Senior Director - Network Operations

Planet is seeking a highly accomplished Senior Director - Network Operations to lead the strategy, delivery, and operational excellence of our global network services. This leadership role is accountable for ensuring the performance, resilience, and security of Planet's enterprise-wide network infrastructure while driving continuous improvement in service delivery, vendor performance, and customer experience. As the global owner of Network Operations, you will oversee day-to-day operations, vendor and partner management, and the achievement of defined SLA and KPI commitments. Working closely with Infrastructure, Security, and Cloud teams, you will ensure Planet's network services are secure, reliable, scalable, and aligned with business goals. This is a strategic yet hands-on role, requiring strong operational governance, executive stakeholder management, and the ability to transform network delivery models at scale.

What you'll be doing

• Operational Leadership: Lead the end-to-end operations of Planet's global network (LAN, WAN, WLAN, SD-WAN, Cloud, and Data Centre interconnects), ensuring high availability, resilience, and service excellence.
• SLA & KPI Management: Define, measure, and continuously improve network service SLAs, KPIs, and operational benchmarks across availability, latency, performance, and incident resolution.
• Vendor & Partner Management: Manage relationships with ISPs, telecom providers, and technology vendors. Drive accountability through contracts, SLA adherence, service credits, and strategic partnerships.
• Incident & Problem Management: Oversee critical incident response, escalation handling, root cause analysis, and problem remediation to minimise downtime and service disruption.
• Delivery & Transformation: Ensure successful delivery of network upgrades, capacity enhancements, and new connectivity services while maintaining zero disruption to production services.
• Governance & Compliance: Implement operational processes aligned with ISO 27001, PCI DSS, and other relevant compliance frameworks.
• Cost & Budget Ownership: Optimise network OPEX and vendor spend through strategic negotiations, vendor consolidation, and improved service efficiency.
• Automation & Monitoring: Drive adoption of network monitoring, observability, and automation tools to proactively detect, predict, and resolve issues.
• Team Leadership: Build and mentor a high-performing global Network Operations team, instilling a culture of accountability, service excellence, and continuous learning.
• Executive Reporting: Provide regular performance, SLA, and risk updates to the Vice President - Infra, Database & Cloud, as well as to senior leadership and business stakeholders., * Operational Leadership: Lead the end-to-end operations of Planet's global network (LAN, WAN, WLAN, SD-WAN, Cloud, and Data Centre interconnects), ensuring high availability, resilience, and service excellence.
• SLA & KPI Management: Define, measure, and continuously improve network service SLAs, KPIs, and operational benchmarks across availability, latency, performance, and incident resolution.
• Vendor & Partner Management: Manage relationships with ISPs, telecom providers, and technology vendors. Drive accountability through contracts, SLA adherence, service credits, and strategic partnerships.
• Incident & Problem Management: Oversee critical incident response, escalation handling, root cause analysis, and problem remediation to minimise downtime and service disruption.
• Delivery & Transformation: Ensure successful delivery of network upgrades, capacity enhancements, and new connectivity services while maintaining zero disruption to production services.
• Governance & Compliance: Implement operational processes aligned with ISO 27001, PCI DSS, and other relevant compliance frameworks.
• Cost & Budget Ownership: Optimise network OPEX and vendor spend through strategic negotiations, vendor consolidation, and improved service efficiency.
• Automation & Monitoring: Drive adoption of network monitoring, observability, and automation tools to proactively detect, predict, and resolve issues.
• Team Leadership: Build and mentor a high-performing global Network Operations team, instilling a culture of accountability, service excellence, and continuous learning.
• Executive Reporting: Provide regular performance, SLA, and risk updates to the Vice President - Infra, Database & Cloud, as well as to senior leadership and business stakeholders

Good communication skills, * 12+ years of progressive experience in Network Operations, Engineering, or Service Delivery

• Proven expertise in managing large-scale enterprise networks across on-premises and cloud (AWS, Azure, GCP) environments.
• Strong track record of vendor management, contract negotiation, and driving vendor accountability through SLA enforcement.
• Demonstrated ability to improve and sustain operational KPIs and network availability in mission-critical environments.
• Deep knowledge of routing, switching, firewalls (FortiGate, Check Point), load balancers (F5), and SD-WAN technologies.
• Experience in managing ISP peering, public IP allocations, redundancy, and DDoS protection strategies.
• Strong understanding of automation, observability, and network monitoring tools to drive proactive operations.
• Skilled in incident, change, and problem management processes within ITIL or similar frameworks.
• Excellent communicator with the ability to engage both executive stakeholders and technical teams.
• Payments industry or regulated-sector experience is a strong plus.
• Bachelor's Degree (or higher) in Computer Science, Network Engineering, or related technical field.

Planet is a leading technology company transforming payments by putting customer experience first. We offer integrated solutions that include payment processing, VAT refunds, dynamic currency conversion, and management services for merchants in the Retail and Hospitality sectors worldwide. In recent years, we have experienced significant growth, expanding our services and global presence. With strong private equity investors, Advent International and Eurazeo, we have the financial capital and expertise to grow our capabilities and reach through acquisitions. Our mission is to create a world of connected commerce where payments are simple, secure, and seamless, enabling our partners to deliver exceptional experiences to their customers. Role Overview, Company Background Planet provides integrated software, payment and technology solutions for its customers in the Hospitality and Retail sectors and worldwide via a network of global Financial Services Partners. Founded over 35 years ago, we have evolved our services, delivering an innovative digital commerce platform that puts customer experience first. With headquarters in London and around 3,000 expert employees located across six continents we serve customers in over 120 markets.