Director of Operations

About the role

Brightspeed is the nation’s fifth-largest incumbent local exchange carrier and its third-largest fiber builder, executing a multi-billion-dollar buildout across a 20-state footprint. It has already passed 3 million fiber-enabled locations, is on pace to cross 4 million by the end of 2026, and is working to retire roughly 90% of its remaining DSL infrastructure in favor of fiber.

Every location that gets built still has to be installed, turned up, repaired, and kept running — that is Conexa’s job on this account, and it is this seat that owns it.

Key responsibilities

• Own client-facing KPIs including completion percentage, repeat/no-trouble-found rate, NPS, and cost per job.
• Lead Quarterly Business Reviews, SLA performance discussions, and escalations directly with Brightspeed field leadership.
• Defend margin while maintaining and expanding Brightspeed’s satisfaction; partner with ownership on contract terms, rate discussions, and footprint expansion within the account.
• Size and staff the I&M technician workforce to match Brightspeed’s monthly fiber-passing and DSL-to-fiber cutover volume across the footprint.
• Diagnose underperforming markets quickly and lead structured turnarounds, including backlog burn-down, performance-improvement plans, and workforce rebalancing.
• Stand up I&M coverage in newly constructed markets on compressed timelines, including recruiting, tooling, compliance, and client onboarding.
• Cadence: Implement and refine dispatch flow, routing logic, quality control frameworks, and reporting cadence across every Brightspeed market.
• Own the daily and weekly dashboards: completion percentage, past-due percentage, repeat/no-trouble-found rate, cost per job, and technician productivity by market.
• Build and enforce reporting rhythms: daily stand-ups, weekly ops calls, monthly Brightspeed scorecards, and quarterly strategic reviews.
• Subcontractor and Workforce Management: Manage a blended workforce of W2 employees, subcontractor crews, and union-represented technicians across the footprint. Enforce compliance standards including insurance, licensing, certifications, and quality thresholds. Negotiate rate cards and build a vendor bench deep enough to absorb Brightspeed volume surges without margin erosion.
• Leadership Development and Succession: Develop Field Operations Supervisors into Operations Managers, and build succession below every key seat. Install a consistent coaching cadence: one-on-ones, performance plans, and accountability systems. Partner with ownership and HR on talent strategy, including recruiting, retention, and bench development.
• Financial Ownership and Margin Leadership: Own the Brightspeed account P&L, including revenue, cost of delivery, and contribution margin. Drive structured margin improvement initiatives: labor optimization, routing efficiency, rework reduction, and vendor rate discipline. Partner with finance and ownership on forecasting, capital planning, and the investment case for new Brightspeed markets.
• Change Management and Multi-Market Rollouts: Lead multi-market rollouts of new standard operating procedures, systems, and rate structures as fiber construction hands markets to I&M. Drive adoption across resistant teams through communication, coaching, and accountability, measuring outcome and not just activity.

Required qualifications

• Ten or more years of progressive operational leadership, with at least five years at Director level or equivalent.
• Documented eight-figure P&L ownership in telecom installation and maintenance, field services, or comparable multi-site operations.
• Direct experience managing residential and business installation, maintenance, and repair for both copper (POTS) and fiber/HSI services.
• Experience managing relationships with an ILEC, CLEC, or MSO at the executive field-operations level.
• Demonstrated success leading I&M operations across five or more states simultaneously.
• Experience managing a workforce that includes union-represented labor.
• Proven financial acumen, including P&L management, margin improvement, and labor cost optimization.
• Experience deploying and optimizing field operations technology platforms (dispatch, WFM, CRM).

Prior experience

• Prior direct experience with Brightspeed, Lumen/CenturyLink, Frontier, Fidium, Consolidated, ALLO, or a comparable ILEC/CLEC fiber-conversion environment.
• Experience managing I&M operations through an active DSL-to-fiber network transition.
• Experience coordinating the hand-off of newly constructed fiber markets from a construction/engineering organization into service.
• Exposure to BEAD-funded or state-subsidized broadband buildout programs.
• Exposure to voice AI, advanced analytics, or operational automation initiatives.

Working conditions

• Frequent travel across the Brightspeed operating footprint; extended time away from home base during market turnarounds or new-market stand-ups.
• Real-time operational environment with same-day decisions on escalations, weather events, and capacity shortfalls.
• Must work with minimal supervision, prioritize multiple workstreams, perform under pressure, and meet critical deadlines.
• Available for escalation outside standard business hours during outage events or major service disruptions.

Compensation

This is a full-time, salaried executive position. Benefits include highly competitive pay; health, vision, and dental insurance; PTO; and a 401(k), as described above.

Values in action

• Honesty and Integrity — Own misses without spin. Tell ownership and Brightspeed what they need to hear, not what they want to hear.
• Attitude Over Skills — Hire and develop for mindset first; build teams with grit, ownership, and coachability.
• Courage Through Communication — Raise problems early and honestly; bad news should travel fast, accurately, and with a proposed next step.
• Energy, Effort, Execution — Bring the energy, put in the effort, and finish what you start.
• Sharpen Your Axe — Invest in your own development, your team’s, and the systems that make excellence repeatable.