Senior Director – Network Operations

OverviewPlanet is seeking a highly accomplished Senior Director – Network Operations to lead the strategy, delivery, and operational excellence of our global network services. This leadership role is accountable for ensuring the performance, resilience, and security of Planet’s enterprise-wide network infrastructure while driving continuous improvement in service delivery, vendor performance, and customer experience. As the global owner of Network Operations, you will oversee day-to-day operations, vendor and partner management, and the achievement of defined SLA and KPI commitments. Working closely with Infrastructure, Security, and Cloud teams, you will ensure Planet’s network services are secure, reliable, scalable, and aligned with business goals. This is a strategic yet hands-on role, requiring strong operational governance, executive stakeholder management, and the ability to transform network delivery models at scale.

What you’ll be doing

Operational Leadership: Lead the end-to-end operations of Planet’s global network (LAN, WAN, WLAN, SD-WAN, Cloud, and Data Centre interconnects), ensuring high availability, resilience, and service excellence.

SLA and KPI Management: Define, measure, and continuously improve network service SLAs, KPIs, and operational benchmarks across availability, latency, performance, and incident resolution.

Vendor and Partner Management: Manage relationships with ISPs, telecom providers, and technology vendors. Drive accountability through contracts, SLA adherence, service credits, and strategic partnerships.

Incident and Problem Management: Oversee critical incident response, escalation handling, root cause analysis, and problem remediation to minimise downtime and service disruption.

Delivery and Transformation: Ensure successful delivery of network upgrades, capacity enhancements, and new connectivity services while maintaining zero disruption to production services.

Governance and Compliance: Implement operational processes aligned with ISO 27001, PCI DSS, and other relevant compliance frameworks.

Cost and Budget Ownership: Optimise network OPEX and vendor spend through strategic negotiations, vendor consolidation, and improved service efficiency.

Automation and Monitoring: Drive adoption of network monitoring, observability, and automation tools to proactively detect, predict, and resolve issues.

Team Leadership: Build and mentor a high-performing global Network Operations team, instilling a culture of accountability, service excellence, and continuous learning.

Executive Reporting: Provide regular performance, SLA, and risk updates to the Vice President – Infra, Database and Cloud, as well as to senior leadership and business stakeholders.

Who you are

12+ years of progressive experience in Network Operations, Engineering, or Service Delivery

Proven expertise in managing large-scale enterprise networks across on-premises and cloud (AWS, Azure, GCP) environments

Strong track record of vendor management, contract negotiation, and driving vendor accountability through SLA enforcement

Demonstrated ability to improve and sustain operational KPIs and network availability in mission-critical environments

Deep knowledge of routing, switching, firewalls (FortiGate, Check Point), load balancers (F5), and SD-WAN technologies

Experience in managing ISP peering, public IP allocations, redundancy, and DDoS protection strategies

Strong understanding of automation, observability, and network monitoring tools to drive proactive operations

Skilled in incident, change, and problem management processes within ITIL or similar frameworks

Excellent communicator with the ability to engage both executive stakeholders and technical teams

Payments industry or regulated-sector experience is a strong plus

Bachelor’s Degree (or higher) in Computer Science, Network Engineering, or related technical field

Why PlanetPlanet is an equal opportunity employer where diversity is valued, and all employment is decided based on qualifications, merit, and business need.

Come and grow your career in the most exciting, fast paced technology market, with a business that delivers feel-good connected commerce. We would love to hear from you – Apply now.

At Planet, we embrace a hybrid work model, with three days a week in the office. Reasonable accommodations may be made in order to allow for an individual to perform the essential functions of this role successfully.

Job Details

Seniority level: Director

Employment type: Full-time

Job function: Information Technology

Industries: IT Services and IT ..... full job details .....