Director Voice KPN

The Mobile Core organization consists of experienced and driven professionals who connect the Netherlands with the best mobile services. We work together with colleagues of various nationalities, and English is our working language. We are proud to have been awarded by Umlaut as the best network in the world. Together, we make sure this network continues to improve. Major outages are rare, but when they do occur, we stand together as one team and don’t stop until everything is working perfectly again.

Job Description

As the Director of Voice, you are part of the Mobile Core leadership team. You are responsible for the technology (IMS) through which KPN provides fixed and mobile telephony services to more than 10 million customers. In this role, you lead eight DevOps teams with around 45 professionals, supported by two team leads. You ensure the stability and security of systems within the critical mobile chain (such as 112 emergency services) and translate complex customer needs into innovative solutions.

This position requires someone who thrives in high-pressure, business-critical 24/7 environments, where continuity and reliability are non-negotiable. You are comfortable making decisions when stakes are high and are adept at leading change in a complex operational landscape.

In this role, you are responsible for

• Managing annual investments (capex) and operational costs (opex).
• Translating strategic objectives within the KPN organization into a technical roadmap for the next three years.
• Ensuring the stability and security of systems that play a crucial role in the critical mobile/telephony chain.
• Representing KPN in dealings with government bodies regarding laws and regulations.
• Executing innovations such as the complete replacement of the IMS stack (IMS on Containers) and you play a leading role in phasing out 2G for KPN.
• Strengthening and automating operational processes with the help of AI (machine learning) and CI/CD pipelines.
• Leading organizational and technological change to continuously improve resilience and performance in a 24/7 operation.
• Further developing the organization and its professionals to ensure we continue to deliver the best network to our customers—now and in the future.

Requirements

You are a visionary leader with a strong technical background and excellent communication skills. You can adapt your leadership style to the needs of your teams and know how to simplify complexity for a diverse stakeholder landscape up to C-level. You understand the intricacies of telephony and mobile networks and know how to translate them into concrete solutions. Your hands-on mentality makes you an inspiration within the team. To succeed in this role, you should have/be:

• A university-level working and thinking capability.
• Degree in Electrical Engineering, Telecommunications, Informatics, Computer Science.
• 5–10 years of experience in technical leadership roles, preferably in (mobile) networks or telephony.
• Proven experience operating in high-pressure, business-critical 24/7 environments.
• The ability to develop a vision and translate that into a strategy and long-term roadmap for the next three years.
• Strong analytical skills and strategic insight.
• Able to act decisively, even when not all information is available, and you feel comfortable making well judged decisions under uncertainty.
• Experience preparing and presenting decision documents at various organizational level.
• Living in the Netherlands, or willing to relocate.

Not meeting all the criteria? We still warmly encourage you to apply!

Interested?

The search and selection for the role of Director Voice is conducted by HPW Executive Search. For your application or more information about the role please contact Caroline van der Beek on caroline@hpwexecutivesearch.com or +31-20-520 7599.