Director, Network Engineering

The Director, Network Engineering is a critical leadership role responsible for the strategic planning, design, implementation, and operation of Versant Media's enterprise and production network infrastructure. This encompasses supporting our high-availability broadcast centers, global corporate offices, and scalable public cloud environments that power our premier digital properties and streaming services. This Director will lead a team of talented engineers, ensuring the network is secure, resilient, highly performant, and capable of supporting the demanding requirements of live news, sports broadcasting, and large-scale video-on-demand (VOD) distribution. You will be instrumental in driving the adoption of network automation and Infrastructure as Code (IaC) principles to accelerate our transformation into an agile, digital-first media company. Responsibilities include, but are not limited to: Strategy & Architecture Define and own the 3-5 year network architecture roadmap across all environments (LAN, WAN, Data Center, Cloud, and Broadcast Production), ensuring solutions align with business growth and regulatory compliance. Lead the design, implementation, and optimization of WAN/MPLS circuits and network connectivity between Versant's domestic and international offices, ensuring consistent performance and security standards globally. Design and enforce network redundancy, ensuring diverse paths and connectivity at all locations to eliminate single points of failure for critical broadcast and digital services. Drive network security initiatives, working closely with InfoSec to implement and enforce segmentation, zero-trust models, and perimeter defense across the hybrid cloud estate. Manage capacity planning, and lifecycle management for all network assets. Leadership & Operations Recruit, mentor, and develop a high-performing team of network engineers, fostering a culture of continuous improvement, ownership, and technical excellence. Oversee the 24x7 operational stability of the network, acting as a final escalation point for critical incidents impacting live services or broadcast operations. Establish and enforce comprehensive network monitoring standards and practices for all infrastructure components, including routers, switches, firewalls, and wireless access points. Standardize network configuration, tooling, and alerting, utilizing Python, Ansible, and Terraform for infrastructure automation and rapid deployment. Establish and report on key performance indicators (KPIs) and service level objectives (SLOs) to ensure the network consistently meets five-nines (99.999%) availability targets. Technical Expertise Expertly manage and optimize advanced routing protocols (BGP, OSPF, MPLS) and switching technologies across diverse vendor platforms (e.g., Arista, Cisco, Juniper). Own the end-to-end network and circuit design from initial concept through deployment, including high-level and low-level engineering documentation and acceptance testing. Maintain continuous visibility into the capacity of all existing circuits and Direct Connects, proactively planning upgrades to stay ahead of bandwidth demands. Design and maintain network connectivity within AWS, Azure, or GCP environments, including Transit Gateways, Direct Connect/ExpressRoute, and advanced VPC/VNet topologies. Oversee the configuration and management of Firewalls, Load Balancers (L4/L7), and CDN integrations to optimize content delivery for millions of users.