Director of Networking

Job Description

The City of Philadelphia is seeking an experienced and visionary Director of Networking to lead the design, implementation, and operation of the city’s mission-critical network infrastructure. This role will be responsible for ensuring secure, reliable, and high-performance connectivity that supports public safety, city services, multiple data centers, cloud applications, and employees across multiple locations.

The ideal candidate will bring deep technical expertise, strong leadership skills, and the ability to translate strategic goals into operational excellence. This position offers the opportunity to shape the future of networking for one of the largest municipal organizations in the United States.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the planning, deployment, operation, and optimization of the city’s enterprise network, including MPLS, LAN, WAN, WLAN, SD-WAN, cloud networking, and data center interconnects.
• Ensure network reliability, redundancy, and security to meet the needs of public safety, emergency services, and 24/7 city operations.
• Oversee network engineering, architecture, and operations teams, fostering a culture of collaboration, accountability, and continuous improvement.
• Partner with cybersecurity teams to ensure compliance with NIST, CJIS, HIPAA, IRS1075, PCI, and other relevant regulations.
• Direct incident response and serve as a senior escalation point for critical network outages.
• Manage vendor relationships, service-level agreements (SLAs), and procurement processes for network hardware, software, and services.
• Evaluate and implement emerging technologies, including SASE, AI-driven network management, and 5G integration.
• Collaborate with city departments to understand networking needs and deliver solutions that enable digital transformation and efficient service delivery.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in information technology, Computer Science, Networking, or a related field.
• 10+ years of progressively responsible experience in enterprise networking, including at least 5 years in a leadership or management role.
• Demonstrated experience with large-scale, complex network environments spanning multiple sites.
• Strong understanding of network architecture, routing/switching, wireless, SD-WAN, network security, and cloud networking.
• Proven success in managing multi-million-dollar budgets and vendor contracts.
• Exceptional problem-solving skills and the ability to lead during high-pressure situations.
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to work effectively with executive leadership, technical teams, and non-technical stakeholders.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in government, public safety, or large municipal networking environments.
• Professional certifications such as JNCIP/JNCIE, or equivalent a plus.
• Familiarity with ITIL, project management methodologies, and large-scale network migration strategies.