How to hire a director of network services

How to hire a director of network services, step by step

Here's a step-by-step director of network services hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write a director of network services job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new director of network services
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a director of network services do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you start hiring a director of network services, identify what type of worker you actually need. Certain positions might call for a full-time employee, while others can be done by a part-time worker or contractor.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   A director of network services's background is also an important factor in determining whether they'll be a good fit for the position. For example, directors of network services from different industries or fields will have radically different experiences and will bring different viewpoints to the role. You also need to consider the candidate's previous level of experience to make sure they'll be comfortable with the job's level of seniority.

   Here's a comparison of director of network services salaries for various roles:

   Type of Director Of Network Services	Description	Hourly rate
   Director Of Network Services	Computer networks are critical parts of almost every organization. Network and computer systems administrators are responsible for the day-to-day operation of these networks.	$42-79
   Systems Manager	A systems manager is responsible for monitoring the operations of the information technology department, evaluating staff performance, developing strategic procedures to maximize productivity, and identifying business opportunities that would generate more revenues and profitability for the company. Systems managers inspect company networks to ensure the efficiency of the technology systems, conducting regular diagnostic tests, and installing upgrades to boost optimization... Show more	$36-73
   Technical Manager	A technical manager is responsible for maintaining the company's information systems database and analyzing technology system matters to ensure its efficiency and accuracy in supporting business operations. Technical managers perform network checks regularly to assess any possible malfunctions that might compromise the company's cybersecurity... Show more	$40-77

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Network Infrastructure
   • Network Services
   • Cloud
   • Network Operations
   • Azure
   • Switches
   • Network Security
   • Service Delivery
   • Lan
   • Disaster Recovery
   • ITIL
   • Lifecycle Management
   • Direct Reports
   • VPN

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Design and manage network support infrastructure, DNS, SNMP monitoring systems.
   • Manage a multi-site Ethernet conversion project with no outages for the project duration.
   • Lead team through two data center builds with the most recent leveraging latest 10G switching and virtualization technologies.
   • Lead project that evaluate and implement a firewall configuration management tool that assist with completing PCI and EI3PA audit requirements.
   • Implement a QoS policy on the edge and core of the network which greatly enhance VoIP customer experience.
   • Used various BGP attributes for load balancing across multiple ISP's.

   More director of network services duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your director of network services job description is one of the best ways to attract top talent. A director of network services can vary based on:

   • Location. For example, directors of network services' average salary in alaska is 39% less than in california.
   • Seniority. Entry-level directors of network services 46% less than senior-level directors of network services.
   • Certifications. A director of network services with certifications usually earns a higher salary.
   • Company. Working for an established firm or a new start-up company can make a big difference in a director of network services's salary.

   Average director of network services salary

   $121,866yearly

   $58.59 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level director of network services salary

   $89,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 15, 2025

   Average director of network services salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	California	$162,961	$78
   2	Washington	$138,999	$67
   3	West Virginia	$136,481	$66
   4	Nevada	$132,048	$63
   5	Delaware	$125,746	$60
   6	New York	$124,427	$60
   7	New Jersey	$124,281	$60
   8	Minnesota	$123,495	$59
   9	Pennsylvania	$123,475	$59
   10	New Hampshire	$123,233	$59
   11	Connecticut	$122,576	$59
   12	Massachusetts	$121,064	$58
   13	Wyoming	$118,307	$57
   14	Alabama	$117,295	$56
   15	Georgia	$116,851	$56
   16	Louisiana	$115,365	$55
   17	Texas	$113,576	$55
   18	North Carolina	$112,449	$54
   19	Iowa	$112,423	$54
   20	Nebraska	$111,691	$54

   Average director of network services salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	First Republic Bank	$150,672	$72.44
   2	Pwc	$135,652	$65.22	830
   3	The Hanover Insurance Group	$135,582	$65.18	3
   4	The Art Institute of Chicago	$134,005	$64.43
   5	Pinnacle Technical Resources	$129,984	$62.49	5
   6	JPMorgan Chase & Co.	$129,652	$62.33	115
   7	North States Ind	$125,968	$60.56
   8	AIG	$125,644	$60.41	7
   9	Robert Half	$124,538	$59.87	98
   10	Westchester Medical Center	$123,010	$59.14
   11	ABM Industries	$122,600	$58.94	11
   12	American Express	$118,179	$56.82	3
   13	BXP	$112,149	$53.92
   14	San Jose State University	$110,467	$53.11	4
   15	University of California-Berkeley	$103,310	$49.67
   16	Babson College	$93,505	$44.95	3
   17	Eliot Community Human Services Inc	$91,321	$43.90	6
   18	Washington State University	$84,689	$40.72	2

4. Writing a director of network services job description

   A job description for a director of network services role includes a summary of the job's main responsibilities, required skills, and preferred background experience. Including a salary range can also go a long way in attracting more candidates to apply, and showing the first name of the hiring manager can also make applicants more comfortable. As an example, here's a director of network services job description:

   Director of network services job description example

   **About us**
   
   **National Grid is hiring a Director, Infrastructure Product Manager - Network Services for our DPIT team in Waltham, MA.**
   
   Every day we deliver safe and secure energy to homes, communities, and businesses. We are there when people need us the most. We connect people to the energy they need for the lives they live. The pace of change in society and our industry is accelerating and our expertise and track record puts us in an unparalleled position to shape the sustainable future of our industry.
   
   To be successful we must anticipate the needs of our customers, reducing the cost of energy delivery today and pioneering the flexible energy systems of tomorrow. This requires us to deliver on our promises and always look for new opportunities to grow, both ourselves and our business.
   
   **Job Purpose**
   
   Network infrastructure and services play a key role connecting National Grid infrastructure and its internal and external customers. National Grid must undergo significant transformation to enable the digital roadmap that will meet the growing needs of our business. The Infrastructure Product Manager will play a crucial role to help fulfil this mandate.
   
   This role is accountable for the end-to-end experience of the product features and platforms, driving strategic direction of the Network Services Portfolio, managing the product, features, platforms through its lifecycle. The Product Manager will work as the primary interface between senior stakeholders within IT and the NG Business to direct staff to clearly define, communicate, document, and manage product requirements. The Product Manager will clearly articulate product vision, document and manage the product roadmap, determine TCO/ROI, the high level product release milestones and epics, and MVP. They produce clear line of sight into cost forecast and resource demand working side by side with Network Architecture and Network Engineering to build an appropriately scalable and available Product portfolio and service catalogue that meets business requirements and delivers a world-class network service. Key partners include product owners to maintain and deliver the product backlog and continual service improvement, IT Finance, IT Business Strategy, operations and support, and architecture. The Product Manager will also work closely with or directly manage IT Communication and Business Enablement functions to ensure various modes of communication and training are used to market the Product, facilitate and measure adoption and success. The Product Manager will be responsible for building business cases, providing competitive analysis, investment planning and prioritization, product performance report and delivering OKRs.re artefacts.
   
   **Key Accountabilities**
   
   + The feature and platform scope of Network Services includes LAN, WiFi, WAN/SD-WAN, Internet and Cloud Connectivity at all National Grid sites, including Datacenter and Cloud. Close alignment and collaboration with other I&O domains such as Cloud and Hosting and End User is critical to enable the delivery of a well thought Network Product
   
   + Overall accountability of vision, roadmap, and delivery of the product. Owns the product strategy which drives the vision and roadmap, and manages the product throughout its entire lifecycle, not just the development phase
   
   + Manages or works closely with architecture, engineering, product owners, finance, and delivery functions to provide the end-to-end product experience to end user customers.
   
   + Provide insights into product, technology and market trends
   
   + Responsible for thoroughly learning and understanding Grid businesss needs, and translation of business needs to product epics and MVP (when doing Agile) and business outcomes; or technical requirements (when doing waterfall/phase-gate development)
   
   + Oversight of product financials, cNPS metrics, OKR and KPI metrics, product ROI and TCO
   
   + Be a champion of the MVP concept, distilling the product down to what is desirable, viable and feasible
   
   + Responsible for the development of business cases and definition of product cost structures
   
   + Work with IT Communications and Business Enablement teams to develop materials to market the product
   
   + Drives to a smooth product transition to operations and support via infrastructure operations best practices such as ITIL, and a high capability maturity
   
   + Develop communications to share roadmaps, release plans and product performance to key stakeholders
   
   + Direct management of architecture and engineering staff and matrix leadership of the Agile Release Train including operational/support, service delivery and sprint release teammates
   
   **Supervisory/Interpersonal- Experience Required**
   
   + Be capable of communication with a wide audience, including senior stakeholders and a credible performer in senior executive forums
   
   + Excellent team leadership skills, with experience of working in and leading global teams with matrix reporting and deliverables
   
   + Good stakeholder management and influencing skills covering colleagues, partners/vendors and project sponsors
   
   **Qualifications**
   
   + A bachelors degree from an accredited educational institution
   
   + 8+ years experience within the technology scope and product market delivering modern capabilities such as automated feature provisioning and administration
   
   + 4+ years experience as a Product Manager or equivalent
   
   + Demonstrated knowledge of and experience over their career in the full infrastructure product delivery stack from service strategy, architecture, to design/build engineering, transition to operations, and BAU operations and support
   
   + Minimum of 10 years of professional experience in IT with frameworks such as Togaf, ITIL, CMM, security, risk and vendor best practices
   
   + A demonstrated and focused desire to build powerful, simple, well-designed products and services that employees will love to use
   
   + Working knowledge of agile development methodologies and tools including JIRA Align, SAFe experience a plus
   
   + Experience creating a digital product release strategy from inception to BAU support
   
   + An ability to think strategically and creatively, with the capacity for self-motivation, independent initiative and creative problem-solving
   
   + Superior interpersonal and communication skills, writing clear and concise proposals and presentations and interfacing with executive staff
   
   + The ability to manage time and schedules for self and staff to meet aggressive deadlines and influence through persuasive written and verbal communication
   
   + A diligent attention to detail and strong technical intuition, as well as the ability to set and manage expectations at the executive level
   
   + Excellent leadership skills with experience collaborating and managing cross-functional teams
   
   **More Information**
   
   Salary
   
   $156,000 - $210,000 a year
   
   This position has a career path which provides for advancement opportunities within and across bands as you develop and evolve in the position; gaining experience, expertise and acquiring and applying technical skills. Candidates will be assessed and provided offers against the minimum qualifications of this role and their individual experience.
   
   **National Grid is an equal opportunity employer that values a broad diversity of talent, knowledge, experience and expertise. We foster a culture of inclusion that drives employee engagement to deliver superior performance to the communities we serve. National Grid is proud to be an affirmative action employer. We encourage minorities, women, individuals with disabilities and protected veterans to join the National Grid team.**

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   There are various strategies that you can use to find the right director of network services for your business:

   • Consider promoting from within or recruiting from your existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
   • Attend job fairs at local colleges to find candidates who meet your education requirements.
   • Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to reach potential job candidates.

   To find director of network services candidates, you can consider the following options:

   • Post your job opening on Zippia or other job search websites.
   • Use niche websites that focus on engineering and technology jobs, such as dice, engineering.com, stack overflow, it job pro.
   • Post your job on free job posting websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Recruiting directors of network services requires you to bring your A-game to the interview process. The first interview should introduce the company and the role to the candidate as much as they present their background experience and reasons for applying for the job. During later interviews, you can go into more detail about the technical details of the job and ask behavioral questions to gauge how they'd fit into your current company culture.

   It's also good to ask about candidates' unique skills and talents to see if they match your ideal candidate profile. If you think a candidate is good enough for the next step, you can move on to the technical interview.

   If your interviews with director of network services applicants aren't enough to make a decision, you should also consider including a test project. These are often the best, most straightforward, and least bias-prone ways of determining who will likely succeed in the role. If you don't know how to design an appropriate test, you can ask someone else on the team to create it or take a look at these websites to get a few ideas:

   • TestDome
   • CodeSignal
   • Testlify
   • BarRaiser
   • Coderbyte

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new director of network services

   Once you've decided on a perfect director of network services candidate, it's time to write an offer letter. In addition to salary, it should include benefits and perks available to the employee. Qualified candidates may be considered for other positions, so make sure your offer is competitive. Candidates may wish to negotiate. Once you've settled on the details, formalize your agreement with a contract.

   It's equally important to follow up with applicants who don't get the job with an email letting them know that the position has been filled.

   After that, you can create an onboarding schedule for a new director of network services. Human Resources and the hiring manager should complete Employee Action Forms. Human Resources should also ensure that onboarding paperwork is completed, including I-9s, benefits enrollment, federal and state tax forms, etc., and that new employee files are created.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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