and IoT device networking.
• Manage vendor relationships with ISPs, MSPs, and network equipment suppliers to ensure SLA adherence, cost optimization, and scalable deployment models.
• Lead and develop a high‑performing blended team of FTEs and managed‑service/staff augmentation resources across network engineering and network operations; set clear expectations, build accountability, and invest in team growth and career development.
• Manage relationships with key technology vendors and system integrators; hold vendors accountable to SOWs, SLAs, and delivery milestones.
• Foster a culture of operational excellence, IaC‑first thinking, and continuous learning; champion adoption of AI tooling and automation practices across the team.
• Develop and manage the annual operating and capital budgets