INC'D - Fiber & Broadband Executive Search

01 · The Sector

Fiber & Broadband

The infrastructure layer returns like a toll road.The services layer scales like a subscription. The 2026-to-2030 fiber deployment cycle is live.

The operating model is essential services. Broadband is federally classified as critical infrastructure. Annual churn at strong rural ISPs runs below the 3 percent industry benchmark because switching costs are high and alternatives are limited. The execution layer is route-based field deployment, technician productivity, recurring subscription revenue, SLA-backed service. The consolidation playbook is the same one already running in HVAC, pest control, and roofing: fragmented operator base, PE rollup capital, professionalized leadership stack. What's different is the capital structure underneath.

PE capital has moved decisively into broadband infrastructure. $81 billion in North American telecoms M&A in 2024, more than double the prior year. PE now accounts for 48.8 percent of deal volume, a five-year high. The reason is structural: fiber networks have thirty-to-fifty-year useful lives, licensed spectrum behaves like a toll road, and in rural markets broadband subscriber lifetime value reaches $5,000 against a customer acquisition cost of $135. A 37:1 LTV-to-CAC ratio that makes most SaaS metrics look fragile.

The BEAD catalyst has fundamentally reset what is possible. $42.45 billion in federal broadband funding - the largest single federal investment in broadband history - is flowing to states now. Rural fiber builds previously NPV-negative are achieving ten to fifteen percent IRRs once BEAD grants offset deployment capex. Apollo-backed Brightspeed has already secured $528 million in BEAD grants across 17 states. Platforms that move first are defining the map.

PE-backed telecoms platforms operate on two planes simultaneously. The infrastructure layer - fiber cables, licensed spectrum, middle-mile routes - generates predictable long-duration cash flows. The services layer - subscriber acquisition, ARPU optimization, churn management - behaves like a consumer subscription business. Most executives are fluent in one. The platforms that outperform have leaders who are fluent in both. The consolidation of 400+ independent fiber ISPs has barely begun, and the constraint is not capital or spectrum. It is leadership.

Within the services layer alone, the customer segment complexity is underestimated by most search firms. Single-family residential (SFU) runs on door-to-door acquisition, truck roll economics, and technician productivity metrics. Multi-dwelling units (MDU) require bulk billing negotiations with property managers, in-building infrastructure rights, and unit take-rate ramp modeling that bears no resemblance to the SFU playbook. HOA territories add a third layer: exclusive service agreements, community board relationships, and structured build-out timelines. Commercial and enterprise accounts operate on dedicated circuits, SLA-backed uptime commitments, and account management cycles measured in quarters, not installation days. A VP of Sales fluent in SFU door-to-door has likely never negotiated a bulk MDU agreement. A CRO who built an enterprise book may have no instinct for the door-to-door conversion rates that drive SFU take-rate. Platforms that span multiple segments need leaders who understand the economics of each - and how to build teams that execute them in parallel.

5customer segments - SFU, MDU, HOA, Commercial, Enterprise - each requiring different leadership DNA

37:1LTV-to-CAC in rural SFU broadband - $5,000 lifetime value against $135 CAC

5-10xARPU premium - business broadband over residential

The talent fault line

Three-quarters of PE-backed telecoms CEOs are external hires. Executives recruited from AT&T, Verizon, or Comcast carry institutional DNA shaped by 100,000-person organizations with eighteen-month planning cycles and quarterly public-company reporting cadences.

PE-backed ISP platforms have 200 to 2,000 employees, operate on ninety-day sprints, and report to investment committees demanding weekly operating dashboards. As one PE talent advisor noted, firms repeatedly fall into a "talent trap" - recruiting executives who "force-fit strategies that worked elsewhere onto a business with entirely different dynamics."

The right leaders for these platforms are migrating out of big telco right now. Verizon cut 13,000 positions in late 2025. Charter eliminated 1,200 corporate roles. We know where those people are and which ones are worth calling.

03 · The Brief

The CFO role in telecoms PE does not exist anywhere else. Infrastructure project finance and consumer subscription economics in the same seat.

On the infrastructure side, the CFO manages construction milestone draws, BEAD grant compliance and drawdown scheduling, long-duration capex modeling at $800-$1,200+ per home passed, and fifteen-to-twenty-year asset depreciation schedules. That is a toll-road CFO brief. On the services side, the same person owns ARPU optimization, take-rate curve forecasting, churn prediction models, and LTV-to-CAC analysis. That is a SaaS CFO brief. The overlap between those two talent pools is vanishingly thin. Heidrick & Struggles found a "clear reluctance to explore step-up candidates" for this role - but with so few qualified practitioners, PE firms increasingly have no alternative.

The VP of Regulatory Affairs problem is equally specific. The FCC itself employs roughly 1,420 people. State PUC telecom specialists number in the low hundreds nationally. BEAD compliance expertise is rarer still - the program launched in 2022 with rules still actively evolving, and the June 2025 restructuring forced all 56 states to restart their subgrantee selection processes. A VP of Regulatory Affairs must navigate FCC filings, state PUC proceedings, local franchise agreements, pole attachment disputes, BEAD grant compliance, and USF reporting - while communicating fluently with a PE investment committee. The people who can do all of that number in the dozens.

Then there is the builder-versus-operator paradox unique to this sector. At AT&T or Comcast, construction and operations are separate divisions with separate leadership chains. At a PE-backed platform adding thousands of new fiber passings per quarter while maintaining service quality on an existing network, one leader must do both. Leadership roles in fiber and ISP typically take ninety to 150 days to fill. The ones that take longer are usually the CFO and the head of regulatory.

Where the search breaks down

Recruiting from AT&T, Verizon, or Comcast without understanding that big-telco DNA is shaped by organizations where a planning cycle is eighteen months - and PE-backed platforms run on ninety-day sprints
Hiring a CFO who understands infrastructure project finance but has never modelled subscriber churn curves, take-rate ramps, or LTV-to-CAC ratios - or the reverse
Underestimating the BEAD Director role - a function that did not exist before 2023, requires federal grant compliance skills, construction oversight, and state broadband office relationships simultaneously, and has no established career track producing candidates
Placing rural-market GMs who understand the community dynamics of small-town territories but have no PE financial reporting experience - or vice versa. These markets are precisely where BEAD funding is flowing and where the gap is most acute.

What we bring to it

We track the executive migration out of big telco - Verizon's 13,000 cuts, Charter's 1,200 corporate eliminations, AT&T and Lumen's reductions - and we know which of those people have the right DNA for a PE-backed platform and which ones will revert to legacy behavior under pressure
We understand the difference between a 200-employee fiber overbuilder in year two of a greenfield build and a 2,000-employee ILEC converting legacy copper to fiber under PE ownership - different profiles, different mandates, different failure modes
We have mapped the CFOs in the market who genuinely bridge infrastructure project finance and subscriber unit economics. They exist. There are not many of them.
The BEAD Director role is so new that most search firms do not know what to look for. We do.

04 · Roles We Place

Roles We Place

Fiber infrastructure is being built at a pace the talent market has not caught up with. Every role below requires fluency in both the infrastructure and the subscriber business. Most candidates have one. Very few have both.

CEO / President

Simultaneously an infrastructure developer overseeing greenfield fiber expansion, a turnaround operator converting legacy copper to fiber, a regulatory strategist navigating BEAD compliance and PUC proceedings, and a PE-facing executive managing a 5-7-year value creation plan. Unlike a big-telco division president who inherits a P&L, this CEO must create it.

Chief Financial Officer

The sector's scarcest executive. Manages infrastructure project finance - BEAD grant drawdowns, construction capex modeling at $800-$7,000+ per home passed, long-duration depreciation - and consumer subscription economics - ARPU trending, churn curves, take-rate ramp modeling, LTV-to-CAC analysis - simultaneously. Must produce PE-grade reporting while modeling exit scenarios using both EV/EBITDA and EV/subscriber multiples.

VP of Operations

Manages active construction programs - thousands of new fiber passings per quarter - while maintaining service quality on an existing network that is often a mix of ageing copper, coax, and newly lit fiber. Must coordinate construction completion with service activation and customer installation. The builder-versus-operator paradox in one role.

General Manager

Market-level P&L owner. $20M-$100M revenue. Owns subscriber acquisition, churn management, and network build delivery across a defined geographic footprint spanning SFU, MDU, HOA, and commercial segments. Each segment runs on different economics. The GM who can manage all four simultaneously - while executing a BEAD-funded fiber build - is a rare profile.

Chief Revenue Officer

Owns the revenue growth the PE thesis depends on. Speed-tier upselling from 100 Mbps to 500 Mbps delivers a 60 percent ARPU lift. Managed WiFi, cybersecurity, and SmartHome bundles add 10-17 percent incremental ARPU per upgrade cycle. Business broadband commands 5-10x residential ARPU. Must often build commercial teams from near-zero in markets where the acquired company had none.

VP of Regulatory Affairs

Navigates the FCC/PUC/BEAD trifecta: federal regulatory filings, state PUC proceedings, local franchise agreements, pole attachment disputes, BEAD grant compliance under evolving NTIA rules, ETC designations, and USF/USAC reporting. The June 2025 BEAD restructuring added new complexity - states restarted subgrantee selection, technology neutrality replaced fiber preference. Must also build relationships with state broadband offices controlling billions in subgrant awards.

Director of BEAD Program Management

A role that did not exist before 2023. Manages federal grant compliance, Buy America requirements, environmental review, construction contractor oversight, milestone reporting, and financial drawdown scheduling. Bridges the regulatory/compliance world with construction execution - no established career track produces this combination. The June 2025 restructuring reset program rules for every state simultaneously.

Director of Construction

Owns outside plant build velocity - homes passed per quarter, make-ready throughput, pole attachment resolution, fiber pull productivity across aerial and underground crews. Aerial versus buried construction economics diverge sharply. A single pole attachment dispute can delay a 500-home pass by nine months. Manages GC relationships across OSP contractors, splicing crews, and directional drilling subs. BEAD-funded projects add Buy America, Davis-Bacon, and environmental review to every construction invoice. Miss the capex model, the equity story collapses.

Director of Engineering

Designs the network the business will monetise for thirty years. OSP engineering (fiber routing, splice points, conduit specs) and ISP engineering (GPON versus XGS-PON architecture, OLT placement, redundancy topology, lit capacity planning) are two disciplines - the role needs both. The GPON-to-XGS-PON upgrade decision alone drives ten-year capex, so this leader is making $50M-plus bets on passive infrastructure design choices. Must stay current on FWA positioning, DOCSIS 4.0 competitive pressure, and wholesale fiber economics.

Director of Bulk Internet Sales

Closes multi-year bulk agreements with MDU operators (apartment REITs, condo associations, senior-living), HOAs and master-planned communities, and homebuilder partnerships on new builds. The bulk sale is structured nothing like retail - wholesale rate to the association, bundled into dues, 5-10 year exclusivity, often paid before the first resident moves in. A single 800-unit HOA deal equals eighteen months of retail sales motion at higher margin and near-zero CAC. Must read CC&R amendments, navigate exclusivity law by state, and work builder-developer cycles that run 18-24 months pre-construction.

Director of Network Operations

Owns uptime. The SLA is the product. Runs a 24/7/365 NOC monitoring tens of thousands of ONTs, hundreds of OLTs, and the transport layer between them. MTTR is measured in minutes, not hours - a four-hour outage on a 12,000-subscriber city hits the next PE reporting cycle as churn. Coordinates incident response across field ops, engineering, and customer ops. Escalation discipline decides whether subscriber losses get contained or compound.

VP of Field Operations

Runs install productivity, CPE deployment, and break-fix. Install tech headcount is typically the largest operational line item after construction. Scheduling density, truck-roll optimisation, and first-time-fix rate simultaneously drive customer acquisition cost and retention. A five-point improvement in first-install success rate moves NPS and churn in the same quarter. Also owns CPE inventory - ONTs, gateways, WiFi extenders - across regional warehouses. Must scale install crews fast enough to keep up with construction pass velocity.

Director of Commercial Sales

Owns SMB through mid-market commercial revenue - single-site small business fiber through multi-location enterprise accounts. ARPU is 5-10x residential, but CAC is higher, sales cycles run 60-120 days for SMB and 9-plus months for enterprise. Must build a pipeline in markets where the acquired company had no commercial team and the residential org has zero commercial DNA.

A sample of the senior leadership positions we place across this vertical. Not an exhaustive list - if the role you need is not shown, reach out.