Operations Team Leader (KZN: Durban/Umhlanga)

Objectives of the Role

• Responsible for guiding and directing the Operations team towards achieving defined goals, delegation of tasks, facilitation of both internal and external communications.
• Provide technical advice and support for the Operations Manager, including the greater Operations team in the management of customer engagement, incidents, and service requests.
• Assist Operations Manager in managing ad hoc requests for operational technical resources and support and management of technical resource allocation.
• Provide support and or assist in the maintenance and development of secure, reliable and efficient network, security and voice infrastructure that provides platform for Borwood services.

Key Responsibilities:

Team Leadership

• Provide technical support in managing key operational systems such as service desk and
  monitoring systems.
• Assist Operations Manager in managing ad hoc requests for operational technical resources and
  support and management of technical resource allocation.
• Provide operational support for Borwood customers, resolving incidents, problem management,
  managing service requests, and actively monitoring infrastructure services.
• Provide technical assistance and guidance to Level 1 & 2 Operations Engineers to ensure continuous
  upskill and knowledge sharing.
• As required, assist with customer and vendor engagement including service reviews and vendor
  escalations.
• Work with the broader team, to provide reporting for key metrics related to operational performance.
• Assist with induction of new staff during the probationary period.
• Provide insight and feedback to the Operations Manager to assist in the conduct of staff quarterly
  reviews.
• As required, work with the Operations Manager to participate in the assessment and review of
  probationary staff reviews.
• As required, participate in interview process for new operations staff.
• Deputising for Operation Manager during times of absence.

Infrastructure Support

• Using appropriate tools and resources to troubleshoot IT infrastructure problems and outages.
• Work with customers and Borwood staff for problem resolution.
• Engage with vendors as necessary to resolve network, security, system and voice faults and
  performance issues.
• Build relationships with all Borwood stakeholders internal and external.
• Participate in support and on-call schedules and rotas as required.
• Provide technical escalation support for operational issues.
• Provide technical assistance and customer engagement in the management and resolution of
  critical incidents to ensure early restoration of service through technical resolution.
• Provide technical assistance and customer engagement in the management and resolution of
  tickets raised by Borwood’s key customer accounts.

Infrastructure Engineering

• Perform maintenance and system upgrades for company network, security, systems and voice
  infrastructure.
• Configuration of network, security and voice equipment and systems.
• Work within established configuration and change management policies to ensure success of
  network changes.
• Assist in the installation of equipment and provisioning of new services as required.
• Participate in departmental meetings, training sessions and company activities as required.
• Use appropriate configurations, tools and follow relevant procedures to assure the security of the
  infrastructure.
• Work closely with broader team to provide support for core and customer engineering projects.
• Proactively highlight and escalate any observed vulnerabilities within Borwood infrastructure.
• Participate in the installation, configuration, maintenance and ongoing management of network,
  security, hosting and voice equipment as required.

On-going Reporting, Monitoring and Documentation

• Assist in the monitoring of key performance metrics and indicators for IT infrastructure to ensure
  service availability.
• Assist in the monitoring of infrastructure resource utilisation, trending and capacity planning.
• Provide reporting on technical services as required by the business.
• As required, create and update documentation for all relevant procedures, solutions and
  architectures.
• Assist the Operations Manager in the development and production of reporting and technical
  documentation.
• Assist the Operations Manager in the development of monitoring, alerting, ticketing and other
  operational systems to improve and develop operational capability and reliability.
• As required, document procedures, product specifications and technology deployments that will
  provide guidance to other support and engineering staff.

Knowledge Management

• As required, document agreed procedures and designs.
• Provide technical expertise as required to assist in business development and opportunities.
• Document and deliver technical training and updates for staff as required.
• Provide customer-facing technical documentation and communications as required.
• Provide technical advice and support to Operations Management as required.

Customer Engagement

• Develop a thorough technical understanding of customer infrastructure and services and be able to
  provide recommendations and advice to the relevant account management teams as required.
• Engage with customers together with the Operations Manager to identify and resolve operational
  issues or complete customer service requests, this includes attending ad-hoc client meetings where
  required.

Other

• Support and participate in other areas of the business as and when required.
• Assist with the implementation and/or handover of services to customers, which may include travel
  for site visits, etc.
• Adhere to Borwood’s policies and procedures.
• Be willing to carry out or assist with such tasks as may be required to achieve deliverables, or as
  reasonably requested by a member of Borwood.
• Regularly familiarise yourself with Borwood’s portfolio of Products and Services, Customers,
  Suppliers, and internal Procedures.
• Be a professional and courteous representative for Borwood at all times.
• Work both individually and as part of a team where appropriate.

Necessary Experience and/or Qualification

• 2-3 years of hands-on Operations Engineering experience in a service provider environment.
• Knowledge and understanding of the key services that Borwood deliver.
• Ability to troubleshoot network faults, identify root causes and mitigations.
• Ability to prepare and communicate technical documentation.
• Relevant network certifications a plus, i.e.: CCNA.
• Experience working with Linux / Unix an advantage.
• Hands-on networking experience and knowledge with Cisco platform.
• Demonstrable understanding of networking protocols and configurations (e.g., BGP, OSPF, STP,
  QoS).
• Hands-on experience with monitoring, network diagnostic and network analytics tools.
• Knowledge and experience of physical network infrastructure.
• Knowledge / experience of VPN configurations an advantage.
• Knowledge / experience of firewall configurations an advantage.

Personal Skills/Competencies Required

• Ability to inspire and motivate a team.
• Strong oral and written communication skills, being able to articulate technical issues clearly both
  internally and to customers.
• The ability to assign tasks effectively, identify and resolve issues, and guide and develop team
  members.
• Acts as a bridge between team members and management.
• Self-motivated and able to work under the guidance of other network engineers.
• Contribution to continuous improvement and innovation.
• Adopting a thorough and organised approach to work.
• The ability to work autonomously.
• Able to work under pressure during critical incidents, maintain focus on fault resolution and provide
  timely and clear communication.
• Takes initiative and completes tasks assigned within reasonable timeframes.

Notice: The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed
by the individual assigned to this position. They are not to be construed as an exhaustive list of all
responsibility, duties, and skills required and staff may be required to perform duties outside of their normal
responsibility from time to time, as needed.