Associate Director - RAN Cloud

Verizon; Southlake (TX); Hybrid; USD 126,000 - 242,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

401(k) matching

Paid holidays

Tuition assistance

Parental leave

Vacation days

Job summary

Verizon is seeking a technical leader to direct end-to-end strategy and deployment of cloud-native RAN platforms across thousands of sites. You will govern vendors, drive AI-driven diagnostics, and plan vRAN roadmap integration with Granite Rapids compute, while coordinating across Planning, Engineering, MTCE, and Operations teams.

You will mentor staff, manage escalations, and push process improvements to automate complex workflows in a high-stakes environment.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or four+ years of work experience.
• Eight+ years of relevant experience with Cloud Infra and vRAN.
• Experience in OpenShift, RHEL, Linux kernel tuning, and CaaS resources.
• Proven ability to manage external vendor relationships and lead escalations.

Responsibilities

• Direct end-to-end strategy and deployment of Cloud-native RAN platforms.
• Govern vendor roadmaps, SLAs, and patch management with partners.
• Drive AI-enabled diagnostics and automation for site operations.
• Plan vRAN roadmap and integrate Granite Rapids compute technologies.
• Foster cross-functional collaboration across Planning, Engineering, MTCE, and Operations.
• Mentor teams, groom leads, and manage performance objectives.
• Lead advanced troubleshooting for production issues and kernel-level conflicts.
• Identify process improvements and drive automation across tasks.

Skills

Cloud Infrastructure

OpenShift

vRAN architecture

RHEL/Linux kernel tuning

CaaS resource management

External tech relationships

Escalation management

AI-driven automation

Education

Bachelor’s degree

MBA

Tools

so-crates

TCPFlow

Job description

When you join Verizon You want more out of a career. A place to share your ideas freely — even if they’re daring or different. Where the true you can learn, grow, and thrive. At Verizon, we power and empower how people live, work and play by connecting them to what brings them joy. We do what we love — driving innovation, creativity, and impact in the world. Our V Team is a community of people who anticipate, lead, and believe that listening is where learning begins. In crisis and in celebration, we come together — lifting our communities and building trust in how we show up, everywhere & always. Want in? Join the #VTeamLife.

What You’ll Be Doing…

• Program Leadership & Lifecycle Management: Directing end-to-end strategy and deployment of Cloud-native RAN platforms, overseeing FOA rollouts, hardware cutovers, and infrastructure upgrades across thousands of Far Edge nodes.
• Strategic Vendor Governance & Management: Serving as the primary interface for key partners (Samsung, Wind River, Ericsson, Red Hat), holding them accountable for technical roadmaps, deliverables, and SLAs through rigorous triage and patch management.
• Automation & AI Innovation: Spearheading the development and integration of AI-driven tools and internal software (e.g., Skinny OS, AI Copilots) to automate diagnostics, site pre-checking, and "Day 2" operational workflows.
• Strategic Planning & Integration: Driving vRAN roadmap planning, ensuring integration of new technologies (e.g., Granite Rapids compute) while maintaining infrastructure consistency and performance metrics.
• Operational Alignment: Facilitating cross-functional collaboration between Planning, Engineering, Maintenance Engineering (MTCE), and Operations teams to troubleshoot high-stakes production issues and maintain system stability.
• Team Leadership: Mentoring and developing team members, fostering a culture of high morale and professional excellence, while designating and grooming leads for specific workstreams (e.g., SS requirements, E/// requirements).
• Advanced Troubleshooting: Directing high-stakes technical troubleshooting for complex production issues, including kernel crashes, PTP synchronization failures, and driver-level conflicts (Intel ICE drivers). Utilize advanced diagnostic tools like so-crates (site debug tool/TCPFlow) to isolate packet-level issues and expedite resolution during outages.
• Process Improvement: Identifying opportunities for process improvement and driving efficiencies to simplify repeatable tasks.
• Operational Incident Management: Providing coverage for any operational issues. Ensuring platform outages are handled in accordance with predefined guidelines for ticket management, prioritization, documentation, escalation, and resolution.
• Team Performance Management: Ensuring that the performance of the entire staff is maximized by establishing individual and group objectives, providing routine feedback and counseling (when necessary), and conducting yearly performance appraisals.
• Automation Strategy: Identifying opportunities for operational and management automation while performing as a subject matter expert for the technology.

***This role can be located in any US based Verizon hub location.***

What We’re Looking For…

The position will provide technical leadership and/or business-related subject matter expertise on highly visible projects and communicate status and/or updates to executive leadership.

You’ll Need To Have

• Bachelor’s degree or four or more years of work experience.
• Eight or more years of relevant experience required, demonstrated through one or a combination of work and/or military experience, or specialized training.
• Experience in Cloud Infrastructure, OpenShift (CaaS), and vRAN architecture, with experience in RHEL, Linux kernel fine-tuning, and CaaS resource management.
• Experience in managing external technology relationships, articulating firm technical requirements, and leading high-stakes escalations to meet aggressive delivery timelines.

Even better if you have one or more of the following:

• A degree in Engineering, Computer Science, or related fields.
• Ability to analyze issues and solve complex problems with innovative solutions.
• Technical leadership and experience in one or more of the following areas: Telecommunications, Networking, IT systems & Virtualization/Cloud technologies.
• Proven ability to make clear-headed, decisive actions under high-pressure scenarios, particularly regarding infrastructure cutovers and production troubleshooting.
• Demonstrable history of effective partnership and empathy across diverse organizations (MTCE, Operations, Engineering) to solve complex problems and manage executive escalations.
• Ability to effectively articulate technical requirements to vendors and provide clear, strategic updates to executive leadership.
• Automation Mindset: Experience in driving the transition from manual processes to AI-driven, automated network workflows.
• Experience with deploying and managing applications running in a virtualized or containerized environment.
• Completion of an undergraduate degree and an MBA to complement technical expertise with strong business acumen.
• Rotational experience or familiarity with lateral domains such as RAN or Transport to widen technical scope.
• Experience in developing or deploying AI-driven agents or custom scripts for log analysis, configuration management, and predictive network resilience.
• Experience transitioning initiatives from successful FOA/Pilot phases to full-scale enterprise rollout (100–500+ sites).

Where you’ll be working

In this hybrid role, you'll have a defined work location that includes working from home and a minimum of three days per week in the office, which will be set by your manager. Employees are responsible for maintaining compliance with hybrid work policies.

Scheduled Weekly Hours
40

Equal Employment Opportunity
Verizon is an equal opportunity employer. We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to veteran status, disability or other legally protected characteristics.

Benefits And Compensation

Our benefits are designed to help you move forward in your career, and in areas of your life outside of Verizon. From health and wellness benefit options including: medical, dental, vision, short and long term disability, basic life insurance, supplemental life insurance, AD&D insurance, identity theft protection, pet insurance and group home & auto insurance. We also offer a matched 401(k) savings plan, up to 8 company paid holidays per year and up to 6 personal days per year, paid parental leave, adoption assistance and tuition assistance, plus other incentives, we’ve got you covered with our award-winning total rewards package. Depending on the role, employees have the opportunity to receive compensation in the form of premium pay such as overtime, shift differential, holiday pay, allowances, etc. Newly hired employees receive up to 15 days of vacation per year, which grows with additional service. For part-timers, your coverage will vary as you may be eligible for some of these benefits depending on your individual circumstances.

The salary will vary depending on your location and confirmed job-related skills and experience. This is an incentive based position with the potential to earn more. For part-time roles, your compensation will be adjusted to reflect your hours.

The annual salary range for the location(s) listed on this job requisition based on a full-time schedule is: $126,000.00 - $242,000.00.