Latest Job Vacancies at Vodacom, 12th July, 2018

Vodacom Business, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Vodacom Group, is a leading pan-African corporate connectivity and telecommunications provider that has brought affordable and reliable connectivity to Africa since 1992. In that time, we have built strong relationships in the sectors that are driving the continent’s economic growth; helping them stay connected across Africa, and to the rest of the world. We are recruiting to fill the position below:     Job Title: Network Support Team Lead Location: Lagos Department: Operations Reporting to: Senior Manager, Network Operations Job type: (Full-time) Employment Type: Permanent Key Roles

• The Job holder will be responsible for managing and coordinating the Network Support team and ensuring that all incident and network problems are properly escalated and resolved in line with SLA and MTTR expectations.

• Coordinate activities of the Network Support team.
• Responsible for informing Management, 3rd partner vendors and peers about network performance and service availability, primarily interacting with both internal and external customers, engineers and the whole technical team
• Coordinates the duty shift for the team and carefully allocates staff members (Network support engineers) on different shift duties, ensuring the whole shift works in an efficient and effective manner and translates into a pivotal part of service delivery and support; inculcating speed, simplicity and trust.
• Focus on identifying opportunities to benefit customers and offer advice and guidance in responding to customer enquiries
• Develop a sustainable work process, entrenching best practices and work standards that will help to reduce the amount of repeated faults and reduce MTTR; proactively identifying network related issues prior to occurrence and thus reducing escalations within the business
• Inspire the team to get the job done with focus on achieving MTTR & SLA
• Perform 2nd/3rd -Level, professional troubleshooting support
• Ensure optimum service availability and performance
• Underlying awareness of the bigger picture
• Use negotiation skills, tact and diplomacy to resolve conflicts.
• Willingness and ability to learn new products and network technologies quickly, often without the focus on formalized training.
• Ability to think quickly, take the initiative and willingness to make judgment calls and
• to work both independently and as part of a team
• Be able to communicate about networking issues effectively and in a comprehensible manner
• both to internal and external customer
• Ensure customer satisfaction through effective analysis and helping customers to resolve issues with respect to their services irrespective of the demarcations between Vodacom and its customers in a bid to exceed customer’s expectation.
• Engage with others teams to proffer solutions and improve the network performance.
• Monitoring and Reporting that informs Management to make decisions on Service Improvement Plans
• Take initiative to recognize and resolve issues as they arise, which will improve performance for the team and the company as a whole and Keep the team tasked with making steady progress; meeting deadlines and budgetary allocations and highlighting any significant issues to senior management.
• Integration, decommissioning and configuration VSAT remote on iDirect platform (ibuilder and imonitor)
• Support of VSAT Hub and troubleshooting of all VSAT related calls logged from Hub to Remotes
• Troubleshooting / managing of all Backhaul and Vodacom managed CE devices
• Support of all 3rd party vendors for both core and access links.
• Support of Field engineers in fault rectification so as to meet MTTR and SLA
• Configuration and troubleshooting of all Core and Access P2P radios on the network.
• Troubleshooting and configuration of OEM vendor devices on the network.
• Troubleshooting of core and access transmission devices on the network.
• Application of high level IP routing and configuration on core and access devices.
• Resolve Level 2 and Level 3 IP network related issues, such as switching, Routing and QOS.
• Troubleshooting of IP/ MPLS connectivity issues on the core and Access network.
• Configuration of IP Network devices ( Routers and Switches )
• Benchmark outbound/inbound carrier with Satellite provider to ensure optimum performance of the HUB

• The ideal candidate must be a have a University degree/HND in Electrical/Electronic Engineering or related fields.
• He must be able to use a number of monitoring/Ticketing/Reporting platforms e.g. Sage Pastel Evolution,Cacti, Azotel, Nagios, Entuity, Cambridge VNMS, SAF, Idirect NMS-Ibuilder and Imonitor ,NEC & Ceragon NMSs.
• The preferred candidate must have 5+ years of experience working in network operations -ISP with an emphasis on Network and transmission devices and 5+ years of experience interfacing with the customers as well Technical certifications such as ITIL, Network Design of Idirect Hub and CCNP preferred.

• Strong communication skills across all levels within and outside the organizations.
• Good troubleshooting skills.
• Well-developed Oral and written skills.
• Be well organized, structured and be able to drive and oversee multi-discipline projects within the organization.
• Knowledge of Sage Pastel Evolution,Cacti, Azotel, Nagios, Entuity, Cambridge VNMS, SAF, Idirect NMS-Ibuilder and Imonitor ,NEC & Ceragon NMSs.
• Knowledge of Microsoft Office Suite
• Excellent communication skills and ability to translate customer requirement into technical installation documents.

• The Job holder is responsible for the strategic management of the Network Operations, Network Engineering, Customer Service Operations Center, Service management, Information Technology, Project and Programme Management, Quality and Controls, Vendor Management, Special Projects and Field Operations teams.

• Provide effective leadership to implement and extend the Vodacom MPLS and Transmission network into Nigeria and handoff into international destinations. This includes a quality improvement process throughout the business and service areas, focusing on systems/process and new product development.
• Lead a high performing team of local and regional staff to align with strategies.
• Prepare and submit an annual operational budget to the Managing Director and the Executive Head of Finance for review and approval. Manage effectively within this budget, and report accurately and progress made and any challenges encountered.
• Participate in the preparation of operating and capital budgets, acquisition of equipment, infrastructure and services according to company processes.
• Formulate policies; manage day-to-day operations; and plan the use of equipment, infrastructure, materials and employees.
• Provide senior leadership to subordinate managers and supervisors with the responsibility for the build, operations and support of our network.
• Significant leadership and involvement in overall network strategic planning and management of the network.
• Maintain comprehensive relations with various legislative, governmental, special interest, community and non-profit organizations.
• Responsibilities include network operations, interpretive and customer services, and maintaining infrastructure and equipment.
• Ensure co-operation and teamwork exist between the Regional Operations Offices, the Network Operations Centre and other Area support personnel to achieve the earliest and most effective implementation and restoration of services.
• Regularly visit and inspect all Vodacom Business Nigeria offices to maintain governance.
• Develop good internal control systems to monitor and control fuel delivery and storage and other company consumables involved in the maintenance of Vodacom’s occupied premises.
• Generate all operations department reports that have relation with organizational goals and objectives.
• Ensure compliance with all regulatory and statutory requirements.
• Other duties as assigned by the Managing Director.

• The preferred candidate will also formulate policies for Cyber Security, Network and Business Continuity Management.
• He/She will ensure the Effective management of the cost of sale (OPEX) and CAPEX relating to the operations of the business.
• The job holder is required to have a Bachelor's and/or Master's Degree in Electronic, Computer and Electrical Engineering, Telecommunications, supplemented with additional professional development from an accredited college or University in Management, Business Administration or a closely related field. Various professional certifications will be helpful.
• He/She must have 12 to 15 years post NYSC professional experience in telecoms sector. At least five years should be at senior management level of a very large, multi-function, and multi-funded organization. An effective legislative relationship is desirable.

• Thorough knowledge of technologies (IP/MPLS, DWDM/OTN, SDH, Carrier Ethernet, Satellite, Microwave, etc.), principles, methods and practices of designing, planning, building and managing large networks in a telecom environment with multiple vendors and diverse equipment.
• General understanding of applicable legal and regulatory requirements.
• Must possess extensive knowledge of management and supervisory principles and practices and sound judgment and significant leadership skills.
• Well-developed verbal and written communication skills and the ability to persuade and work cooperative with divergent groups are also required.

• Visionary leadership
• Effective management and delegation
• Communication and negotiation
• Understanding of a multi-faceted business operation
• Planning and forecasting
• In depth knowledge of markets and changing business environments
• Complex problem solving
• Effective decision making.