The Chief Technology Organization is accountable for the firm’s overall Technology & Data Strategy, the Enterprise Architecture, and the engineering, delivery and support of our Cloud enabled product and services that enable Sallie Mae. As a key leader in the Chief Technology Officer organization, you will lead the Network, Voice, Authentication and Connectivity Shared Services team and help Sallie Mae realize it is strategic business objectives. The senior leader for this role will have responsibility for the overall strategy, design, implementation, optimization, and operational support for the firm’s critical connectivity services, including our global network, voice infrastructure, authentication / authorization services, firewalls, load balancers, and additional security services.

• Lead the team and service providers responsible for the overall design, engineering, implementation, support, and maintenance for the critical shared services.
• Continually assess and optimize the talent, skills, capacity and performance of the team and service providers.
• Assess the current state, business requirements, risks, market, and other key drivers to define the overall strategy and roadmaps for each service.
• Partner with Enterprise Architecture to define the strategic architecture, technology stack and associated patterns.
• Define compelling business case(s) needed to gain executive support for the overall strategy and roadmap investments.
• Execute and deliver the strategy / roadmap for each service including the engineering, deployment, and ongoing support / sustainability of the services.
• Provide exceptional operational support to maintain highest levels of availability for the services. You will be responsible for the rapid response, resolution, root cause analysis, and permanent solutions for all incidents and problems.
• You will proactively govern and manage all change / releases, system / asset configuration, and capacity for all key services including security patch management.
• Responsible for proactively managing the team’s annual budget, resources, and investment plan – managing to the plan, identifying, and realizing savings and efficiencies.
• Adopt and drive a culture of product & service excellence. Design and implement metrics to measure and optimize all aspects of the services in your catalog (e.g., unit costs & benchmarking)

• Minimum of 12 years of domain experience with a proven track record of delivering and maintaining highly optimized, secure, resilient, cost-efficient, scalable, enterprise-grade shared solutions.
• Expert level, deep technical knowledge, and experience within the Networking Domain (TCP/IP, VOIP, Protocols, OSI Model, Routing, Name Resolution, DHCP, WAN, LAN, Wireless, NAC, NAT, Security, IDS, IPS, WAF, DLP.) CCIE Certification strongly preferred.
• Expert level, deep technical knowledge and experience with Authentication, Authorization and Directory Services. Active Directory, Azure, Ping Certifications, and experience strongly preferred.

• Expert level, deep technical knowledge, and experience with network security services (Web Application Firewall, Intrusion Detection / Prevention, Data Loss Prevention, Firewalls, Segmentation, Encryption, PKI, Token, and Key Management)
• Demonstrated knowledge and experience with Zero Trust Architecture and micro-segmentation (practitioner level)
• Highly organized, resourceful, energetic self-starter with a bias for action and demonstrated ability to deliver meaningful results in rapid fast paced environments.
• Exceptional troubleshooting and problem-solving skills. Must be resourceful, take initiative and have strong data analysis skills and attention to detail.
• Proven track record of delivery with strong program / project management skills and experience.
• Exceptional verbal and written communications. Strong ability to influence and command an audience and manage executive level stakeholders.
• Experience synthesizing data and preparing / delivering materials for Executive Audiences
• Demonstrated experience with management of vendors, cloud /service providers, software licenses & contracts with an annual budget > $10MM.
• Rapid, expert ability to rapidly iterate, design and document processes, technical architectures, schematics.
• Skilled ability to make complex technical concepts consumable for non-technical audiences.
• Additional Technical Certifications preferred, not required (TOGAF, SAFE, NIST, ITIL, CMMI, PMI, PMP)