Chief Network Officer

Are you a Chief Network Officer / Head of Network Operations with 5+ years of recent experience in senior leadership (Head / Chief job titles ) of telecom NOC & Engineering teams of 50+ people within the technical area of Fibre / LAN / WAN / Wifi / IP / MPLS / Private Wireless / 5G?

First Point Group has a truly exciting Senior Leadership opportunity within an established connectivity and managed network services provider for a Head of Networks / Chief Network Officer. This is not a turnaround role - you'll join an established network organisation with an existing team of experienced technical leaders and strong operational capabilities. The focus will be on harmonisation - taking the function to the next stage of operational maturity by strengthening collaboration, developing leadership capability , improving efficiency and ensuring network strategy remains closely connected to customer and commercial priorities.

The business delivers critical connectivity and managed network solutions across complex, multi-site customer environments - backed by Private Equity investment, with long-term alignment that includes potential international expansion beyond the UK market.

This is a senior technical and operational leadership role combining people leadership (40%), technical operational capability (35%) and commercial accumen (25%).

***** PLEASE NOTE - mandatory requirement of UK-based candidates only - visa sponsorship is not possible. This role is hybid-working (3 days per week in London).

Key Responsibilities

• Set and execute the network strategy and technology roadmap aligned with commercial and customer objectives.
• Lead Network Operations, Engineering, Architecture and Service Performance, establishing clear accountability across the function.
• Own network availability, resilience, capacity, security, performance and associated business risk.
• Drive SLA/OLA achievement, continuous improvement and major incident/service recovery.
• Set technical direction and ensure network architecture is scalable, resilient, supportable and commercially sustainable.
• Lead transformation across automation, observability, operational efficiency and AI-enabled network operations.
• Work with Product, Delivery, Commercial and Customer teams to improve customer experience, retention and growth.
• Own network OPEX, CAPEX and headcount budgets, driving cost optimisation and measurable EBITDA improvement.
• Build business cases for network investment and transformation initiatives.
• Manage strategic suppliers, carriers and technology vendors.
• Lead senior customer escalations and executive-level network discussions.
• Build a high-performing network organisation with strong succession, capability and employee engagement.

Key Requirements

• Senior leadership experience within telecommunications, connectivity, managed services or technology infrastructure .
• Experience leading multidisciplinary Network Operations, Engineering, Architecture and Service teams at scale.
• Strong understanding of large-scale, business-critical network environments.
• Proven improvements across network reliability, SLAs, customer experience and operational efficiency.
• Experience delivering complex network transformation and service-improvement programmes.
• Technical credibility across network architecture, resilience, security, capacity and operational risk.
• Commercial experience managing significant OPEX, CAPEX and headcount budgets and delivering cost efficiencies.
• Strong executive, customer, supplier and carrier stakeholder-management experience.
• Ability to balance technical strategy and innovation with operational stability and commercial return.

Desirable (nice to have):

• Experience within a high-growth ISP, connectivity, managed network or managed Wi-Fi environment.
• Knowledge of access/core networks, fixed connectivity, SD-WAN, Wi-Fi and network monitoring.
• Experience applying AI, intelligent automation and advanced tooling to improve network operations, troubleshooting and service management.