Associate Director, Americas Network Lead

Eisai US • Nutley, NJ

20h • Hybrid

About The Position

At Eisai, satisfying unmet medical needs and increasing the benefits healthcare provides to patients, their families, and caregivers is Eisai’s human health care (hhc) mission. We’re a growing pharmaceutical company that is breaking through in neurology and oncology, with a strong emphasis on research and development. Our history includes the development of many innovative medicines, notably the discovery of the world's most widely-used treatment for Alzheimer’s disease. As we continue to expand, we are seeking highly-motivated individuals who want to work in a fast-paced environment and make a difference. If this is your profile, we want to hear from you. JOB SUMMARY: The Associate Director, Americas Network Lead will be responsible for end‑to-end leadership of network infrastructure operations across all sites in the Americas region. This will include ownership of Eisai’s hybrid network ecosystem, encompassing SD‑WAN, campus/LAN networks, wireless, cloud connectivity, remote access solutions, Zscaler (ZIA/ZPA), global firewall standards, DNS/DHCP/IPAM, IDS/IPS, NAC, NDR and secure internet egress infrastructure. Reporting to the Americas Infrastructure Lead & Global Network Lead, this role will ensure high availability, reliability, and optimization of the network and adjacent infrastructure components that support business‑critical operations. The individual will collaborate with U.S. Regional Leads, Global Functional Lead, Global Infrastructure teams, IT Security, and site leadership to align operations with defined network standards, global architectures, Zero Trust principles, and compliance frameworks. The role will include oversight of onsite infrastructure resources, network vendors, and managed service partners, with a focus on operational excellence, security, and business continuity.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in IT, Computer Science, or related discipline.
• The candidate must have a minimum of 10+ years of experience leading network engineering and operations teams in a complex, multi‑site enterprise environment
• Deep expertise in SD‑WAN, LAN/WAN, Wi‑Fi, firewalls, DNS/DHCP/IPAM, cloud networking, and hybrid network design.
• Requires deep, practical experience with cloud networking in AWS and Azure, including VPC/VNet design, routing, security controls, and hybrid connectivity models.
• Experience with Zscaler ZIA/ZPA, Zero Trust access models, and secure internet egress architectures.
• Strong understanding of network security, segmentation, identity‑based access controls, and cybersecurity integration.
• Proven ability to lead technical teams and manage vendor partnerships.
• Strong troubleshooting, stakeholder communication, and operational leadership skills.
• Familiarity with regulated environments and audit requirements.
• Able to work hybrid in our Nutley, NJ office (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday in office every week).

Nice To Haves

• Experience in pharmaceutical, biotech, manufacturing, or other regulated sectors.
• Experience managing MSP-driven operating models.
• Familiarity with Fortinet, Cisco, Aruba, AWS/Azure networking tools, Zscaler, and enterprise monitoring solutions.
• ITIL certification or experience with ITIL-based processes.
• Project management or leadership training certifications.

Responsibilities

• Infrastructure & Network Operations Leadership Lead day‑to‑day operations of Eisai’s Americas network environment, including SD‑WAN architecture, LAN/WAN, Wi‑Fi, remote access, Zscaler ZIA/ZPA, and AWS cloud network connectivity (VPCs, Transit Gateway, routing, and segmentation).
• Ensure high availability, reliability, and performance of critical network services supporting research, manufacturing, labs, corporate offices, commercial operations, and cloud workloads.
• Oversee incident, problem, and request management for all network‑related issues, ensuring rapid remediation and adherence to SLA expectations.
• Implement proactive monitoring, telemetry, and performance optimization using tools such as ThousandEyes, SolarWinds, Zscaler analytics, and CloudWatch.
• Maintain standardized network configurations, ensuring adherence to global network architecture, Zero Trust, segmentation, and firewall policies.
• Lead annual and multi‑year regional network budget planning, ensuring forecasting accuracy and financial alignment to strategic priorities.
• Manage ongoing operational spend, licensing, carrier contracts, and cloud networking costs to ensure financial stewardship across the Americas region.
• Partner with the service desk and site support teams to streamline escalation paths for network issues and maintain clear troubleshooting runbooks.
• Create necessary KB documents to enable IT Service Desk team.
• Ensure frontline and L2 staff are equipped with accurate triage documentation and diagnostic guidelines related to network operations.
• Define and track KPIs tied to network reliability, incident response, service availability, and user experience.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives and reduce repetitive incidents through root cause analysis.
• Manage strategic vendor relationships, including network carriers, SD‑WAN providers, Zscaler, firewall partners, monitoring vendors, and managed network services partners.
• Oversee SLA adherence, change management, and operational performance across all third-party network support agreements.
• Conduct and lead quarterly business reviews (QBRs) with all strategic vendors
• Collaborate with procurement and U.S. regional teams for contract renewals, licensing, bandwidth provisioning, and new network service onboarding.
• Evaluate technology upgrades, roadmap alignment, and cost optimization opportunities.
• Ensure connectivity resilience through redundant WAN paths, HA firewall clusters, diverse internet egress, and cloud failover mechanisms.
• Maintain and validate network‑specific DR procedures including SD‑WAN failover, DNS/DHCP/IPAM recovery, and cloud routing restoration.
• Coordinate with global teams to align network DR strategies with enterprise business continuity plans.
• Serve as the primary liaison between site operations, global network engineering, cloud networking teams, and IT Security.
• Communicate network performance, risks, planned maintenance, and major incidents to regional leadership and stakeholders.
• Represent Americas views in global architecture discussions related to Zero Trust, segmentation, cloud expansion, cyber controls, and service reliability.
• Plan, coordinate, and execute regional network projects including SD‑WAN upgrades, Zscaler policy rollouts, firewall refresh cycles, wireless modernization, cloud connectivity expansions, and site readiness for business initiatives.
• Ensure network projects are delivered on time, within budget, and aligned to global architectural standards.
• Maintain a strong network security posture through strict adherence to Zscaler policies, firewall standards, segmentation rules, and Zero Trust requirements.
• Partner with the Security team to analyze vulnerabilities, implement controls, enforce least‑privilege access, and support incident investigations.
• Ensure compliance with audit requirements, GxP guidelines, regulatory expectations, and enterprise security frameworks.
• Implement logging, alerting, and monitoring across critical systems.
• Mentor regional infrastructure personnel, including network engineers and site support teams.
• Support workforce planning and develop technical capability roadmaps for the team.
• Develop technical capability across the team through skill development, cross‑training, and knowledge‑sharing.
• Foster a culture of ownership, operational discipline, customer focus, and continuous improvement.

Benefits

• Employees are eligible to participate in Company employee benefit programs.
• For additional information on Company employee benefits programs, visit https://careers.eisai.com/us/en/compensation-and-benefits.
• Certain other benefits may be available for this position, please discuss any questions with your recruiter.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level