Network Operations Center Manager

The NOC Manager is responsible for the operational performance, leadership, and strategic direction of the enterprise's 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 1–3 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 operations