Network Operations Center (NOC) Manager / Lead

Position Level : Senior Level/Management

Reports To : Director, IT Infrastructure

Position Summary :

The NOC Manager is responsible for the operational performance, leadership, and strategic direction of the enterprises 24/7 Network Operations Center. This role ensures network availability, incident resolution, team execution, and infrastructure reliability across 300+ global sites. The NOC Manager serves as both a people leader and technical enabler, driving continuous improvement, proactive monitoring, and efficient escalation workflows while aligning network operations with enterprise standards and business outcomes.

Key Responsibilities :

Operational Leadership :

- Manage and lead the daily operations of a global NOC supporting a multi-site, hybrid cloud environment

- Oversee Tier 13 support functions including incident triage, escalation, troubleshooting, change implementation, and monitoring

- Serve as the highest operational escalation point for network incidents and outages

- Maintain and enforce 24/7 shift coverage, including staffing, scheduling, and on-call rotations

Team Management & Development :

- Directly manage NOC Analysts, Network Engineers, and the Network Reliability Engineer (NRE)

- Drive performance through coaching, 1 : 1s, skill development plans, and technical mentorship

- Define and track team KPIs including MTTR, SLA adherence, incident volume, and alert fatigue reduction

- Foster a high-performance culture built around accountability, collaboration, and continuous learning

Strategy & Automation :

- Partner with NRE to develop automation, infrastructure-as-code, and observability initiatives

- Identify operational inefficiencies and lead projects to improve toolsets, response time, and coverage

- Champion reliability engineering practices to improve incident prevention and resiliency

- Lead the implementation and refinement of NOC runbooks, SOPs, and escalation procedures

Cross-Functional Collaboration :

- Act as the liaison between Infrastructure, Cloud, Security, Application, and Helpdesk teams during major incidents and network events

- Partner with Engineering and Cloud teams on deployments, migrations, and new service onboarding

- Participate in ITSM governance for incident, problem, and change management processes

Reporting & Communication :

- Own and distribute executive-level reporting on network health, SLAs, critical incident trends, and operational risks

- Deliver RCA documentation, incident debriefs, and recommendations to leadership

- Ensure all ticketing, monitoring, and reporting platforms reflect real-time network health and team activity

Required Qualifications :

- Degree in Computer Science, Networking, Information Technology, or a related field

- 8+ years of experience in network operations or engineering roles, including 3+ years in a leadership or management position

- Deep knowledge of enterprise networking (TCP/IP, BGP, OSPF, VPN, VLANs, SD-WAN)

- Experience with Cisco Catalyst, Meraki, ASA, Palo Alto Networks, and Zscaler (ZIA/ZPA)

- Strong understanding of network monitoring platforms (LogicMonitor, SolarWinds, PRTG, etc.)

- Familiarity with cloud networking (AWS VPC, Azure VNet, ExpressRoute, TGW, etc.)

- Experience with ITSM platforms (e.g., ServiceNow) and change management frameworks

- Demonstrated success managing 24/7 teams, shift coverage, and high-severity incident response

Preferred Qualifications :

- Certifications : CCNP, PCNSE, ZCCA/ZCNA, AWS/Azure Networking certs

- Experience managing teams with diverse roles (e.g., NOC, NRE, Engineering) across multiple time zones

- Exposure to infrastructure automation tools (Terraform, Python, Ansible)

- Strong background in SLAs, SLOs, and operational performance tracking

- Familiarity with ISO 27001, SOC 2, or other compliance frameworks relevant to network operation