Director, Network Planning & Architecture

Digital Realty; Ashburn (VA); On-site; USD 170,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Digital Realty seeks a Director of Network Planning to shape strategy, planning, and evolution of the global network infrastructure. You will partner with program managers, engineers, and external vendors to define scalable network strategies, standards, and architecture that align with business goals.

You will drive long-range capacity planning, market expansion, and deployment readiness while leading a cross-functional team to optimize performance, cost, and reliability across data center

Qualifications

• Experience leading network planning, architecture, or infrastructure strategy for large-scale environments.
• Experience defining architecture standards and implementation models across optical, transport, routing and data center networking.
• Experience leading long-range capacity planning and investment prioritization in data center or telecommunication contexts.
• Experience driving AI-enabled automation to streamline planning and design workflows.

Responsibilities

• Lead global network planning strategy, capacity planning, and investment alignment.
• Oversee market planning and infrastructure readiness across metros and product launches.
• Align network planning with product roadmaps, service requirements, and customer experience goals.
• Establish governance, standards, and operating models for scalable network architecture.
• Drive automation roadmaps and data-driven workflows to improve speed and quality.
• Collaborate with engineering, operations, and business teams to meet financial targets and commitments.
• Define topology standards, hardware lifecycle, and risk management practices.

Skills

Strategic leadership

Network planning

Architecture standards

AI automation

Python

APIs

Data-driven workflows

Cross-functional collaboration

Executive communication

Education

Relevant education or training

Tools

Python

APIs

Automation frameworks

Job description

Role Overview

As Director of Network Planning, you will lead the strategy, planning, and evolution of Digital Realty’s global network infrastructure. You will partner with Technical Program Managers, Network Engineers, Design and Infrastructure Engineers, Field Engineers, and external vendors to define scalable network strategies, strengthen architecture standards, and drive successful business outcomes across the organization.

Responsibilities

• Lead Digital Realty’s global network planning strategy, including long‑range capacity planning, infrastructure prioritization, and investment alignment to support business growth, customer demand, and service objectives.
• Lead network capacity deployment planning to ensure infrastructure is delivered in the right markets, at the right time, and at the right scale to support customer demand, product requirements, and business growth.
• Drive new market planning and infrastructure readiness by partnering across product, sales, finance, and deployment teams to evaluate demand signals, define requirements, and prioritize expansion opportunities.
• Partner closely with product teams to align network planning, architecture, and deployment priorities with product roadmaps, service requirements, and customer experience goals.
• Establish and govern network architecture standards, design principles, and planning frameworks that enable scalable, resilient, and cost‑effective infrastructure across global metro and data center environments.
• Drive repeatable planning and deployment models by translating architecture strategy into scalable designs, implementation patterns, and technical requirements for global network expansion.
• Own the roadmap for planning automation, data‑driven workflows, and process standardization to reduce manual effort, improve quality, and increase speed and consistency across the organization.
• Drive the strategic use of AI tools to automate planning, analysis, and design workflows, improve decision quality, identify optimization opportunities, and scale engineering productivity through more intelligent and repeatable operating models.
• Partner across engineering, operations, infrastructure, and business teams to align network strategy with service requirements, financial targets, operational readiness, and customer commitments.
• Build and evolve governance, business processes, and performance measures for network planning and design, including topology standards, hardware lifecycle strategy, capacity targets, and risk management practices.

Qualifications

• Experience leading network planning, architecture, or infrastructure strategy for large‑scale Layer 1, Layer 2, or Layer 3 environments.
• Experience defining architecture standards, design principles, and implementation models across optical, transport, routing, and data center networking environments.
• Experience leading long‑range capacity planning, investment prioritization, and infrastructure roadmap development in telecommunications, hyperscale, data center, or colocation environments.
• Experience leading network capacity deployment strategies, market expansion planning, and infrastructure readiness for new metros, products, or service launches.
• Experience defining and advancing an AI‑enabled automation strategy using Python, APIs, data‑driven workflows, automation frameworks, and AI tools to streamline planning, accelerate design decisions, improve forecasting, and reduce manual effort across network engineering processes.
• Knowledge of fiber types, transport systems, routing infrastructure, and scalable network architecture principles.
• Experience establishing governance, business processes, and operating models that improve consistency, quality, and execution at scale.
• Experience leading cross‑functional programs and aligning engineering, operations, and business stakeholders around strategic network priorities.
• Excellent communication, executive presentation, and decision‑making skills.

Benefits

Compensation range: $170,000 – $190,000. Individual pay is based on job‑related skills, experience, and relevant education or training. Total compensation may include salary, cash bonus or commissions, and equity awards.

Benefits include medical, dental, vision, life and AD&D insurance, 401k match, disability benefits, wellness and education benefits, employee stock purchase plan, paid time off, holidays, and more.