Managed Services Operations Manager

The Managed Service Operations Manager is a critical leadership role responsible for overseeing both customer-facing service management and technical network operations within a Managed Services Provider (MSP) environment. This role serves as the primary point of contact for clients, ensuring their business needs are met through high-quality service delivery, while also leading technical teams to maintain optimal network performance, security, and uptime. The ideal candidate combines strong customer relationship management skills with deep technical expertise in network technologies (LAN, SD-WAN, firewalls) and ITIL-based service management processes.

The Managed Services Operations Manager acts as a bridge between clients and the organization, facilitating communication, resolving issues, and driving continuous service and network improvements. Key performance indicators (KPIs) include client satisfaction, SLA adherence, incident resolution times, network uptime, and proactive optimizations.

Key Responsibilities

Client Relationship and Service Management

• Build and maintain strong client relationships by understanding their business needs, objectives, and expectations, acting as their primary point of contact.
• Address client concerns, provide timely updates, and ensure prompt resolution of service requests to achieve high levels of customer satisfaction.
• Collaborate with internal stakeholders (e.g., account management, and engineering teams) to align services with client objectives and drive customer success.
• Monitor and report on service delivery KPIs, such as incident resolution times, service uptime, and client satisfaction scores, preparing regular reports for clients and internal stakeholders.

Leadership and Team Management

• Lead and mentor a diverse team of service desk agents, L1/L2 engineers, and collaboration professionals, fostering a culture of high performance and continuous improvement.
• Act as the primary escalation point for high-priority network incidents, complex troubleshooting, and client issues.
• Conduct performance reviews and implement training programs to enhance team skills in both customer service and technical network operations.
• Motivate and inspire team members to deliver high-quality services in alignment with organizational goals.

Network and Security Operations

• Ensure optimal performance and uptime of network infrastructure, including LAN, SD-WAN, VLANs, BGP, OSPF, and firewall security (Palo Alto preferred).
• Oversee network monitoring, proactive issue detection, and preventive maintenance to minimize disruptions.
• Collaborate with L3 engineers and security teams to manage firewall rule optimizations, IPS/IDS tuning, and network segmentation.
• Implement network capacity planning and performance optimization strategies to support scalability and reliability.

Incident and Problem Management

• Own the incident response process, ensuring timely investigation, resolution, and escalation of network outages, service degradations, and client issues.
• Perform Root Cause Analysis (RCA) for recurring issues, implementing corrective measures to prevent future occurrences.
• Ensure teams follow structured troubleshooting methodologies to reduce unnecessary escalations and improve resolution efficiency.

Service and Network Improvement Initiatives

• Proactively identify opportunities for service and network optimization based on client feedback, performance data, and industry best practices.
• Lead continuous improvement initiatives, implementing process enhancements, automation, and innovative solutions to enhance service quality and network efficiency.
• Partner with Tools & Monitoring teams to implement automation for network monitoring, alerting, and self-healing workflows, leveraging tools like Python, Ansible, or Terraform.

Strategic Planning and Change Management

• Contribute to the development of strategic plans, service roadmaps, and business growth initiatives in collaboration with senior management and client stakeholders.
• Collaborate with the Change Manager and Change Advisory Board (CAB) to ensure network changes are well-planned, risk-assessed, and executed with minimal disruption.
• Ensure compliance with ITIL-based change management processes to minimize operational risks.

SLA Management and Reporting

• Maintain strict adherence to Service Level Agreements (SLAs), ensuring incident response times, resolution times, and uptime guarantees are met.
• Generate weekly and monthly performance reports detailing service and network performance, improvements, and KPI adherence for internal stakeholders and clients.

Required Skills and Experience

Technical Proficiency

• Extensive hands-on experience with network technologies, including LAN, VLANs, BGP, OSPF, MPLS, and SD-WAN.
• Strong expertise in firewall security (Palo Alto preferred), VPNs, and intrusion prevention (IPS/IDS) technologies.
• Proficiency in network troubleshooting tools (e.g., Wireshark, TCPdump, packet capture tools) and network monitoring platforms (e.g., Zabbix, SolarWinds, NetBox, ELK Stack).
• Knowledge of network automation and scripting (e.g., Python, Ansible, Terraform) is a plus.
• Solid understanding of ITIL framework, IT service management processes, and best practices.

Operational and Process Management

• Proven ability to manage technical and service teams in an MSP environment.
• Deep understanding of ITIL processes, including incident management, problem management, and change management.
• Experience with SLA management, KPI tracking, and performance reporting for service and network operations.
• Strong documentation skills, ensuring network diagrams, runbooks, and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) are regularly updated.
• Experience with Jira and Jira Service Management for IT operations is a plus.

Soft Skills

• Excellent leadership and mentorship skills, with experience managing diverse technical and service-oriented teams.
• Exceptional communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to build rapport with clients and internal stakeholders.
• Strong problem-solving and decision-making abilities, with a focus on delivering innovative solutions to complex challenges.
• Ability to analyze risks and communicate technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders.
• Ability to work effectively in a fast-paced, dynamic environment and manage multiple priorities simultaneously.

Qualifications and Certifications (Preferred but Not Required)

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, Information Technology, or a related field.
• CCNP, CCIE, or equivalent networking certification.
• Palo Alto PCNSA/PCNSE Certification.
• HCIP for Huawei SD-WAN environments.
• ITIL Foundation or higher certification.