Director - Business Operations & Strategy - IP Networks

We are seeking a senior business operations and strategy leader to strengthen how IP Networks plans, prioritizes, makes decisions, and executes. This highly visible Director-level role owns the central operating system for the IP business: the operating cadence, central KPI reporting, tracking of key business initiatives, and the process behind the organization’s major strategy reviews. It connects strategy to measurable outcomes, improves decision velocity, and ensures that critical commitments move forward with clear ownership and accountability. This Director-level individual contributor role reports to the Head of Business Operations for IP Networks and currently has no direct people-management responsibility, but carries significant influence across the senior leadership team. The role also provides trusted executive-level support to a senior IP Networks leader.

The ideal candidate combines strategic judgment with hands-on execution and the executive presence to work credibly with senior leaders. They simplify complex processes, build scalable operating mechanisms, and use AI and automation to eliminate manual work while maintaining appropriate governance. This is a horizontal role that works across business, product, engineering, finance, and program management leadership to solve the organization’s highest-impact operational challenges.

Operating Rhythm and Business Performance

• Design, own, and continuously improve the rhythm of business for the IP organization, including the operating cadence calendar, review forums, templates, and governance that connect planning to execution.

• Support and drive tracking of key business initiatives across the IP business, partnering with the TPMO (which tracks product programs) to give leadership an integrated view of status, dependencies, and risks.

• Own central reporting for IP business KPIs, working from the data and models provided by finance and analytics partners and turning them into clear, decision-ready views for senior leaders.

• Identify operational bottlenecks, unclear decision rights, and duplicated work; implement pragmatic solutions that improve speed, rigor, and scalability.

• Proactively surface emerging issues, overdue actions, and cross-initiative risks before they become escalations.

Strategy Process and Executive Partnership

• Own the process, timeline, and integration for the organization’s major strategy materials, including strategy offsites, the long-range plan, and Board of Directors reviews. Set deadlines, templates, and review milestones; business leaders own the content.

• Partner with business and portfolio leaders to gather inputs, resolve gaps and inconsistencies, and ensure the overall narrative is coherent and executive-ready.

• Plan and facilitate leadership operating forums, including agendas, pre-reads, presenter coordination, decisions, action capture, and follow-through.

• Act as a trusted advisor and right hand to a senior IP Networks executive, managing priorities, agenda, and follow-through alongside the central operations responsibilities. The balance between the two shifts with the planning cycle.

• Prepare that executive for key reviews and leadership engagements through briefings, talking points, and synthesized updates, and drive follow-through on the resulting decisions and actions.

• Coordinate information flow across leadership and cross-functional teams, ensuring stakeholders have the context needed to execute.

• Drive accountability for deadlines, priorities, and commitments while maintaining trusted, constructive relationships with senior leaders and peers across functions.

AI, Automation, and Continuous Improvement

• Apply AI and automation to reduce manual effort in reporting, tracking, and planning processes, shortening cycle times and improving data quality.

• Build practical trackers, dashboards, and reporting tools that improve visibility, accountability, and follow-through.

• Partner with policy, legal, security, data, and technology stakeholders to ensure AI-enabled workflows are appropriately governed.

• Typically 12-18+ years of relevant experience in business operations, strategy and operations, corporate strategy, transformation, or a related field in a complex global technology environment, including significant experience working directly with senior executive leadership.

• Demonstrated success designing and running enterprise operating cadences, planning processes, and governance mechanisms, including leading strategy processes such as long-range plans, strategy offsites, and Board-level reviews.

• Strong analytical and business judgment, with the ability to turn incomplete information into structured choices, recommendations, and action.

• Experience owning KPI and performance reporting, including dashboards and BI tools such as Power BI. Working fluency with AI-enabled tools and workflow automation (for example, Microsoft Copilot and Power Automate) to improve how work gets done.

• Proven ability to influence without direct authority and build trust across business, product, engineering, finance, and senior leadership, with the executive presence to hold senior leaders to deadlines and standards.

• High standards for ownership, discretion, quality, and follow-through in a fast-moving, globally distributed organization.

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent practical experience; MBA or other advanced degree preferred.

• The operating cadence runs predictably, and leaders and teams consistently adhere to the calendar, templates, and deadlines.

• Strategy materials are delivered on time, fully integrated, and executive-ready, with minimal last-minute rework.

• IP business KPIs and key initiative status are accurate, visible, and trusted by leadership.

• Decision and execution cycle times improve across priority initiatives.

• Operating processes become simpler, more scalable, and less dependent on manual coordination, with AI-enabled improvements adopted where they add value.