Director of Global Network & Connectivity

Ashley • Tampa, FL

17h • Onsite

About The Position

Ashley Furniture Industries is seeking a Director of Global Network & Connectivity to lead the strategy, engineering, and operations of their global network and communications ecosystem. This role is crucial for supporting their large-scale operations across manufacturing, distribution, retail, and corporate environments. The Director will be responsible for transforming the company's connectivity into a software-defined, automated, and SLO-driven platform, ensuring a secure, resilient, and scalable infrastructure that supports Ashley's AI-first and digital transformation strategy. This position requires collaboration with Infrastructure, Platform Services, DevOps, Security, and Data teams to modernize capabilities, improve reliability, and enable self-service and automation. It's an opportunity to demonstrate leadership and drive enterprise-wide modernization initiatives.

Requirements

• 12+ years of progressive IT experience, with a strong focus on enterprise networking and communications
• 5+ years in a leadership role managing global network and/or telecom teams
• Proven experience supporting large-scale, distributed environments (manufacturing, retail, or similar highly complex operations).
• Proven ability to lead large-scale transformation initiatives.
• Deep expertise in Enterprise Networking: LAN, WAN, Wireless, and SD-WAN.
• Strong knowledge of Voice & Communications: VoIP, SIP, contact center solutions, and unified communications platforms.
• Advanced understanding of Routing & Switching: BGP, OSPF, TCP/IP, DNS, and DHCP.
• Experience with modern cloud environments (Azure, GCP, or AWS).
• Solid grasp of network/communication security and Zero Trust principles.
• 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

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.

Benefits

• Inspire the love of home and enrich the lives of those around us
• Be the most innovative and competitive furniture company on the planet
• Opportunity to drive global transformation
• Opportunity to embrace innovation
• Play a foundational role in enabling AI-first and digital transformation strategies
• Make an impact: work directly enables daily operations of manufacturing plants, global supply chain, and retail stores
• Collaborate boundarylessly with top-tier technology and business leaders
• Be part of a growth-focused organization committed to dominating the furniture industry
• Ashley is an equal opportunity employer
• Celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees

What This Job Offers

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