Dir, Wireline Access & Fiber Systems (HFC, PON, Fiber)

GCI's Dir, Wireline Access & Fiber Systems (HFC, PON, Fiber) will provide technical leadership, engineering governance, and strategic direction for GCI’s wireline access and fiber systems portfolio, including DOCSIS HFC broadband platforms, PON/FTTx access platforms, and supporting fiber systems required to deliver scalable and reliable broadband services.

This role is responsible for translating business objectives into clear technical direction, establishing and enforcing engineering standards and architectural governance, and driving technical direction, scalability, lifecycle management, and engineering governance across the broadband access domain, while partnering with operations and delivery teams to improve reliability and operational performance.

This role is accountable for domain engineering strategy, standards, architecture, and design governance. Delivery, implementation, and run-state operations are executed in partnership with adjacent functions according to defined accountability, handoff, and escalation models.

The Director serves as the primary technical authority for wireline access and fiber systems standards, architecture, and design governance and partners cross-functionally to ensure broadband technologies, designs, and investments align with long-term business, operational, and customer experience objectives.

Scope includes, but is not limited to:

• DOCSIS HFC broadband platforms and chassis systems
• PON / EPON / FTTx access platforms
• Fiber access systems and associated access-domain infrastructure
• End-to-end access-domain solution integration in partnership with transport, IP, and core engineering teams

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

This leadership position requires the following non-delegable responsibilities:

• Own the mission, goals, technical direction, and governance outcomes of the team and assigned engineering domain.
• Provide strong leadership to span of control (direct and indirect reports); demonstrate effective leadership in all interactions companywide.    This leadership includes generating enthusiasm and shared commitment; identifying and setting direction; teaching, growing, and empowering; owning outcomes; and leading by example. Specific leadership duties include:
• Establishing the vision and tone for the department, consistent with company culture and mission.
• Establishing clear, measurable, and achievable goals and performance expectations and following up appropriately.
• Hiring individuals who can accomplish those goals and meet those expectations; providing them the open communication, training, tools, and mentoring needed to be successful and develop professionally; establishing a development path commensurate with capabilities and potential.
• Providing clear and accurate feedback to individuals and teams on a timely and consistent basis. Identifying and addressing performance problems early and effectively before they damage GCI’s interests and demoralize other employees.
• Effectively managing processes including annual performance reviews, compensation adjustments, promotions, demotions, transfers, and disciplinary actions up to and including termination in an unbiased and consistent manner.

DECISION RIGHTS

• Establish, approve, and maintain domain standards, technical policies, reference architectures, and engineering governance requirements.
• Define and oversee the Board of Design (BoD) framework, including design review criteria, documentation requirements, and evidence necessary to demonstrate design readiness.
• Approve technical designs and solutions prior to execution, ensuring alignment with architectural standards, strategic objectives, operational requirements, and regulatory obligations.
• Exercise authority to reject, defer, or require modification of proposed solutions that do not meet established standards or governance requirements, unless an approved exception has been granted through the formal governance process.
• Serve as the final technical authority for major architectural decisions, documenting key design choices, risks, assumptions, and trade-offs within the technical decision log.
• Govern technical exceptions and waivers, ensuring appropriate review, approval, mitigation planning, and retirement of deviations from approved standards.
• Provide technical guidance and decision-making support for complex initiatives, cross-functional programs, and strategic infrastructure investments.
• Approve designs for execution readiness; execution teams remain accountable for implementation in accordance with approved design and established change controls.
• Partner with Operations and Delivery leaders to resolve design, readiness, and performance issues identified during implementation or run-state operations.
• Own technical standards and design acceptance criteria; operational teams own run-state execution and incident response unless otherwise assigned.

SUCCESS METRICS

• Core performance measures aligned with the operating model include:
• Increased adoption and compliance with approved architectural standards and engineering best practices.
• Reduction in design-related rework, scope changes, and technical debt introduced during project execution.
• Stable and well-defined project scope at execution entry, resulting in improved delivery outcomes.
• Predictable project execution across the portfolio, including adherence to schedule, budget, quality, and operational objectives.
• Improved governance effectiveness through timely design reviews, architectural decisions, and risk mitigation activities.

Additional domain-specific performance measures may include:

• Reliability and Service Performance
• Engineering designs and standards support achievement of network availability and service reliability targets.
• Partner with operations and delivery teams to improve detection, restoration, and design-related remediation outcomes.
• Ensure capacity strategies, forecasts, and engineering readiness support timely augmentation before service-impacting constraints occur.
• Capacity and Readiness
• Capacity utilization is maintained within established thresholds.
• Capacity augmentation and expansion activities executed before service-impacting constraints occur.
• Forecast accuracy and alignment between capacity planning and business growth objectives.
• Lifecycle and Technology Modernization
• Successful completion of end-of-life (EOL) and end-of-support (EOS) technology migrations.
• Retirement of legacy platforms and technical debt without customer service disruption.
• Increased adoption of strategic technology roadmaps and modernization initiatives.
• Governance and Standards Compliance
• Reduction in standards exceptions and architectural deviations.
• Timely resolution and retirement of approved exceptions.
• Compliance with architectural review, documentation, and design governance requirements.
• Operational Excellence
• Improved consistency and quality of engineering deliverables.
• Enhanced cross-functional collaboration between Architecture, Engineering, Operations, and Project Delivery teams.
• Positive stakeholder feedback regarding technical governance effectiveness and decision-making support.

Strategy, Roadmap, & Lifecycle Direction

• Develop and maintain a multi-year engineering roadmap for wireline access and fiber systems aligned with business strategy, capital planning, and operational priorities.
• Drive lifecycle management strategy, including platform introduction, modernization, scalability planning, and retirement activities across HFC, PON/FTTx, and supporting fiber technologies.
• Evaluate emerging broadband access technologies, vendor capabilities, and industry trends to inform strategic direction and investment decisions.
• Provide technical leadership in support of broadband expansion, modernization, and transformation initiatives.
• Inform capital planning and investment prioritization for the access and fiber domai