Associate Director, Network Engineering

Department: Information Technology

Employment Type: Full Time

Location: Crystal Building 40 W20th St

Reporting To: Jay Haque

Compensation: $145,000 - $175,000 / year

Description

Overview
The Associate Director, Network Engineering leads NYPL's network infrastructure strategy, operations, and team to ensure secure, reliable connectivity across all library locations. This is a hands-on technical leadership role responsible for the architecture, deployment, performance, and security of NYPL's wired, wireless, cloud-based, and telecommunications networks. 

Supporting over 92 locations the role collaborates with IT, Capital Planning, and external partners to drive technology modernization while managing risk and maintaining operational excellence. The role also supports the architectural design and network strategy of community-based internet service projects that extend NYPL's reach beyond its physical branches.

We are looking for someone we can count on to:
Own:

• Strategic direction and daily operation of NYPL's enterprise network infrastructure
• Fortinet ecosystem including FortiGate firewalls, FortiAnalyzer, and FortiManager
• Cisco Networks switching and routing environment
• AWS networking infrastructure including routing and site-to-site VPN connectivity
• Telecommunications architecture and vendor relationships
• Network Engineering team performance, resource planning, and career development
• Development, reporting, and execution of KPIs, SLAs, and performance metrics
• Network security architecture and controls at Internet, datacenter, cloud, and access layers
• Management of E-Rate and data/telecommunications agreements.

Teach:

• Mentor and develop engineering staff, fostering technical growth and leadership readiness
• Build organizational understanding of network services and infrastructure dependencies
• Drive collaborative awareness of network impact across capital projects and IT initiatives

Learn:

• NYPL's unique operational and public service challenges across distributed sites
• Evolving best practices for hybrid network design in public and nonprofit sectors
• Tools and processes to improve security, monitoring, automation, and accountability

Improve:

• Infrastructure resilience, uptime, and performance monitoring
• Cross-team collaboration, planning alignment, and incident response maturity
• Network team communication practices, leadership depth, and technical documentation

Some expectations for this role are that within:
1 month, this person will:

• Build strong relationships with IT, Cybersecurity, and Capital Planning teams
• Begin assessing NYPL's network health, architecture, and documentation
• Familiarize with existing performance metrics, tools, and team capabilities
• Conduct hands-on validation of network and firewall configurations, VPN tunnels, and WAN circuit health

3 months, this person will:

• Develop a roadmap for future network upgrades, tooling improvements, and staffing
• Ensure core monitoring, ticketing, and configuration tools are optimized and operational
• Begin tracking and reporting service delivery metrics aligned to team goals
• Lead expert-level troubleshooting and resolution of high-complexity technical issues across network, cloud, and security systems

6 months and beyond, this person will:

• Demonstrate leadership in cross-functional planning and project execution
• Deliver measurable improvements in uptime, incident response, and team performance
• Lead and support strategic initiatives expanding NYPL’s digital and physical network presence
• Lead detailed documentation refresh across network diagrams, runbooks, and failover procedures

Responsibilities

Core Responsibilities

• Lead and participate in architecture, deployment, and administration of NYPL's enterprise network (Cisco routers/switches, Fortinet firewalls, Aerohive WiFi, AWS networking components)
• Manage connectivity across 94+ locations using dark fiber, MPLS, high-speed circuits, secure cloud connections, and telecom infrastructure
• Maintain network security through segmentation, firewall policies, VPNs, and NAC integration
• Own the Fortinet stack including FortiAnalyzer reporting and FortiManager configuration workflows
• Administer AWS networking, including VPC design, Direct C