Manager of Network Operations

The Aspen Group (TAG) is one of the largest and most trusted retail healthcare business support organizations in the U.S., supporting 15,000 healthcare professionals and team members at more than 1,000 health and wellness offices across 46 states in four distinct categories: Dental Care, Urgent Care, Pet Care, and Medical Aesthetics. Working in partnership with independent practice owners and clinicians, the team is united by a single purpose: to prove that healthcare can be better and smarter for everyone. TAG provides a comprehensive suite of centralized business support services that power the impact of four consumer-facing businesses: Aspen Dental, ClearChoice Dental Implant Centers, WellNow Urgent Care, Lovet Veterinary Clinics and Chapter Aesthetic Studio. Each brand has access to a deep community of experts, tools and resources to grow their practices, and an unwavering commitment to delivering high-quality consumer healthcare experiences at scale.

We are seeking a seasoned Manager of Network Operations to lead a team of engineers and take ownership of day-to-day operations and maintenance of our large and geographically distributed enterprise network. The role is responsible for ensuring the availability, performance, and security of network services at scale. A successful candidate will have strong hands-on background and combine a deep general technical skillset with ability to lead a team and effectively collaborate with IT and business stakeholders at varied levels of the organization.

Responsibilities:

Network Operations Management:

• Oversee the day-to-day operations of our network infrastructure, ensuring high availability, performance, security and resilience.
• Develop and implement optimal network management processes and procedures.
• Take ownership of incident response function. Troubleshoot and resolve network-related issues in a timely manner, minimizing downtime.
• Champion safe and efficient change management best practices.
• Help lead continuous operational improvement initiatives.

Team Leadership:

• Lead, mentor, and manage a team of network engineers and technicians.
• Set performance goals for the team and conduct regular performance reviews.
• Provide training and professional development opportunities for staff.
• Ensure optimal scheduling and team rotation.

Network Infrastructure Planning and Optimization:

• Plan, implement, and upgrade network systems and services as needed.
• Conduct network capacity planning and scaling to ensure the infrastructure can meet the growing demands of the organization.
• Collaborate with other IT departments to ensure the network is functioning optimally and reliably.
• Help designing optimal solutions for continuous improvement and new initiatives
• Security and Compliance:
• Implement network security policies, procedures, and best practices to protect sensitive data and mitigate security risks.
• Monitor network traffic for suspicious activity and work with security teams to resolve potential threats.
• Ensure compliance with regulatory standards and company policies.

Vendor and Stakeholder Management:

• Collaborate with hardware vendors and service providers as needed.
• Manage vendor relationships to ensure service level agreements (SLAs) are met.
• Work with internal teams to understand business requirements and align network operations accordingly.
• Help select new vendors and solutions

Documentation and Reporting:

• Maintain accurate and up-to-date documentation for network configurations, processes, and troubleshooting procedures.
• Prepare and present regular reports on network performance, incidents and upgrades to senior management.

Budget and Resource Management:

• Help develop and manage budgets for network operations, ensuring cost-effective resource allocation.
• Track and report on budget expenditures and ensure financial resources are used efficiently.

Project management

• Lead or coordinate network infrastructure project including upgrades, migrations, new site deployments and new solution rollouts
• Act as a network infrastructure subject matter expert on various application and cloud project and initiatives

Qualifications:

Education:

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Network Engineering, or related field (or equivalent experience).

Experience:

• 8+ years of experience in network operations or IT infrastructure management
• 4+ years in a lead or managerial capacity, ideally within a NOC or large-scale enterprise environment.
• Experience with large-scale network management, including routers, switches, firewalls, and wireless networks.

Skills:

• Strong knowledge of networking protocols, routing, switching, and network security (TCP/IP, DNS, DHCP, VPN, etc.).
• Strong expertise in network protocols (TCP/IP, BGP, ARP, etc.).
• Experience with network monitoring tools and troubleshooting techniques.
• Proficient in managing network infrastructure, including LAN, WAN, and wireless technologies.
• Excellent problem-solving, analytical, and decision-making skills.
• Strong leadership, communication, and interpersonal skills.
• Certifications (Preferred):
• Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP)
• CompTIA Network+, CompTIA Security+
• Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) or Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH).

Additional Requirements:

• Ability to work in a fast-paced and dynamic environment.
• Ability to manage multiple projects and priorities simultaneously.
• On-call availability for emergency network support is required.

*This role is onsite 4 days/week in our Chicago office (Fulton Market District)

• Salary: $135,000-160,000/year plus performance bonus
• A generous benefits package that includes paid time off, health, dental, vision, and 401(k) savings plan with match