How To Become A Director Of Network Engineering: What It Is and Career Path

What is a director of network engineering and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Directors of network engineering oversee every aspect of the organization's network system they work for, managing both hardware and software arrangements. Their job is to set up and maintain network architectures such as WAN or LAN.

As a director of network engineering, you will report to higher management while coordinating the activities of IT professionals working in your sub-department. You will be responsible for creating goals for your team and strategies to carry them out. You will be the one to set up budgets and policies a functional IT infrastructure may run on.

You will need a bachelor's degree in computer science or programming to be considered for this position. You will need years of experience in a managerial role and a solid understanding of your department's function.

ScoreDirector Of Network EngineeringUS Average

Salary

8.7

Avg. Salary $140,813

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

8.6

Growth Rate 16%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

1.7

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.21%

Asian 12.72%

Black or African American 6.56%

Hispanic or Latino 9.84%

Unknown 5.19%

White 65.49%

Gender

female 9.80%

male 90.20%

Age - 47

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 47

Stress Level

8.6

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

8.7

Complexity Level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

6.1

Work Life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

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Key steps to become a director of network engineering

Explore director of network engineering education requirements

Most common director of network engineering degrees

Bachelor's

72.4 %

Master's

13.4 %

Associate

10.1 %

Start to develop specific director of network engineering skills

Skills	Percentages
Cisco Asa	14.31%
Network Engineering	10.34%
Network Infrastructure	9.17%
Switches	8.46%
OSPF	7.29%

Complete relevant director of network engineering training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New directors of network engineering learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a director of network engineering based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real director of network engineering resumes.

Research director of network engineering duties and responsibilities

Create and manage RFP outsourcing global conferencing solution saving $250K annually.
Manage remote staff across London and Tokyo, ensuring fully-functional, up-to-date switches.
Design, manage, and troubleshot core campus routers, Internet connections, firewalls, and VPN servers.
Manage consolidation and transformation of processes to deliver infrastructure services through a streamline process that provide better integration with all platforms.

Get director of network engineering experience

Generally, it takes 6-8 years to become a director of network engineering. The most common roles before becoming a director of network engineering include senior network engineer, manager network engineering team lead and network engineer.

Prepare your director of network engineering resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your director of network engineering resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a director of network engineering resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Director Of Network Engineering Resume templates

Build a professional Director Of Network Engineering resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Director Of Network Engineering resume.

Apply for director of network engineering jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a director of network engineering job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

Average director of network engineering salary

The average Director Of Network Engineering salary in the United States is $140,813 per year or $68 per hour. Director of network engineering salaries range between $99,000 and $199,000 per year.

Average Director Of Network Engineering Salary

$140,813 Yearly

$67.70 hourly

How do directors of network engineering rate their job?

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Director Of Network Engineering reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Oct 2022

Cons

If company is not supportive of new technology advancement.