Manager I - Enterprise Operations

This position is a frontline leadership role responsible for the safe, reliable, and customer-focused execution of enterprise field services and Central Office operations. The position leads employees and coordinates vendors who install, maintain, test, turn up, and repair core network infrastructure and complex business services across Central Offices, remote network locations, customer premises, and assigned field territories. The manager provides day-to-day operational leadership, supports 24x7 service coverage and major incident response, manages work to established service levels, and drives quality, productivity, process improvement, and customer satisfaction in alignment with company priorities.

Essential Functions:

• Lead, coach, and develop geographically distributed Enterprise Operations employees, establishing clear performance expectations, providing feedback and recognition, addressing performance concerns, and supporting career development and succession planning.
• Plan and manage workforce coverage, including work schedules, assignments, job rotations, training, PTO, overtime, and on-call or 24x7 support to meet business and customer needs.
• Direct the installation, maintenance, testing, turn-up, and repair of Central Office equipment, core network elements, dedicated services, and enterprise customer solutions.
• Coordinate employees, internal partners, and vendors to meet customer commitments, service-level expectations, restoration targets, change windows, and project deadlines.
• Serve as an escalation point for complex service, installation, repair, and application issues, driving cross-functional resolution and supporting strategic customers, critical services, and Major Incident response.
• Ensure employees and vendors comply with company safety practices, work procedures, change-management requirements, and applicable standards through safety meetings, field observations, inspections, and work audits.
• Establish and maintain quality-assurance practices that improve installation and repair quality, documentation, operational effectiveness, and the overall customer experience.
• Monitor operational, quality, productivity, service, safety, and customer performance metrics; conduct root-cause analysis and use results to drive accountability, coaching, corrective action, and continuous improvement.
• Manage labor, overtime, materials, vendors, workload, backlog, and operational costs to balance service commitments, resource availability, risk, and financial expectations.
• Lead cross-functional projects and operational initiatives, including the implementation of new technologies, products, and processes, while building strong relationships and communicating effectively with employees, customers, leaders, vendors, and other stakeholders.

Education:

• Two years of College or Technical School resulting in an Associate's Degree or equivalent experience

Relevant Work Experience:

• Three to five years of relevant telecommunications, network operations, field operations, installation, repair, or service-delivery experience.
• Demonstrated success leading technicians or operations employees, including performance management, coaching, development, scheduling, and conflict resolution.
• Experience managing multiple projects and priorities, establishing realistic goals, meeting demanding deadlines, and escalating across departments when needed.
• Experience using operational systems, dispatch or workforce-management tools, service-order and plant records, trouble-management applications, and performance reporting to manage workload and customer commitments.
• Experience in a union environment, including employee relations, hiring, discipline, grievance support, and consistent administration of applicable agreements, preferred.
• Experience coordinating vendors and supporting strategic or high-impact customers preferred.

Special Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Working knowledge of telecommunications products and services, customer applications, and end-to-end service-delivery processes.
• Broad understanding of network architecture and the Central Office, field, outside-plant, and customer-premises elements used to deliver enterprise and residential services.
• Knowledge of analog and digital transmission fundamentals, common service impairments, testing methods, turn-up practices, and maintenance routines.
• Working knowledge of enterprise voice and data services, which may include dedicated circuits, DS1/DS3, SONET, Ethernet, SIP, LAN/WAN, managed Wi-Fi, GPON/fiber services, routing equipment, PBX trunks, alarms, and other special-service platforms.
• Ability to understand and apply change-management, service-management, incident-management, root-cause analysis, and continuous-improvement practices.
• Strong written and verbal communication, customer service, negotiation, conflict-resolution, analytical, organizational, and planning skills.
• Ability to learn quickly, manage multiple disparate functions, work with urgency, and make sound decisions in high-impact service situations.
• Ability to develop practical metrics, interpret performance trends, communicate successes and failures, and translate findings into sustained improvement.
• Working knowledge of company safety practices applicable to Central Office, field, outside-plant, manhole or confined-space, and work-area protection activities.
• Ability to participate in or facilitate 24x7 operational coverage, after-hours maintenance activity, and major incident response as business needs require.

Supervisory Responsibility:

• Has 2 or More Full Time Direct Reports