Network Operations Center Technician

Job Description

The Network Operations Center (NOC) is responsible for operation, maintenance administration, and performance management of customer IP networks. The NOC serves as an escalation point for end‑user issues that are unable to be resolved by field personnel or help desk technicians and as a first responder for network outages or impairments. The NOC manages uptime and availability of platforms, elements, and services within the network.

The NOC operates 24 x 7 x 365. It provides input/feedback to engineering teams to improve end‑user experience, NOC tools/monitoring, new network products/services, and refinement/improvement of existing network products/services. The NOC is responsible for interfacing with multiple internal and external teams to ensure timely and accurate resolution of any and all reported or identified network issues.

• Analyze engineering documentation and design for acceptance into the network and subsequently take ownership of those products/services to include circuit testing using RFC-2544, Y.1564, or Y.1731 (as needed).
• Ensure that network standards, policies, and procedures are being adhered to such as naming standards, design standards/methodologies, port assignment, and base configuration.
• Understand routing and switching in a service provider network to include protocols such as VLAN (C‑VLAN and S‑VLAN), MPLS, E‑VPN, ECMP, BGP, SIP, SNMP, and OSPF.
• Manage the network monitoring system (NMS) to include importing new devices into the NMS platform and ensuring that alerting of that NMS is properly managed/responsive to incidents.
• Maintain existing deployed Gigabit Passive Optical Network to include configuration of that technology and its related end‑user endpoints, to include scheduled upgrades to those products.
• Maintain and update network documentation by following ITIL change management practices for documentation and tracking purposes.
• Manage the ticket queue and ensure that all reported issues are documented and resolved in a timely manner.
• Monitor customer networks via the monitoring platform to verify validity of alerts and accurately identify customer impact.
• Manage network outages dispatching appropriate technicians to facilitate repair/restoration of the network, escalating issues to vendor support and engineering support as needed, and acting as a liaison between disparate teams to ensure that information is flowing freely between all stakeholders.
• Perform network maintenance on existing networks to include Method of Procedure (MOP) writing and execution while minimizing end‑user impact.
• Perform configuration and acceptance of network equipment being deployed to support new services areas within an existing network.
• Maintain critical network sparing inventory.
• Perform network troubleshooting to quickly and accurately identify the root cause of a network outage/impairment and work the issue until resolution engaging other teams as needed.

• Bachelor's degree preferred or equivalent work experience.
• Understanding of a service provider or large enterprise networks in a multi‑node, full mesh, network topology.
• Understanding of router/switch from Cisco, Juniper, Ciena, Nokia or equivalent.
• Understanding of routing protocols such as OSPF, BGP, ISIS.
• Understanding of Gigabit Passive Optical Networks (G‑PON).
• Experience configuring and troubleshooting network devices with a command line interface (CLI).
• Understanding of network monitoring systems.
• Understanding of Carrier Grade NAT (CG‑NAT).
• Understanding of IPv4 or IPv6 networks and IP routing.
• Strong communication and organizational skills.
• Understanding of layer 2 technologies.
• Understanding of technology or feature testing in a lab and other environments.
• Experience working in a structured environment that requires change control processes in accordance with company policies, for execution of implementations and changes to the network environment.
• Experience interacting with end‑users to engage in active troubleshooting of home/small business networks.
• Experience interacting with vendors to facilitate repair/replacement/restoration of network hardware.
• Strong computer software skills to…