This role will have a Systems & VoIP Operations Leadership Focus
GCI's Supv, Network Management Operations will provide leadership and technical oversight for Network Management Operations, ensuring the availability, reliability, security, and performance of the company's core transport, core voice, and supporting network infrastructure. Lead teams responsible for 24x7x365 Tier III operational support, including incident response and break/fix activities, preventative maintenance, lifecycle upgrades, and disaster recovery readiness to support business-critical services.
This role drives operational excellence by strengthening network resilience, reducing operational and security risk, and improving service restoration performance through disciplined execution, operational standardization, and continuous improvement. The position collaborates closely with engineering, security, facilities, and other operational teams to align network operations with organizational strategy, service availability objectives, and regulatory requirements.
ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES AT ALL LEVELS:
This leadership position requires the following non-delegable responsibilities:
Fully own the mission, goals, operations, and results of the team and areas of responsibility.
Provide strong leadership to span of control (direct and indirect reports); demonstrate effective leadership in all interactions companywide. This leadership includes generating enthusiasm and shared commitment; identifying and setting direction; teaching, growing, and empowering; owning outcomes; and leading by example. Specific leadership duties include:
Establishing the vision and tone for the department, consistent with company culture and mission.
Establishing clear, measurable, and achievable goals and performance expectations and following up appropriately.
Hiring individuals who can accomplish those goals and meet those expectations; providing them the open communication, training, tools, and mentoring needed to be successful and develop professionally; establishing a development path commensurate with capabilities and potential.
Providing clear and accurate feedback to individuals and teams on a timely and consistent basis. Identifying and addressing performance problems early and effectively before they damage GCI's interests and demoralize other employees.
Effectively managing processes including annual performance reviews, compensation adjustments, promotions, demotions, transfers, and disciplinary actions up to and including termination in an unbiased and consistent manner.
Network Operations & Availability:
Lead 24x7x365 Tier III operational support for core transport, core voice, and supporting infrastructure.
Ensure rapid and effective response to network incidents, outages, and performance degradation to minimize service impact.
Oversee execution of preventative maintenance routines to support network performance and availability goals.
Direct implementation of hardware and software upgrades to maintain lifecycle health, availability, and feature enhancements.
Ensure network spares are available, properly inventoried, and positioned to support timely restoration.
Lead high availability and redundancy testing for network elements and customer circuits to validate failover readiness.
Develop, maintain, and exercise disaster recovery plans for the core network.
Coordinate incident response and restoration activities across engineering, vendors, security, facilities, and operations teams.
Risk, Security & Technical Debt Management:
Drive remediation of security vulnerabilities and operational risks within core network equipment and supporting systems.
Lead technical debt reduction initiatives to improve stability, simplify operations, and reduce recurring incidents.
Ensure operational activities comply with security policies, change management standards, and internal controls.
Promote a culture of operational discipline, documentation accuracy, and procedural adherence.
Process Optimization & Performance Management:
Develop, implement, and enforce standard operating procedures for monitoring, troubleshooting, escalation, and restoration.
Analyze incident trends, failure patterns, and operational data to identify opportunities for improvement.
Implement process improvements and automation to reduce Mean Time to Identify (MTTI) and Mean Time to Repair (MTTR).
Ensure accurate documentation of incidents, corrective actions, and recovery activities.
Deliver meaningful, repeatable operational metrics and reporting to support leadership visibility and decision-making.
Provide operational input into budget planning, capital initiatives, and long-term operational strategy.
COMPETENCIES:
ACCOUNTABILITY- Takes ownership for actions, decisions, and results; openly accepts feedback and demonstrates a willingness to improve.
BASIC PRINCIPLES - Interacts with people in a way that builds mutual trust, confidence, and respect; adheres to GCI's Code of Conduct for Employees - the Basic Principles.
COLLABORATION - Works effectively with others to accomplish common goals and objectives; maintains positive relationships even under difficult circumstances.
COMMUNICATION- Conveys thoughts and expresses ideas appropriately and professionally.
Excellent communication and interpersonal skills with the ability to patiently and accurately articulate information, professionally handle inquiries and complaints, and communicate effectively with the team.
COMPLIANCE - Follows internal controls; protects confidential information; abides by GCI's Code of Business Conduct & Ethics.
Strong understanding of network security principles, access controls, and compliance standards.
CUSTOMER FOCUS - Demonstrates commitment to service excellence; gives high priority to customer satisfaction.
Ability to meet and maintain high customer relationship goals and service expectations.
RELIABILITY - Consistently follows through on assigned tasks as expected; demonstrates timely attendance at meetings, training, and other work obligations.
RESULTS - Uses a combination of job knowledge, initiative, sound decision making, innovation, adaptability, and problem solving.
Strong problem-solving skills with the ability to identify and resolve root causes in complex environments.
Ability to analyze change impacts and implement solutions that minimize disruption while ensuring successful outcomes.
SAFETY & SECURITY - Supports a safe work environment by following all workplace safety rules and guidelines; complies with applicable Security policies and procedures.
CHANGE MANAGEMENT: champions and supports department and company change.
DECISION MAKING: uses sound, logical judgment based on data, research, and experience to choose an appropriate course of action.
PLANNING & IMPLEMENTATION: analyzes workload and establishes appropriate priorities; sets measurable and achievable goals and objectives for the team.
MENTORING & DEVELOPMENT: utilizes interpersonal skills to guide, direct, and influence others to achieve results.
PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT: sets clear performance expectations for team.
TECHNICAL PROFICIENCY - Proficient computer skills and MS Office knowledge (e.g., Outlook, Teams, Word, Excel) to complete job duties effectively, such as using the company intranet and to accurately retrieve and input information into databases or equivalent.
Additional Job Requirements:
Provide frontline leadership and operational coordination for Network Services Operations teams responsible for supporting the availability and performance of the company's core network infrastructure. The Supervisor ensures timely response to incidents, adherence to operational procedures, and effective execution of preventative maintenance and restoration activities.
Ability to coordinate operational activities in a 24x7x365 environment
Strong attention to operational discipline and documentation
Ability to perform effectively during high-severity service incidents
Demonstrated ability to support operational improvement initiatives
Experience supporting carrier-grade network environments
Knowledge of network monitoring tools and operational processes
Experience supporting incident management and restoration activities
Minimum Qualifications:
Required: *A combination of relevant work experience and/or education sufficient to perform the duties of the job may substitute to meet the total years required on a year-for-year basis
High School diploma or equivalent.
Bachelor's degree in Telecommunications, Engineering, Information Technology, or related field. *
Minimum of five (5) years in telecommunications or network operations experience or related environment. *
Including a minimum of one (1) year in a supervisory or management position may be substituted with equivalent demonstrated functional leadership experience.
Preferred:
Experience supporting Tier III network operations
Knowledge of telecom transport and voice network environments
Experience in telecom NOC or core network environments
Other relevant telecom industry or job specific certifications.
DRIVING REQUIREMENTS:
This position may require access to reliable transportation for occasional travel between retail store locations, offices, worksites, or other locations as needed.
Travel & Regulatory Requirements:
This position requires travel and/or access to regulated facilities that require compliant identification. Employees must obtain and maintain the appropriate identification and, when required, successfully participate in and maintain eligibility through applicable background checks in accordance with contractual and federal requirements within ninety (90) days of hire, or within ninety (90) days of any applicable regulatory changes.
PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS and WORKING CONDITIONS:
Work is primarily sedentary, requiring daily routine computer usage.
Ability to work shifts as assigned, work in standard office/home office setting, and operate standard office equipment.
Ability to accurately communicate information and ideas to others effectively.
Physical agility and effort sufficiently to perform job duties safely and effectively.
Ability to make valid judgments and decisions.
Available to work additional time on weekends, holidays, before or after normal work hours when necessary.
Must work well in a team environment and be able to work with a diverse group of people and customers.
Virtual workers must comply with remote work policies and agreements.
The company and its subsidiaries operate in a 24/7 environment providing critical services to Alaskans and may need to respond to public health and safety matters or other business emergencies. Due to business needs, employees may be contacted outside of the core business hours to respond to the immediate emergency. As such, you will be requested to provide emergency after-hour contact numbers, to include your home and cell phone numbers if you have those services.
Culture, Engagement, and Connection: At GCI, we foster an environment where the unique perspectives of our employees, customers, and fellow Alaskans are celebrated. We add value to our community by nurturing and empowering each member of our workforce, ensuring equal opportunities for every Trailblazer.
EEO: GCI is an equal opportunity employer. Qualified applicants are considered for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability, veteran status, or any other status or classification protected under applicable state or federal law.
DISCLAIMER: The above information on this description has been designed to indicate the general nature and level of work performed by employees within this classification. It is not designed to contain or be interpreted as a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities, and qualifications required of employees assigned to this job.
All employees of GCI work in support of the GCI Mission Statement and Declaration of Principles which are located on the GCI Career page and Employee portal.
ADDENDUMS:
Systems & VoIP Operations Leadership Focus
This role provides strategic leadership and operational oversight for teams responsible for enterprise Systems Engineering and Voice over IP (VoIP) Operations within the CTO organization. The position is accountable for ensuring the reliability, performance, security, and lifecycle management of mission-critical data center systems, communication platforms, and voice infrastructure that support company-wide operations.
The leader in this role establishes operational direction, drives cross-functional collaboration, and ensures adherence to industry best practices, security standards, and operational excellence frameworks while enabling scalable, resilient, and secure technology environments.
Core Leadership Responsibilities:
Provide leadership, coaching, and performance management for Systems Engineering and VoIP Operations staff, fostering a culture of technical excellence, accountability, and continuous improvement.
Develop and maintain operational roadmaps and team priorities aligned with organizational technology strategy and infrastructure modernization initiatives.
Coordinate cross-functional initiatives with Network Engineering, Network Operations Center (NOC), Cybersecurity, Data Center Operations, and Enterprise Applications teams to ensure seamless service delivery.
Oversee incident management processes including major incident response, root cause analysis, and remediation planning for systems, servers, VoIP platforms, and network policy-enforcement infrastructure.
Manage lifecycle planning and operational sustainability for enterprise servers, virtualization platforms, VoIP infrastructure, monitoring platforms, and supporting systems.
Establish and maintain technical documentation, architectural diagrams, and standard operating procedures (SOPs) to support operational continuity and knowledge transfer.
Promote the adoption of automation, scripting, and orchestration technologies to improve operational efficiency and reduce manual intervention.
Define and enforce configuration management standards, patch management policies, and security hardening practices across supported platforms.
Drive continuous improvement initiatives focused on system uptime, voice service quality, capacity planning, and Quality of Service (QoS) optimization.
Support technology planning, vendor engagement, contract evaluation, and budget forecasting for infrastructure investments and operational improvements.
Technical Domains Overseen:
Systems Engineering Infrastructure
Core Network & System Protocols
Oversight of enterprise infrastructure services and network protocols critical to platform operations, including:
SMTP, DNS, DHCP, NTP, NFS, SMB, and SNMP (v3 preferred).
Network Policy & Traffic Management Platforms:
Operational oversight of traffic classification, subscriber-aware enforcement, and policy-driven network control platforms including:
SandVine Policy Traffic Switch (PTS) appliances used for traffic classification, shaping, DDoS mitigation policies, subscriber-aware enforcement, and traffic analytics.
AppLogic traffic-management platforms used for application visibility, traffic steering, and policy enforcement.
Responsibilities include:
Integration with OSS/BSS platforms, AAA services, subscriber provisioning workflows, and security controls
Governance of policy rule sets, enforcement frameworks, telemetry exports, and health monitoring system
Ensuring operational alignment between traffic management platforms and network service delivery objectives.
Data Center Infrastructure:
Leadership oversight of enterprise data center infrastructure including:
Enterprise server hardware platforms
Power distribution and UPS infrastructure
Rack and cabinet layout standards
Hardware lifecycle planning and asset logistics
Capacity planning and hardware refresh strategies
Virtualization & Compute Platforms:
Management and lifecycle oversight of virtualization environments including:
VMware vSphere, vCenter, and vCloud environments
Xen virtualization platforms
KVM and QEMU virtualization technologies
Operating Systems & Storage Platforms:
Oversight of enterprise operating systems and storage solutions including:
Linux and Unix platforms (Solaris, CentOS, RedHat, Ubuntu)
Microsoft Windows Server environments
NetApp storage systems and enterprise storage architecture
Monitoring, Analytics & Management Platforms:
Oversight of operational monitoring, telemetry, and infrastructure observability platforms such as:
Grafana
Statseeker
Cacti
ZenOSS
Other Network Management and Performance Monitoring tools
Additionally includes:
Kibana and log analytics platforms
Data visualization and reporting tools supporting operational intelligence
Automation, Development & Operational Tooling:
Promotion and governance of automation frameworks and scripting capabilities used to enhance operational efficiency, including:
Ansible automation frameworks
Python, Java, Perl, and Bash scripting
Infrastructure configuration automation
Power BI dashboards and operational analytics
DNS tooling such as BIND configuration management
VoIP Engineering & Collaboration Platforms:
Oversight of enterprise voice and collaboration infrastructure, including Cisco-based unified communications platforms and supporting technologies.
VoIP Protocols & Network Technologies
Operational knowledge of voice and network communication protocols including:
SIP, RTP, SCCP, MGCP, ISDN, QoS, H.323, XML, HTTPS, ACLs, VLANs, OSPF, EIGRP, SMTP, and static routing.
Cisco Collaboration Ecosystem:
Leadership oversight of the Cisco Unified Communications environment including:
Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM)
Cisco Unity Connection
Cisco Emergency Responder
Cisco Expressway (C & E)
Cisco IM & Presence
Cisco CUBE (Cisco Unified Border Element)
Cisco Finesse
Real-Time Monitoring Tool (RTMT)
Unified Contact Center Express (UCCX) and CCX Editor
Additional Voice Infrastructure Platforms:
Oversight of additional voice infrastructure technologies including:
Cisco UCS server platforms (BE6K / BE7K)
AudioCodes Session Border Controllers
Adtran Session Border Controllers
Akkadian Provisioning Manager
UNIMAX Pro
BOC provisioning platforms
CUBAC voice administration tools
Preferred Leadership Qualifications:
Demonstrated leadership experience managing engineering, infrastructure, or technology-focused teams in a complex operational environment.
Proven ability to translate highly technical requirements into operational execution plans and strategic infrastructure initiatives.
Experience supporting large-scale system deployments, unified communications environments, and enterprise data center operations.
Familiarity with ITIL service management practices, change management frameworks, and enterprise incident response processes.
Preferred Technical Certifications:
While not required for the leader in this role, familiarity with the following certifications is beneficial to effectively support and guide technical teams:
Red Hat Certified System Administrator (RHCSA)
VMware Certified Professional (VCP / VCP-Advanced)
CompTIA Linux+
Cisco CCNA, CCNP, or CCIE Collaboration
AudioCodes technical certifications
Industry certifications (CCNA, JNCIA, or equivalent)
