How much do director of network operationss make in 2026?
Directors of network operations are counted in the BLS computer and information systems managers series: OEWS May 2025 gives SOC 11-3021 a national median of $175,140 a year ($84.20 an hour), with the bottom 10% near $107,550 and the top 10% at $297,510. Two caveats apply. The series pools technology management across all industries and organisation sizes — 670,570 managers — so it is a management-level marker, not a role-specific figure. And it measures wages only, which means annual incentive and equity, both significant at this level, are outside it; treat the upper percentiles as understating real packages. What distinguishes this role from other technology directorships is that it is measured on things that are visible and unforgiving: availability, mean time to restore, change success rate, incident volume and customer-affecting minutes. That produces a particular kind of leadership job — one where the director owns a 24-hour function, is accountable for outages caused by decisions made elsewhere, and spends significant effort on process, tooling and automation rather than on new capability. The directors who reach the top of this band are usually those who reduced incidents structurally rather than staffing around them. Employment is projected to grow 15.2% through 2034 with roughly 55,600 openings a year. → Full director of network operations career guide, career path, credentials & placement →
Note: $175,140 blends every experience level and every setting in this occupation. For pay by level alone, see Pay by Level below.
- Director of Network Operationss earn a national median $175,140/yr ($84.20/hr) (BLS OEWS May 2025, SOC 11-3021); the P10 to P90 range is $107,550 to $297,510.
- The role is measured on availability, mean time to restore, change success rate and customer-affecting minutes — visible metrics that make performance unusually transparent.
- The BLS series pools all technology management across industries and sizes and measures wages only, so it understates director packages that include incentive and equity.
- Directors who reach the top of this band generally reduced incidents structurally through tooling, automation and process rather than by adding staff.
US Director of Network Operations Pay Distribution · BLS OEWS May 2025
Pay by Level · BLS OEWS May 2025
How much do director of network operationss earn at each level?
BLS OEWS publishes one blended wage for the whole occupation and does not break pay out by credential or practice level. The levels below distribute the published percentile range across the credential tiers this role actually hires at.
Level medians are aligned to the BLS OEWS May 2025 percentile distribution for SOC 11-3021; GlobalCybers does not yet publish a verified placement sample for this role, so no verified median is shown.
Methodology & Sources
How the numbers on this page are built
Published (BLS): BLS OEWS May 2025, SOC 11-3021, United States national estimate. Public, methodologically rigorous, but sampled on a rolling 3-year basis and published ~10 months after collection — so it reflects wages that are already 1–2 years old by the time you read them.
Level and certification medians: distributed across the published BLS percentile range for this SOC code (P10 through P90) according to the credential tiers this occupation actually hires at. They are modeled reference points, not separately surveyed wages.
State and metro figures: modeled — the BLS national median multiplied by the GlobalCybers state wage index, and for metros by the published metro index for that state. They are estimates of local pay, not BLS state or metropolitan-area observations, and are labelled as modeled in the tables below.
No verified placement sample:GlobalCybers does not yet publish a placement median for this role, so no "verified" figure appears anywhere on this page.
Pay by Career Level
How much does a director of network operations earn at each career stage?
Operations leadership pay follows the scale and criticality of the network you keep running. Each median is anchored to the BLS OEWS distribution for SOC 11-3021.
By State
Which states pay director of network operationss the most in 2026?
These are modeled state estimates — the BLS national technology manager median scaled by the GlobalCybers state wage index — not BLS state observations. At this level organisation size and industry dominate geography, and operations leadership is often located wherever the operations centre or headquarters sits rather than distributed across a market.
6 of 51 state guides shown, ranked by median. Bar is relative to California ($201,410), the highest-paying state shown. See all 51 state salary guides →
By Metro
Which cities pay director of network operationss the most?
Modeled metro estimates: the national median scaled by the state wage index and then by that state's published metro index. They estimate local wage levels and are not BLS metropolitan-area observations, and they exclude incentive and equity entirely.
BLS OEWS MSA estimates, May 2025. Nominal pay — weigh each metro against its cost of living before relocating.
Certification Impact
Which certifications raise a director of network operations’s pay the most?
Median annual pay before and after each credential, based on GlobalCybers placement data cross-referenced with BLS. License upgrades move the needle most; stackable certs add on top.
Impacts are not additive, the licensing rows share the same career ladder. Browse all 167 certifications →
Trade Comparison
How does director of network operations pay compare to related roles?
BLS OEWS national median across the closest trades. Director of Network Operationss sit mid-pack on median but carry one of the widest P10–P90 spreads, licensing and specialization drive the upside.
BLS OEWS May 2025. Verify director of network operations wages on BLS.gov →
Take-Home Pay
What does a director of network operations actually take home after taxes?
The medians above are gross base wage.
Estimates use 2026 federal brackets, standard deduction, and 7.65% FICA. Actual take-home varies with filing status, deductions, and local tax.
FAQ
Director of Network Operations Salary, Frequently Asked Questions
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