Director of Network Operations

Position Overview Director of Network Operations This Director of Network Operations at OMES will lead network engineering and operations to maintain end-to-end network availability, capacity and performance across data center, campus, wireless and WAN/SD-WAN environments. The role is full-time, based in Oklahoma City, OK, and requires a 40‑hour per week schedule with occasional extended hours. Salary up to: $140,000 based on education and experience. Position is on-site in Oklahoma City, OK. Support the Information Services Division. Key Benefits Generous leave including 15 days of vacation, 15 days of sick leave and 11 paid holidays annually. A comprehensive Benefit Package with a generous benefit allowance to offset the cost of insurance premiums for employees and their eligible dependents. Core Responsibilities Operational Stability & Resiliency Own end-to-end network availability, capacity, and performance across data center, campus, wireless, and WAN/SD-WAN environments. Establish and enforce change management, maintenance windows, and configuration standards to reduce self-inflicted outages. Lead root-cause analysis and post-incident reviews for major incidents; ensure corrective actions are tracked to closure. Define and test resiliency requirements - redundancy, failover, disaster recovery, and business continuity - against actual business impact tolerances. Build proactive monitoring, alerting, and capacity-planning practices that catch degradation before it becomes an outage. Complexity Reduction & Architecture Inventory and rationalize the network estate - hardware platforms, circuit types, vendors, and one-off site configurations - to identify consolidation opportunities. Set enterprise standards and reference architectures so new sites and services are deployed consistently rather than as bespoke builds. Sponsor a rolling technical-debt and end-of-life remediation plan for aging or unsupported network infrastructure. Partner with security and infrastructure teams to simplify network segmentation and access models without weakening controls. Team Alignment & Leadership Lead, coach, and develop network engineering and operations staff, including managers/supervisors and on-call rotations. Define clear roles, ownership boundaries, and escalation paths between network, security, service desk, and platform teams to eliminate finger-pointing during incidents. Drive a shared operating rhythm - standups, change reviews, incident reviews, roadmap check-ins - that keeps engineering, operations, and vendor teams working from the same plan. Represent network strategy and performance to IT leadership, business stakeholders, and (where applicable) regulators or auditors. Cost Efficiency & Vendor Management Own the network budget, including circuit, hardware, licensing, and maintenance / support spend; identify and execute cost-reduction initiatives. Lead vendor and carrier negotiations, contract renewals, and build-vs-buy/insource-vs-outsource decisions. Evaluate consolidation of circuits, platforms, and support contracts to reduce run-cost while maintaining or improving resiliency. Build and maintain a chargeback/showback model - where applicable - so network costs are transparent and attributable. Required Qualifications 10+ years in network engineering/operations, including 5+ years in a director-level or equivalent leadership role. Deep hands-on background in enterprise routing/switching, WAN/SD-WAN, wireless, data center networking, and network security fundamentals (firewalls, segmentation). Demonstrated track record of reducing incident volume/severity and improving uptime in a large, distributed environment. Experience leading infrastructure consolidation, standardization, or modernization initiatives at enterprise scale. Strong financial acumen - budget ownership, vendor negotiation, and cost-model development. Proven people leadership: hiring, developing, and aligning cross-functional technical teams. Preferred Qualifications Experience in a regulated industry (insurance, financial services, healthcare, or government) with associated compliance and audit exposure. Relevant certifications (e.g., JNCP/CCNP/CCIE, PMP, ITIL) are a plus but not required in lieu of demonstrated experience. Experience operating in a hybrid/multi-cloud interconnect environment. Experience with formal SLA/OLA frameworks and chargeback or cost-recovery models. Physical Demands and Work Environment This position works in an office setting with a computer for a large percentage of the workday. The noise level in the work environment is usually mild. This position requires standing, bending, crouching, pushing, pulling, lifting, moving, and carrying up to 50 pounds or more. Occasional travel may be required. About OMES The Office of Management and Enterprise Services provides excellent service, expert guidance and continuous improvement in support of our partners’ goals. We are a highly qualified workforce committed to serve those who serve Oklahomans and make government run in the most efficient, innovative manner possible. Equal Opportunity Employer OMES is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Reasonable accommodation to individuals with disabilities may be provided upon request. The State of Oklahoma is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of genetic information, race, religion, color, sex, age, national origin, or disability. #J-18808-Ljbffr