Director, Networks & Systems

Brandeis University; Waltham, Northern (MA, KY); Hybrid; USD 154,000 - 173,000; Full time

Job summary

Brandeis University is seeking a Director of Networks & Systems in the IT Department to provide strategic and operational leadership for core infrastructure, including networking, hybrid data centers, servers, storage, virtualization, backups, and DR readiness.

The role oversees engineering staff, vendor relationships, capacity planning, and multi-year capital planning, ensuring secure, scalable, cloud-aligned services across campus and offsite providers.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree required.
• Master's degree preferred.
• 8+ years of experience with 3-5 years of supervisory experience.

Responsibilities

• Provides strategic leadership for core on-prem and cloud-aligned infrastructure.
• Oversees reliability, performance, and disaster recovery readiness of infrastructure platforms.
• Partners with Security, IAM, Integrations, and application teams for secure, reliable service delivery.
• Leads staff development, succession planning, and cross-team coordination.

Skills

Leadership

Strategic planning

Staff management

Communication

Security collaboration

Disaster recovery

Education

Bachelor's degree

Master's degree

Job description

Director of Networks & Systems

Brandeis University is looking to hire a Director of Networks & Systems in the IT Department. The Director provides strategic and operational leadership for the university’s core technology infrastructure, including networking, hybrid on-prem and offsite data center environments, server platforms, storage, virtualization, backups, disaster-recovery readiness, and infrastructure-adjacent applications. This role ensures the reliability, performance, and lifecycle planning of foundational IT services that support academic, administrative, public safety, and research activities. The Director oversees engineering staff, manages key vendor and consortium relationships, and guides infrastructure architecture, capacity planning, and multi-year capital planning. The position also coordinates data center facilities such as power, cooling, and physical environment in partnership with offsite data center providers and campus units. The Director collaborates closely with ITS Security, Identity & Access Management, Integrations, and application platform teams to ensure secure, scalable, cloud-aligned, and well-integrated infrastructure services.

The salary range for the position is $153,800-$172,800.

Job Description

Function 1 — Infrastructure Leadership & Architecture Oversight (40%)

Provides strategic leadership for the university’s core on-prem and cloud-aligned infrastructure, including networking, hybrid on-prem/offsite data center environments, server platforms, storage, virtualization, and backup/DR systems. Develops and maintains multi-year lifecycle and capacity plans for compute, storage, network, and data center facilities. Guides infrastructure architecture decisions to ensure alignment with institutional strategy, security standards, and operational requirements. Oversees vendor relationships, consortium partnerships, and major infrastructure procurements. Coordinates power, cooling, and physical environment requirements across both campus and offsite data center locations.

Function 2 — Operational Excellence & Platform Reliability (30%)

Ensures reliable operation, monitoring, and performance of core infrastructure platforms including virtualization, Linux and Windows server environments, enterprise storage, cloud-adjacent hosting, wired and wireless networking, routing, switching, DNS/DHCP/IPAM, load balancing, and VPN. Oversees infrastructure-adjacent operational systems such as campus surveillance platforms and physical access control systems. Oversees disaster recovery readiness, including backups, restores, replication, and alignment with business continuity needs. Establishes and enforces engineering standards, automation practices, and operational runbooks. Supports non-production environments in collaboration with application owners following best-practice development and testing principles.

Function 3 — Governance, Standards, and Cross-Team Collaboration (15%)

Works closely with ITS Security to ensure infrastructure and applications meet security, audit, and compliance requirements. Partners with Identity & Access Management, Integrations, Public Safety, and application platform teams to support reliable, secure service delivery across the technology stack. Contributes to institutional planning for DR, business continuity, cloud strategy, and technical governance. Participates in RFPs, vendor evaluations, contract reviews, and architectural assessments to ensure solutions align with Brandeis and industry standards.

Function 4 — Staff Leadership & Professional Development (15%)

Provides leadership and direction to network engineers, systems engineers, and associated technical staff. Sets priorities, defines expectations, and fosters a culture focused on reliability, service, and continuous improvement. Supports staff development through coaching, training opportunities, and succession planning. Ensures effective workload management, structured change planning, and clear communication within and across teams.

Job Requirements

Bachelor's degree required. Master's degree preferred. 8+ years of experience required with 3-5 years of supervisory experience Responsible for directing work, assigning priorities, conducting performance evaluations, and supporting hiring and professional development for engineering staff. Provides leadership on staffing, succession planning, and vendor-supported operational models. This position plays a key role in shaping technical architecture and operational resiliency across the university. Typical decisions include selecting platforms, defining lifecycle strategies, approving changes with infrastructure impact, prioritizing capital investments, and recommending architectural patterns. Requires close coordination with Security, IAM, Integrations, and application platform teams to ensure holistic, secure, and reliable service delivery. Requires the ability to drive. Requires the ability to lift 50 pounds.

Pay Range Disclosure

The University's pay ranges represent a good faith estimate of what Brandeis reasonably expects to pay for a position at the time of posting. The pay offered to a selected candidate during hiring will be based on factors such as (but not limited to) the scope and responsibilities of the position, the candidate's work experience and education/training, internal peer equity, and applicable legal requirements.

Brandeis University is an equal opportunity employer which does not discriminate against any applicant or employee on the basis of race, color, ancestry, religious creed, gender identity and expression, national or ethnic origin, sex, sexual orientation, pregnancy, age, genetic information, disability, caste, military or veteran status or any other category protected by law (also known as membership in a "protected class").

COME WORK WITH US Brandeis University is a great employer for all the same reasons it is an outstanding university.

Its commitment to inclusion, dedication to lifelong learning and commitment to excellence are just a few of the reasons our workplace culture shines bright.

We take pride not only in maintaining this culture, but expanding it — by recruiting and retaining outstanding employees who share our values and enrich Brandeis University overall.

Brandeis University is an equal opportunity employer which does not discriminate against any applicant or employee on the basis of race, color, ancestry, religious creed, gender identity and expression, national or ethnic origin, sex, sexual orientation, pregnancy, age, genetic information, disability, military or veteran status or any other category protected by law (also known as membership in a "protected class").

Applicants who require accommodation in the job application process are welcome to contact Human Resources at 781-736-4474 or via email, [e-mail].

The health and safety of the Brandeis community is important.

While not required, we strongly recommend that employees are fully vaccinated.

For additional information feel free to review the Human Resources Office website.

Certain positions at Brandeis University may require a background check.

To review this policy, visit our website at http://www.brandeis.edu/human-resources/onboarding/index.html