Network Engineering Manager

Dobson Fiber; Oklahoma City (OK); On-site; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Dobson Fiber in Oklahoma City is seeking a Manager of Network Engineering to lead the design, deployment, and ongoing optimization of our fiber-to-the-home broadband network. This hands-on leader will guide a skilled team across core, transport, access, and customer-facing infrastructure.

You will balance strategic planning with practical execution, translating business needs into technical plans, and ensuring high availability, security, and scalable growth.

Qualifications

• Seven or more years of progressive experience in network engineering, service provider networking, telecommunications, broadband, ISP, or related infrastructure environments.
• Three or more years of experience leading engineers, technical teams, projects, or cross-functional network initiatives.
• Strong understanding of IP networking, routing, switching, transport, broadband access, subscriber services, and high-availability network design.
• Experience with FTTH technologies and architectures, including GPON, XGS-PON, NG-PON2, Ethernet transport, aggregation networks, and broadband service delivery.
• Hands-on experience with carrier-grade routers, switches, optical transport, access platforms, firewalls, DHCP, DNS, CGNAT, monitoring platforms, and network automation or configuration management tools.
• Ability to troubleshoot complex production network issues and lead incident response under time-sensitive conditions.
• Demonstrated ability to translate business needs into technical plans, standards, projects, and measurable operational outcomes.
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to explain technical topics clearly to executives, peers, vendors, field teams, and customer-facing groups.

Responsibilities

• Lead and mentor network engineering team, including hiring, onboarding, coaching, and performance management.
• Own the engineering design, configuration, deployment, and lifecycle management of core, edge, transport, aggregation, and access network platforms supporting FTTH services.
• Develop and maintain standards, methods of procedure, network diagrams, configuration templates, change controls, and documentation.
• Plan and execute network expansion, capacity upgrades, resiliency improvements, and performance optimization.
• Partner with OPS, Field Ops, IT, Customer Experience, Product, and OSS/BSS teams to deliver reliable broadband.
• Oversee escalation support for incidents, outages, maintenance, and chronic issues, including root cause analysis and corrective actions.
• Ensure monitoring, backup, DR, and incident response practices support availability and SLAs.
• Evaluate and manage vendor, carrier, and equipment manufacturer relationships.
• Support budgeting, forecasting, procurement planning, equipment standardization, and engineering resource allocation.
• Promote network security, redundancy, documentation discipline, and operational best practices.

Skills

IP networking

Routing & switching

Broadband access

GPON/XGS-PON

Network monitoring

Incident response

Vendor management

Communication

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

Carrier-grade routers

Optical transport

Network automation tools

Job description

The Manager of Network Engineering is a hands‑on technical leader responsible for the design, implementation, reliability, scalability, and ongoing optimization of the company’s fiber‑to‑the‑home broadband network. This role leads a small but highly skilled engineering team supporting core, transport, access, aggregation, and customer‑facing network infrastructure. In a growing telecommunications company the position requires both strategic planning and practical execution, balancing long‑term network architecture with day‑to‑day operational needs.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead, mentor, and develop the network engineering team, including hiring, onboarding, coaching, performance management, workload prioritization, and professional development.
• Own the engineering design, configuration, deployment, and lifecycle management of core, edge, transport, aggregation, and access network platforms supporting FTTH services.
• Develop and maintain standards, methods of procedure, network diagrams, configuration templates, change controls, and operational documentation.
• Plan and execute network expansion, capacity upgrades, resiliency improvements, and performance optimization initiatives based on subscriber growth, traffic trends, and business priorities.
• Partner closely with Network Operations, Outside Plant, Field Operations, Construction, IT, Customer Experience, Product, and OSS/BSS teams to deliver reliable broadband services.
• Oversee escalation support for complex incidents, outages, maintenance windows, and chronic network issues, including root cause analysis and corrective action plans.
• Ensure monitoring, alerting, backup, disaster recovery, and incident response practices support service availability, customer experience, and internal service‑level targets.
• Evaluate and manage vendor, carrier, and equipment manufacturer relationships, including technical support, roadmaps, renewals, and product recommendations.
• Support budgeting, forecasting, procurement planning, equipment standardization, and engineering resource allocation for network growth and maintenance.
• Promote network security, compliance, redundancy, documentation discipline, and operational best practices across all engineering activities.

Required Qualifications

• Seven or more years of progressive experience in network engineering, service provider networking, telecommunications, broadband, ISP, or related infrastructure environments.
• Three or more years of experience leading engineers, technical teams, projects, or cross‑functional network initiatives.
• Strong understanding of IP networking, routing, switching, transport, broadband access, subscriber services, and high‑availability network design.
• Experience with FTTH technologies and architectures, including GPON, XGS‑PON, NG‑PON2, Ethernet transport, aggregation networks, and broadband service delivery.
• Hands‑on experience with carrier‑grade routers, switches, optical transport, access platforms, firewalls, DHCP, DNS, CGNAT, monitoring platforms, and network automation or configuration management tools.
• Ability to troubleshoot complex production network issues and lead incident response under time‑sensitive conditions.
• Demonstrated ability to translate business needs into technical plans, standards, projects, and measurable operational outcomes.
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to explain technical topics clearly to executives, peers, vendors, field teams, and customer‑facing groups.

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Network Engineering, Information Technology, Telecommunications, or equivalent practical experience.
• Professional certifications such as CCNP, CCIE, JNCIP, JNCIE, Nokia NRS, MEF, ITIL, or equivalent vendor‑specific credentials.
• Experience implementing network automation, telemetry, configuration backup, version control, observability, or lifecycle management practices.
• Familiarity with OSS/BSS integrations, provisioning workflows, IP address management, subscriber authentication, service activation, and customer premise equipment lifecycle.