MetLife Stadium
Assistant Director, Network Operations
MetLife Stadium - Director
East Rutherford · NJ
Network Administration/Services
$116,000 / year
0
2
days ago
Job Title: Assistant Director, Network Operations
Department: Information Technology
Reports to: Vice President, Stadium Technology
Classification: Exempt
Position Summary
The Assistant Director, Network Operations is responsible for the design, reliability, security, and operation of the stadium’s enterprise and event-driven network infrastructure. This role supports the strategy, architecture, and day-to-day operations of a mission-critical network environment serving live sporting events, concerts, broadcast operations, and core business systems at MetLife Stadium, consistently ranked among the premier venues in the world.
This is a hands-on technical leadership role in a high-availability environment where network performance and uptime are essential. The Assistant Director, Network Operations will balance technical execution with people management, cross-functional collaboration, and operational accountability to ensure a resilient, scalable, and secure network ecosystem. This position is part of a fast-paced live entertainment environment with a small, yet highly skilled team of internal staff and external contractors, where operational needs will require working outside of the typical Monday–Friday schedule to support stadium events such as NFL games, concerts, and other large-scale events.
Essential Functions
Department: Information Technology
Reports to: Vice President, Stadium Technology
Classification: Exempt
Position Summary
The Assistant Director, Network Operations is responsible for the design, reliability, security, and operation of the stadium’s enterprise and event-driven network infrastructure. This role supports the strategy, architecture, and day-to-day operations of a mission-critical network environment serving live sporting events, concerts, broadcast operations, and core business systems at MetLife Stadium, consistently ranked among the premier venues in the world.
This is a hands-on technical leadership role in a high-availability environment where network performance and uptime are essential. The Assistant Director, Network Operations will balance technical execution with people management, cross-functional collaboration, and operational accountability to ensure a resilient, scalable, and secure network ecosystem. This position is part of a fast-paced live entertainment environment with a small, yet highly skilled team of internal staff and external contractors, where operational needs will require working outside of the typical Monday–Friday schedule to support stadium events such as NFL games, concerts, and other large-scale events.
Essential Functions
- Responsible for providing high level of customer service to both NFL teams, maintaining absolute neutrality on all team issues and protecting confidentiality of each teams’ information
- Communicates effectively (oral and in writing) with NMS management, ownership and other stakeholders
- Network Architecture & Infrastructure
- Design, implement, and maintain enterprise and stadium-wide network architecture, including core, distribution, access, and segmentation layers.
- Ensure high availability, redundancy, and fault-tolerant network design across wired and wireless environments including live broadcast, IPTV, high density stadium WIFI, and security, operations, and facilities systems.
- Establish and enforce network standards and change controls, and failure-domain isolation.
- Conduct root cause analysis and post-incident reviews, implementing corrective and preventive measures.
- Live Event & Operational Support
- Provide senior-level escalation support during games, concerts, and major events.
- Directly participate in pre-event readiness assessments, testing, and validation activities.
- Support real-time troubleshooting and decision-making in high-pressure, live-event environments.
- Partner with Event Operations, Broadcast, Security, Facilities, and IT teams to ensure seamless event delivery.
- Operate with the understanding that downtime during live events is not acceptable
- Leadership & Team Management
- Lead, mentor, and develop a small and experienced network team of internal staff and external contractors.
- Define team priorities, performance expectations, and professional development plans.
- Promote a culture of accountability, collaboration, and operational excellence.
- Balance strategic planning with hands-on technical leadership.
- Cross-Functional Collaboration & Vendor Management
- Collaborate with internal stakeholders and external vendors to evaluate solutions, designs, and proposals.
- Translate technical risks and requirements into clear business and executive-level communication.
- Manage vendor relationships and ensure alignment with operational and security standards.
- Technology Platforms & Initiatives
- Oversee stadium wireless and high-density Wi-Fi environments.
- Lead multi-path diverse WAN and BGP routing initiatives for intelligent path control, failover, and traffic engineering.
- Support time-sensitive and broadcast-related network requirements.
- Align network strategy with cybersecurity, broadcast, and venue technology initiatives.
Core Network Platforms and Strategic Initiatives
The Assistant Director, Network Operations will have direct ownership and accountability for critical network platforms and initiatives that support live event reliability and future stadium operations, including:
- Precision Time Protocol (PTP)
- Design and oversight of time-sensitive network environments supporting broadcast and real-time systems, with emphasis on clocking, segmentation, and failure isolation.
- Stadium Wireless (Extreme Networks)
- Leadership of high-density stadium Wi-Fi architecture and operations, ensuring optimal performance during large-scale live events.
- Multi-Path Diverse WAN and BGP Routing
- Design and operation of multi-path, diverse WAN architectures leveraging BGP for intelligent path control, failover, and traffic engineering across redundant carrier connections.
Qualifications
- To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The ideal candidate would also have:
- Bachelors degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, or related field (or equivalent experience)
- 7+ years of progressive experience in network engineering and operations.
- Demonstrated experience leading technical teams in high-availability environments.
- Strong expertise in:
- Layer 2 and Layer 3 networking
- High-availability and redundancy design
- VLAN segmentation and traffic isolation
- Troubleshooting complex, multi-domain network environments
- Proven experience supporting environments with minimal tolerance for downtime, such as sports venues, broadcast networks, large event venues, or similar environments.
- Ability to work effectively under pressure in a fast-paced, live entertainment environment.
- Flexibility to work outside of the typical Monday–Friday schedule, including evenings, weekends, and holidays, to support stadium events such as NFL games, concerts, and other large-scale events
- Excellent problem-solving, project management, and documentation skills
- Experience with enterprise wireless platforms and high-density Wi-Fi deployments.
- Knowledge of multi-path WAN, BGP routing, network segmentation, and time-sensitive networking environments.
- Familiarity with broadcast, IPTV, and real-time media traffic.
- Relevant network certifications (e.g., Cisco, Extreme Networks, Juniper, or equivalent).
Physical Demands:
- Position requires the ability to stand, walk, sit, use hands to handle, or feel, reach with hands and arms, twist, turn and climb stairs
Position requires the ability to lift and/or move up to 50 pounds
Work Environment:
Employee will be required to work days, nights, weekends, and holidays due to the unique Stadium schedule. The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate, however, during events the noise level may be loud.
Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of this job.
Work Environment:
Employee will be required to work days, nights, weekends, and holidays due to the unique Stadium schedule. The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate, however, during events the noise level may be loud.
Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of this job.
Job Questions:
Do you live within driving distance of MetLife Stadium?
Are you able to work the unique stadium schedule that includes tradition hours and ability to work every event that includes days/nights/weekends/holidays and holidays as needed?
Are you authorized to work in the United States?
