Location: Bangalore, India
Experience: 18+ Years
Employment Type: Full-time
Role Overview
We are seeking a strategic and customer-facing Sr. Director / Vice President, Networking & Field Engineering Services to lead and scale our global Network Infrastructure and Field Engineering Services business.
The role will have end-to-end ownership of client engagement, solutioning, SOW/quote creation, service delivery, and commercial performance across network refresh, migration, telecom/optical, and field engineering engagements — driven directly through our large SI, and reseller partners as well as direct enterprise accounts.
This is a hands-on leadership role: the ideal candidate can sit in front of a customer or partner, understand the ask, and independently scope, structure, and issue a Statement of Work — without relying on a separate presales or delivery function to translate the conversation.
Key Responsibilities
- Network & Field Engineering Services Leadership
- Lead network refresh, migration, and field engineering engagements spanning campus/data center switching, routing, wireless, and telecom/optical infrastructure.
- Own delivery of multi-site programs (EOL/EOS refresh, cutover windows, decommission-to-replace migrations) across distributed customer environments.
- Establish scalable field engineering delivery models across geographies, including onsite dispatch, rack-and-stack, cabling, and config migration.
- Drive standardization of SOW templates, BOM/cabling standards, and migration methodologies across engagements.
- Business Ownership
- Own growth, profitability, and overall performance of the Networking & FES business line.
- Drive revenue growth, margin management, resource utilization, and cost control across active and pipeline engagements.
- Build and execute the networking/FES business plan, including account targeting and prospect development.
- Identify new opportunities across network refresh, SD-WAN, telecom/optical, and managed network operations.
- Client & Partner Stakeholder Management
- Own the direct customer/partner conversation end-to-end — discovery calls, scoping discussions, technical requirements gathering, and commercial negotiation.
- Build and manage relationships with partner counterparts at large SIs and resellers (e.g., WWT, TD SYNNEX) and with end-customer technical/operational leadership (e.g., Directors of Network Operations).
- Serve as the executive escalation point for active network engagements and multi-vendor accountability concerns.
- Drive customer satisfaction, retention, and account expansion within existing partner-sourced accounts.
- Presales, Solutioning & SOW Ownership
- Personally scope and author Statements of Work — design review, migration plan, BOM, cutover/cut-window planning, commercial terms — without dependency on a separate proposal desk.
- Turn fast-turnaround customer requests (48–72 hour SOW/quote asks) into accurate, deliverable-ready scopes.
- Define solution architecture, migration/cutover strategy, and commercial/pricing frameworks for network refresh and FES pursuits.
- Partner with Business Development to develop value propositions, ROM pricing, and proposal content for RFP/RFI responses.
- Build reusable SOW frameworks, rate cards, and BOM templates to speed up future pursuits.
- Network Modernization & Technical Transformation
- Lead modernization of legacy network environments through:
- Data center and campus switching/routing refresh (Cisco Nexus, Catalyst 9000 series)
- Multi-site EOL/EOS decommission-to-replace programs with defined cut windows
- Telecom and optical networking (transport, fiber, SP infrastructure)
- SD-WAN, network automation, and config migration tooling
- L2/L3 design (VLANs, port-channel/LACP, HSRP/VRRP, dynamic routing), QoS, ACLs, and security hardening
- Server/storage cabling and physical layer integration for virtualization environments
- Governance, Risk & Operational Excellence
- Establish governance across weekly/monthly/quarterly delivery reviews for active engagements.
- Define operational dashboards for SLA adherence, cut-window success rates, and post-migration stability.
- Drive ITIL-aligned Incident, Problem, and Change Management for managed network operations engagements.
- Ensure UAT, performance/failover testing, and post-implementation health checks are consistently executed.
- People & Leadership
- Lead and scale field engineering and network delivery teams across geographies.
- Build a bench model that balances onsite field engineers, remote NOC/config engineers, and senior architects.
- Develop technical leadership pipeline and mentor engineers on customer-facing scoping and SOW authorship.
- Drive accountability, engagement, and a culture of ownership across delivery teams.
Required Experience & Expertise
- 18+ years of experience in Network Infrastructure, Field Engineering Services, Telecom/Optical, or Managed Network Services.
- Proven experience owning customer conversations directly and authoring SOWs/quotes without a separate presales layer.
- Strong experience with multi-site network refresh/migration programs, including cutover planning and execution.
- Experience delivering through large SI/reseller partner as well as direct enterprise accounts.
- Track record in commercial negotiation, BOM/pricing development, and fast-turnaround scoping (48–72 hour SOW cycles).
- Experience engaging with customer-side Network Operations leadership (Director/VP level) and multi-vendor environments.
Technical & Domain Expertise
Strong Understanding Of
- Cisco switching/routing platforms (Nexus, Catalyst 9000 series) and StackWise Virtual/stacking architectures
- L2/L3 network design — VLANs, trunking, STP, port-channel/LACP, SVIs, static/dynamic routing, HSRP/VRRP
- QoS, ACLs, and network security hardening
- Telecom and optical networking (transport, SP/carrier infrastructure)
- Data center physical layer — server/storage cabling, optics, structured cabling
- SD-WAN and network automation
Preferred Technology Exposure
- Routing & Switching (R/S) — Cisco Catalyst, Nexus platforms
- SD-WAN
- Wireless (enterprise WLAN)
- Security (network security, firewalls, access control)
- Data Center (switching, compute/storage integration)
- Rack & Stack (physical install, cabling, structured cabling)
Key Leadership Competencies
- Direct, hands-on customer engagement and scoping ability
- Strong commercial and SOW/proposal authorship skills
- P&L and business growth ownership
- Field engineering and large-scale delivery leadership
- Multi-vendor account management and objection handling
- Ability to operate at both strategic and hands-on execution levels
- Strong communication and negotiation skills with technical and business stakeholders
Education
Education & Preferred Certifications
- Bachelor's or Master's degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Telecommunications, or related field.
Preferred Certifications
- CCNP / CCIE (Enterprise, Data Center, or Service Provider track)
- PMP / PRINCE2
- ITIL Foundation or higher
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
- Revenue growth and profitability of the Networking & FES business
- SOW/quote turnaround time and win rate
- Cut-window/migration success rate and post-migration stability
- Customer satisfaction and partner relationship health
- Account retention and expansion within partner-sourced pipeline
- New account/vertical development in network refresh and telecom
- Employee engagement and technical leadership pipeline development
