Networks Service Owner

Department: IT

Employment Type: Permanent - Full Time

Location: Pune

Description

The IT Network Service Owner is accountable for the endtoend performance, availability, and lifecycle management of the organisation’s network services. This role provides strategic and operational leadership across all network domains—including LAN, WAN, WLAN, SDWAN, firewalls, load balancers, and connectivity services—ensuring they are secure, resilient, and aligned with business needs. Reporting into senior IT leadership, the Network Service Owner acts as the primary authority for network service strategy, governance, and continuous improvement. They work closely with the Network Operations Centre (NOC), external service providers, and internal engineering teams to ensure that incidents are resolved quickly, changes are delivered safely, and the network estate evolves in line with technology roadmaps.
This role requires a blend of technical depth, service ownership discipline, and strong commercial acumen. The successful candidate will drive operational excellence, manage vendor performance, and ensure the network services underpinning the organisation remain robust, scalable, and cost-effective

Key Responsibilities

• Own the full lifecycle, performance, availability, and security of all global network services.
• Develop and maintain the global network strategy, roadmap, and operating model aligned to business and technology priorities.
• Lead and mentor global delivery teams; ensure high performance and succession planning.
• Oversee MSPs, telco partners, and third-party providers to ensure consistent, high quality service delivery.
• Implement strong governance across change management, incident response, capacity planning, and lifecycle management.
• Lead major incident response, root cause analysis, and long-term remediation efforts.
• Ensure compliance with security and regulatory frameworks (ISO 27001, Cyber Essential etc)
• Drive adoption of SDWAN, SASE, automation, AI driven monitoring, and cloud native networking.
• Provide dashboards, reporting, and service reviews for senior stakeholders; manage budgets and optimise costs.
• Lead service improvement and maturity initiatives to enhance reliability, performance, and user experience.
• Represent network services across global IT, ensuring early integration into solution design and project planning.
• Communicate risks and impacts clearly to both technical and non technical stakeholders

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in IT, Computer Science, or related field, or equivalent experience.

Experience

• 12+ years in network engineering or network operations roles.
• Strong experience working with NOC teams and managing external network vendors.
• Proven track record owning network services within an ITIL aligned environment.
• Experience with enterprise network technologies, monitoring tools, and service governance.

Skills, Knowledge & Expertise

Knowledge, Skill, ability

• Strong knowledge of enterprise networking: LAN, WAN, WLAN, SD WAN, VPN, MPLS, DNS, DHCP, routing, switching.
• Understanding of firewalls, load balancers, proxies, and network security controls.
• Familiarity with cloud networking (Azure/AWS), hybrid connectivity, and zero trust principles.
• Solid understanding of ITIL practices, especially Incident, Problem, Change, and Service Level Management.
• Knowledge of service lifecycle management, service design, and service transition.
• Understanding of risk, compliance, and audit requirements for network services.
• Knowledge of multi vendor environments, managed service models, and contract structures.
• Understanding of NOC processes: monitoring, triage, escalation, and major incident handling, to interpret network performance data, capacity trends, and incident patterns.
• Skilled in assessing network risks, identifying service gaps, and prioritising improvements.
• Skilled in defining service roadmaps, service models, and operational standards.
• Ability to manage service reviews, performance dashboards, and continual improvement plans.

Essential requirement (non-negotiable) *

• Strong understanding of LAN, WAN, WLAN, SD WAN, VPN, routing, switching, DNS, DHCP.
• Solid knowledge of firewalls, load balancers, proxies, and network security controls.
• Familiarity with cloud networking (Azure/AWS) and hybrid connectivity patterns.
• Hands on experience working with or leading a Network Operations Centre (NOC).
• Ability to oversee monitoring, triage, escalation, and 24/7 operational processes.
• Experience driving improvements in alerting, observability, and operational maturity.
• Demonstrated ability to manage external network vendors, MSPs, and carriers.
• Experience running service reviews, tracking SLAs, and driving performance improvements.
• Ability to coordinate multi vendor environments during incidents and changes
• Ability to lead network related major incidents with authority and clarity.
• Proven experience in root cause analysis, corrective action planning, and post incident reviews.
• Ability to define service roadmaps, SLAs, KPIs, and governance models.
• Understanding of network security principles, segmentation, and vulnerability management.
• Ability to ensure compliance with audit, regulatory, and internal security standards.
• Experience maintaining risk registers and driving mitigation plans

Essential Certifications

• ITIL 4 Foundation
• Cisco CCNA (minimum)
• One advanced network certification (e.g., CCNP, JNCIS, Fortinet NSE)

Desirable Certifications

• Azure or AWS cloud networking certifications
• ITIL 4 Specialist or Strategist modules
• Security certifications (Security+, CCNP Security, NSE)