Senior Director Global Connectivity

ENGINEERINGUK; London; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job description

Job Title: Senior Director, Connectivity

The Senior Director, Connectivity is a senior technology leader responsible for shaping the strategy, architecture, and delivery of enterprise connectivity services across GSK's global footprint. This includes wide area networks (WAN), local networks (LAN/Wi-Fi), cloud and data center connectivity and network security. This role ensures that network and connectivity capabilities are secure, modern, and aligned to business needs, enabling seamless collaboration, cloud adoption, and digital innovation across R&D, manufacturing, commercial, and corporate functions. The Senior Director plays a critical role in ensuring reliability, performance, and continuous improvement of connectivity services.

Your responsibilities include...

• Strategic Leadership: Develop and drive the global connectivity strategy and architecture, aligned with enterprise goals, security requirements and the broader digital agenda.
• Platform Ownership: Serve as the accountable owner for enterprise connectivity platforms, guiding design, performance expectations, lifecycle planning, and innovation.
• Operational Partnership: Collaborate closely with Operations & SRE teams to ensure resilient, secure, and well-managed connectivity services. Contribute to service reliability through proactive design, standards, and vendor management.
• Team Leadership: Lead, cultivate and mentor a high-performing global team of network architects, engineers, and platform owners. Create a culture of innovation, collaboration, and continuous learning.
• Technology Evolution: Drive modernization of network technologies, including cloud-native networking, zero trust access, and edge connectivity.
• Vendor Management: Oversee strategic vendors and partners to ensure delivery excellence and ongoing cost/value optimization.
• Compliance and Security: Ensure connectivity services are aligned with cybersecurity policies, privacy standards (e.g., GDPR), and regulatory compliance requirements (e.g., GxP).
• Financial Management: Own the connectivity services budget, including forecasting, investment planning, and cost optimization.
• Cross-functional Collaboration: Partner with stakeholders to ensure connectivity services meet evolving business and technical needs.

Why you?

Basic Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree (BA/BS) in Computer Science, Information Systems, Software Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent technical qualification with relevant experience.
• 15+ years of experience in networking, with 10+ years in a senior leadership role.
• Experience in enterprise network technologies including Route/Switch, Wi-Fi, cloud networking, DNS/DHCP/IPAM, Firewalls, Zero Trust, WAF, Load Balancing, Datacenter, SDWAN, and other associated technologies.
• Experience with modern software engineering practices and cloud-centric infrastructure.
• Experienced in NetDevOps, DevSecOps practices to deliver network services through code and automation leveraging tools like Ansible, Puppet, Python etc.
• Experience leading tactical and strategic planning, to execute large scale transformation initiatives across a global, matrixed organization.
• Experience in managing relationships with multiple vendors, leading negotiations and managing contractual governance.
• Experience with network observability and monitoring tools like (Solarwinds, Netflow, SevOne, Netbrain) and best practices.
• Experience in implementation and maturity of Zero Trust models in a production environment.
• Leadership experience with managing service delivery to conform to ITIL defined practices.
• Experience leading and building global matrixed teams.
• Management experience with matrixed multi-functional teams located globally.
• Experience with agile delivery methodologies and product-based operating models.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Five years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, with a solid understanding of its technological trends.
• Experience in a regulated environment, preferably pharmaceutical or life sciences.
• Relevant technical certifications (e.g., CCNP, CCIE, Azure/GCP networking).
• Passionate about enhancing customer experience. Self-starter with a sense of urgency and the ability to handle multiple high-priority work demands simultaneously in an outcome-driven organization.
• Leadership skills with the ability to communicate and collaborate effectively with diverse audiences across various technical disciplines and job levels to achieve results.

GSK is a global biopharma company with a special purpose - to unite science, technology and talent to get ahead of disease together - so we can positively impact the health of billions of people and deliver stronger, more sustainable shareholder returns - as an organization where people can thrive. We prevent and treat disease with vaccines, specialty and general medicines. We focus on the science of the immune system and the use of new platform and data technologies, investing in four core therapeutic areas (infectious diseases, HIV, respiratory/immunology and oncology).

Our success absolutely depends on our people. While getting ahead of disease together is about our ambition for patients and shareholders, it's also about making GSK a place where people can thrive. We want GSK to be a place where people feel inspired, encouraged and challenged to be the best they can be. A place where they can be themselves - feeling welcome, valued, and included. Where they can keep growing and look after their wellbeing. So, if you share our ambition, join us at this exciting moment in our journey to get Ahead Together.

GSK is an Equal Opportunity Employer and, in the US, we adhere to Affirmative Action principles. This ensures that all qualified applicants will receive equal consideration for employment without regard to race, color, national origin, religion, sex, pregnancy, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, age, disability, genetic information, military service, covered/protected veteran status or any other federal, state or local protected class.