Director of Network Services

Ascension

20d•$142,936 - $201,972•Remote

About The Position

The Director of Network Services is responsible for the strategic leadership, architecture, and operational oversight of the hospital system’s enterprise-wide network infrastructure. This role ensures high availability, performance, security, and compliance across all hospital facilities, clinics, data centers, and cloud environments. As part of a mission-driven healthcare organization, this leader plays a critical role in enabling seamless connectivity and digital transformation that enhances patient care, clinician experience, and operational efficiency. The ideal candidate is a transformational leader with deep expertise in enterprise networking, SD-WAN, cloud connectivity, and network security. They must demonstrate a strong commitment to the organization’s mission of providing compassionate, personalized care, with a special focus on serving vulnerable and underserved populations. This role requires a servant leader who leads with humility, accountability, and empathy while maintaining a relentless focus on outcomes. The Director of Network Services is expected to build trust, foster psychological safety, and develop a culture of continuous improvement—empowering teams to deliver reliable, secure, and scalable network services in life-critical healthcare environments. Scope & Scale The Director of Network Services operates at enterprise health system scale, responsible for network services that support acute care hospitals, ambulatory sites, data centers, cloud platforms, and remote care environments across multiple markets and geographies. This role leads large-scale, multi-year life-cycle management and innovation programs involving dozens to hundreds of sites executing in parallel, multiple OEMs, telecom carriers, systems integrators, and managed service providers, with concurrent work streams across core, distribution, access, WAN, wireless, and cloud connectivity.

Requirements

10+ years of enterprise networking experience with 5+ years in leadership roles.
Proven experience leading large, multi-year lifecycle and innovation programs with multiple vendors.
Demonstrated success building and sustaining high-performing technical teams.
Expertise in SD-WAN, MPLS, cloud networking, and automation.
Experience with Cisco, Aruba, Gigamon, Extreme Networks, and similar platforms.
Familiarity with Palo Alto, Forescout, Fortinet, or equivalent security technologies.
Knowledge of healthcare regulatory and security frameworks such as HIPAA and NIST.
Bachelor’s degree required; relevant certifications preferred.
High School diploma equivalency with 5 years of applicable cumulative job specific experience required, with 2 of those years being in leadership/management OR Associate's degree/Bachelor's degree with 3 years of applicable cumulative job specific experience required, with 2 of those years being in leadership/management.

Responsibilities

Develop and execute a comprehensive network strategy aligned with business objectives.
Lead network modernization initiatives including SD-WAN, Zero Trust, cloud networking, automation, and observability.
Lead large-scale lifecycle and innovation programs coordinating multiple vendors and teams operating in parallel.
Collaborate with cross-functional leaders to align network services with digital transformation goals.
Evaluate emerging technologies to improve reliability, security, and cost effectiveness.
Lead through influence and service, removing barriers so teams can focus on patient-care outcomes.
Provide executive oversight of Managed Service Providers (MSPs) responsible for network operations.
Establish performance frameworks including SLAs, KPIs, scorecards, and service reviews.
Hold MSPs accountable for incident response, problem management, change execution, and standards adherence.
Partner with MSP leadership to drive automation, risk reduction, and service optimization.
Ensure MSP delivery models scale to support concurrent lifecycle and modernization initiatives.
Serve as a people-first, servant leader fostering trust, inclusion, and accountability.
Build and sustain a high-performing network organization with clear expectations and outcomes.
Coach and mentor leaders and engineers, developing both technical and leadership capability.
Establish career paths, succession planning, and skills development programs.
Develop teams capable of operating in matrixed, multi-vendor environments.
Recognize and reinforce behaviors aligned with service excellence and patient-first outcomes.
Own the network services budget ensuring cost efficiency and reliability.
Govern complex vendor ecosystems including OEMs, integrators, MSPs, and carriers.
Optimize contracts to maximize ROI while maintaining service quality.
Drive automation and AI-enabled network operations to improve efficiency and resiliency.