Director of Global Network & Connectivity

Ashley Furniture Industries • Tampa, FL

13h • Onsite

About The Position

We're seeking a Director of Global Network & Connectivity to lead the strategy, engineering, and operations of Ashley’s global network and communications ecosystem. This critical leadership role supports our massive scale across manufacturing, distribution, retail, and corporate environments. As the Director, you will transform our connectivity into a software-defined, automated, and SLO-driven platform, enabling a secure, resilient, and scalable infrastructure that directly supports Ashley’s AI-first and digital transformation strategy. You will work boundarylessly, partnering with Infrastructure, Platform Services, DevOps, Security, and Data teams to modernize capabilities, improve reliability, and enable self-service and automation at scale. This is a unique opportunity to demonstrate a Culture of Leadership while driving enterprise-wide modernization initiatives that will keep Ashley at the forefront of the global furniture industry.

Requirements

• 12+ years of progressive IT experience, with a strong focus on enterprise networking and communications - Required
• 5+ years in a leadership role managing global network and/or telecom teams - Required
• Proven experience supporting large-scale, distributed environments (manufacturing, retail, or similar highly complex operations).
• Proven ability to lead large-scale transformation initiatives.
• Enterprise Networking: Deep expertise in LAN, WAN, Wireless, and SD-WAN.
• Voice & Communications: Strong knowledge of VoIP, SIP, contact center solutions, and unified communications platforms.
• Routing & Switching: Advanced understanding of BGP, OSPF, TCP/IP, DNS, and DHCP.
• Cloud Networking: Experience with modern cloud environments (Azure, GCP, or AWS).
• Security: Solid grasp of network/communication security and Zero Trust principles.
• Automation & Observability: Experience with APIs, scripting, Infrastructure as Code (IaC), monitoring tools, and ITSM integration.
• Continuous Improvement Mindset: Relentless focus on optimizing performance and automating processes.
• Dirty Fingernail Philosophy: Willingness to dig into the details and inspect what you expect.
• Strategic Vision: Ability to align technical infrastructure with business goals and AI-first strategies.
• Collaborative Leader: Proven ability to work cross-functionally and build strong vendor relationships.

Nice To Haves

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, or a related field - Preferred

Responsibilities

• Define and execute the global strategy for networking and communications across LAN, WAN, wireless, voice, contact centers, and unified communications.
• Lead modernization initiatives including SD-WAN, cloud networking, VoIP transformation, and cloud-based contact center platforms.
• Standardize architecture across all manufacturing plants, distribution centers, retail stores, and corporate offices.
• Align network and communication capabilities to support AI, data, and platform-driven workloads.
• Own the availability, performance, and reliability of global network and communication services (24x7x365).
• Define and manage Service Level Objectives (SLOs) and Service Level Indicators (SLIs) across connectivity and voice services.
• Drive reduction in Mean Time to Recovery (MTTR) through improved incident response, automation, and root cause elimination.
• Lead proactive resilience initiatives including failover, redundancy, and disaster recovery testing.
• Evolve networking and communications into self-service platforms with established guardrails.
• Implement Infrastructure as Code (IaC) and API-driven provisioning for network and voice services.
• Automate configuration, compliance, and lifecycle management across connectivity and communication systems.
• Partner with DevOps and Platform teams to integrate network and communications into CI/CD pipelines and cloud platforms.
• Ensure end-to-end visibility across network, voice, contact center, and user experience.
• Improve alert quality and reduce noise through event correlation and intelligent monitoring.
• Integrate telemetry into enterprise observability and ITSM platforms (e.g., ServiceNow) and enable synthetic monitoring.
• Partner with Security to implement Zero Trust architecture across network and communication platforms.
• Embed security into design, operations, and access controls across all connectivity layers to ensure compliance.
• Lead operations across data centers, cloud, retail stores, manufacturing sites, offices, and contact centers.
• Serve as the primary escalation point for major incidents impacting connectivity and communications.
• Manage the network and communications budget (CapEx and OpEx).
• Optimize carrier circuits, voice services, and platform costs through strategic sourcing and lifecycle management.
• Manage vendor relationships across telecom providers, voice platforms, and contact center solutions.
• Build and lead a high-performing global network and communications team.
• Develop team capabilities in automation, cloud networking, voice platforms, and Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) practices.
• Foster a culture of standardization, accountability, and Continuous Improvement.
• Coach, mentor, and develop team members through structured performance management.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director
• Number of Employees: 5,001-10,000 employees