Director, Software Engineering – Network Automation and AI Solutions

About this role

Company Description
Zayo provides mission-critical bandwidth to the world’s most impactful companies, fueling the innovations that are transforming our society. Zayo’s 141,000-mile network in North America and Europe includes extensive metro connectivity to thousands of buildings and data centers. Zayo’s communications infrastructure solutions include dark fiber, private data networks, wavelengths, Ethernet, and dedicated Internet access. Zayo serves wireless and wireline carriers, media, tech, content, finance, healthcare and other large enterprises.
Zayo is seeking a highly strategic and technically accomplished Director, Software Engineering – Network Automation and AI Solutions to lead the transformation of how we design, engineer, operate, and support our network infrastructure through automation, artificial intelligence, advanced analytics, and modern software engineering practices.

This leader will be responsible for defining and executing the technology strategy across network automation, OSS platforms, operational tooling, AI-enabled engineering workflows, network correlation, inventory management, ticketing integration, and network triage systems. The Director will provide architectural leadership and technical direction for software engineering teams developing scalable solutions that improve operational efficiency, service quality, and customer experience across Zayo's network operations and engineering organizations. The ideal candidate combines deep telecommunications and network operations expertise with modern software engineering leadership, leveraging AI, automation, and orchestration technologies to accelerate delivery, reduce operational complexity, and enable a more proactive and intelligent network operating model.

Key Responsibilities

• Define and execute the strategic roadmap for network automation, OSS modernization, and AI-driven operational transformation.

• Lead and develop software engineering teams responsible for network automation, OSS platforms, and operational tooling.

• Establish architectural standards, engineering best practices, and scalable solutions across monitoring, inventory, correlation, ticketing, and network management systems.

• Drive adoption of AI, automation, and advanced analytics to improve network operations, service delivery, and engineering workflows.

• Identify, prioritize, and deliver high-impact automation initiatives that improve operational efficiency, service quality, scalability, and customer outcomes.

• Provide technical leadership for the design, development, integration, and support of automation platforms and enterprise OSS applications.

• Partner with business and technology leaders to align automation investments with strategic objectives and operational priorities.

• Establish engineering metrics, performance standards, and KPIs to measure delivery excellence and business impact.

• Lead operational transformation initiatives that reduce manual effort, improve reliability, and accelerate incident detection and resolution.

• Collaborate across Engineering, Network Operations, Product, Security, Architecture, and IT to drive enterprise-wide automation and technology initiatives.

Additional Responsibilities

• Evaluate emerging technologies, AI platforms, LLM frameworks, and automation capabilities to support innovation and continuous improvement.

• Serve as a trusted advisor to executive leadership on automation, software engineering, AI strategy, and operational modernization.

• Influence enterprise technology decisions through technical expertise, business acumen, and organizational leadership.

• Foster a high-performance engineering culture focused on innovation, accountability, continuous learning, and customer success.

• Communicate technical strategies, roadmap progress, and business outcomes effectively to technical and executive audiences.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Systems, Telecommunications, or a related field; equivalent experience will be considered.

• Minimum of twelve (12) years of experience in software engineering, network automation, OSS development, network operations, or related technical disciplines.

• Minimum of five (5) years of engineering leadership experience managing software development or automation teams.

• Hands-on experience with Cisco Crosswork Network Controller (CNC) and Cisco Network Services Orchestrator (NSO), including network automation, orchestration, and service lifecycle management.

• Proven experience leading large-scale automation and operational transformation initiatives.

• Strong expertise in software architecture, distributed systems, and enterprise application development.

• Hands-on experience with Python, JavaScript, and modern development frameworks.

• Experience designing and implementing AI-enabled automation solutions in production environments.

• Strong knowledge of networking fundamentals including TCP/IP, DNS, SSL, HTTP(S), SSH, routing, switching, and network management principles.

• Experience with network monitoring and management technologies including SNMP, Syslog, telemetry, and event management systems.

• Exceptional analytical, problem-solving, communication, and organizational leadership skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Telecommunications, fiber network, carrier, or large-scale infrastructure industry experience.

• Experience with IBM/Tivoli Netcool, ServiceNow, Salesforce, Splunk, or similar OSS and operational platforms.

• Knowledge of network inventory, service assurance, fault management, and operational support systems.

• Experience with LLMs, prompt engineering, AI orchestration frameworks, agent-based architectures, and enterprise AI adoption strategies.

• Familiarity with cloud-native architectures, APIs, microservices, and modern integration platforms.

• Experience building AI governance frameworks and responsible AI operating models.

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