Network Operations Lead

Overview

The Network Tech Lead will serve as the technical lead and operational steward of enterprise-wide network services across 75+ office locations, including HQ and remote sites. Reporting to the Manager of Network Operations, this individual will be responsible for overseeing day-to-day network operations, ensuring high availability and performance of all network infrastructure (LAN/WAN/WiFi/AV), and leading the team in alignment with modern standards, automation, observability, and infrastructure maturity goals. This role requires strong hands-on expertise, team mentoring capabilities, operational rigor, and experience across both on-prem and cloud networking environments (Azure/AWS).

Responsibilities

Key Responsibilities:

• Provide day-to-day leadership and mentoring for the Network Operations team, including senior and junior engineers.
• Serve as the primary escalation point for complex networking issues and lead root cause analysis for major incidents.
• Drive the adoption of SOPs and enforce process consistency, quality reviews, and audit trails in line with the organization’s operational maturity goals (Levels 1–5).
• Collaborate with the Network Architect to convert design and strategy into actionable implementation and monitoring plans.
• Own network observability and proactive alerting across all devices—leveraging tools like Cisco Meraki, ThousandEyes, and ServiceNow for automated incident creation.
• Ensure consistent monitoring of WiFi, AV systems, and conference rooms; respond to and remediate issues proactively before business impact.
• Coordinate site-wide upgrades of legacy Cisco Catalyst gear to Meraki-compliant appliances to improve observability and supportability.
• Conduct regular WiFi site surveys and follow through with remediation plans in collaboration with site stakeholders.
• Lead the rollout of network automation scripts for common tasks such as configuration backups, firmware checks, and change validations.
• Champion the integration of alerting platforms with ServiceNow for seamless incident management workflows.
• Support planning and readiness activities for the Global NOC initiative, ensuring full playbook coverage and training paths for L1/L2 teams.
• Collaborate closely with Cybersecurity to ensure VPNs, endpoint compliance, and secure networking principles are followed.
• Provide training, peer reviews, and promote a continuous learning culture within the NetOps team.
• Participate in vendor evaluations and coordinate with procurement and Cumberland for Cisco contract renewals and equipment acquisition.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs):

• % Network uptime across all office locations (target: ≥99.95%)
• Time to resolution for high/critical severity network incidents (target: <1 hour)

Qualifications

Education:

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, or related field (required)
• Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP) or equivalent (required)
• Azure Network Engineer Associate or AWS Advanced Networking (preferred)
• ITIL v4 Foundation Certification (preferred)

Experience:

• 7+ years of hands-on experience in enterprise network operations
• 3+ years in a team leadership or technical lead capacity
• Experience with Cisco Meraki, Catalyst switches, firewalls, routers, and access points
• Experience with ThousandEyes, ServiceNow integrations, and enterprise monitoring tools
• Experience in hybrid cloud networking (Azure Virtual Networks, NSGs, VPN Gateway, AWS VPC)
• Demonstrated success in mentoring engineers and improving team performance
• Strong familiarity with AV & conference room infrastructure and network requirements

Technical Skills:

• Routing & Switching (BGP, OSPF, VLANs, STP)
• Cisco Meraki Dashboard & APIs
• ThousandEyes deployment and monitoring configuration
• Network Automation using Python, PowerShell, or Ansible
• VPNs, SD-WAN, Firewall rules, Load Balancers
• WiFi Site Survey tools (Ekahau or similar)
• Network monitoring platforms (SolarWinds, PRTG, etc.)
• Azure/AWS networking services (VNet, ExpressRoute, Virtual WAN, Transit Gateway)

Soft Skills & Attributes:

• Strong technical and operational leadership
• Ability to influence without authority across peer teams
• Proven communication skills to interact with engineers, managers, and senior leadership
• Detail-oriented with a focus on quality, process, and continuous improvement
• Ability to multitask and prioritize in a dynamic, fast-paced environment
• Passion for mentoring and coaching others

Need to Have:

• Proven experience with Cisco Meraki and ThousandEyes
• Demonstrated success in technical leadership and mentoring
• Strong knowledge of enterprise networking best practices and standards
• Experience building and maintaining automation for network tasks
• Hands-on experience with cloud networking (Azure or AWS)
• Strong collaboration skills and cross-functional team experience

Nice to Have:

• Experience with global NOC setup or Tier 1/2 playbooks
• Familiarity with AV/conference room infrastructure support
• Cisco DNA Center or SD-WAN experience
• ITIL process maturity or process improvement initiatives
• Experience working with ServiceNow for automated alert-to-incident integrations
• Experience participating in vendor contract negotiations and hardware lifecycle planning