Network Manager

Role Summary:-
The Site Venue Service Manager owns the endtoend lifecycle of venue networking, IPT voice, and circuits (collectively referred to as telecommunications), from initial discovery through implementation, readiness testing, live operations, and continuous improvement. This role blends handson technical leadership with operational orchestration: the SVSM becomes the venue s resident expert, maintains a complete working knowledge of all technologies deployed, and leads rapid troubleshooting across network, cabling, security, and telephony domains. The SVSM influences outcomes through clear communication, decisive incident leadership, and people management (including directing an onsite team when assigned).
What Success Looks Like
Fast, calm incident leadership that drives low MTTR and high firsttime fix rates.
Flawless event readiness through disciplined planning, rehearsals, and documentation currency.
Seamless collaboration with L2 field engineers, senior (L3/L4/Architect) engineers, vendors, and client stakeholders.
Healthy, observable networks with actionable telemetry and compliant security postures.
Core Responsibilities:-
1) Lifecycle Ownership (Discovery Design Readiness)
Become the single source of truth for the venue s network/telecom footprint: rack elevations, port maps, VLAN/VRF segmentation, IP plans, dependencies, and runbooks.
Coordinate and validate LAN/physical surveys; ensure cabling standards and labeling practices are followed to the letter.
Align venue designs to program standards (e.g., ZeroTrust segmentation, NAC/AAA, Cisco SD-Access) and ensure security and monitoring hooks are in place from day one.

2) Implementation & Cutover Leadership
Orchestrate and, when necessary, handson lead rack/stack, cabling, device upgrades, and baseline configurations; ensure acceptance tests and failover drills are completed.
Oversee installation, configuration, and testing of Cisco Catalyst switches/APs/firewalls and related platforms; coordinate integration with SDWAN and telephony.
Partner with senior engineers to validate design intent (routing, switching, wireless, segmentation) and qualitygate changes before golive.

3) Operations, Incident & Problem Management
Serve as the venue s primary incident commander: triage, isolate, and drive crosstechnology troubleshooting until restoration; convene war rooms and escalate effectively. (Leverages L3/L4/Architect guidance where needed; mentors L1/L2 responders.)
Operate and interpret telemetry from Cisco Catalyst Center (formerly DNA Center), ThousandEyes, SIEM/XDR, ISE, and Firepower to detect, diagnose, and prevent service degradations.
Run postincident reviews with clear root cause, corrective actions, and preventive measures tracked to closure.

4) People Leadership & Stakeholder Communication
Lead an onsite venue support team (where assigned); schedule coverage, coach L2 engineers, and foster a blameless, actionoriented culture.
Communicate status crisply to venue operations, client stakeholders, and program leadership before, during, and after events; translate complex topics into businessimpact terms.
Coordinate vendors and crossfunctional partners to meet SLAs/SLOs and eventreadiness milestones; ensure change windows are respected and risks mitigated.

5) Documentation, Asset & Change Control
Maintain accurate, living documentation: network diagrams, configs, SOPs, emergency procedures, and test scripts; keep asset inventory current.
Enforce rigorous change management with backout plans and pre/post validation steps.

Technical Domains & Tooling:-
Routing/Switching & Segmentation: VLANs, VRFs, QoS; policydriven segmentation in line with ZeroTrust.

Cisco SD-Access: Required network architecture for segmentation, policy enforcement, and automation across venue infrastructure.

Wireless: Design/optimization and operational oversight of enterprise WiFi (e.g., Cisco 9800 & 9100series APs).

Structured Cabling: Copper/fiber (single & multimode), terminations, testing, labeling, patchpanel hygiene.

Security & Access: ISE (NAC/AAA), Firepower NGFW, Secure Endpoint/XDR, SIEM integration.

Observability & Automation: Cisco Catalyst Center, ThousandEyes, CAIT/CIaligned operational testing.

Telephony: Cloud IP telephony (e.g., Webex Calling), endpoint provisioning and callflow readiness.

Required Competencies:-
Organizational excellence: Plans ahead, sequences complex activities, documents obsessively, and keeps the venue auditready at all times.

Troubleshooting mastery: Hypothesisdriven diagnosis across layers 1 7; comfortable jumping from cabling to routing to wireless to security tooling without handoffs.

People & communication: Clear, confident communicator under pressure; able to lead bridge calls, coach L2s, and brief executives with equal fluency.

Customer focus: Anticipates venue operations needs; navigates tradeoffs to protect the event experience.

Qualifications:-
Experience: 5+ years in telecommunications/network operations or service management; event/venue or multisite environments preferred. (Mix of handson L2style field work and L3level coordination is ideal.)

Certifications: Cisco certifications (e.g., CCNP/CCIE) strongly preferred.

Knowledge base: IP, VLANs, routing protocols (OSPF/BGP/EIGRP), wireless design, and network security principles.

Tools: Proficiency with Catalyst Center, ThousandEyes, SIEM/XDR, ISE, Firepower; familiarity with Webex Calling.

Nice to have: Automation/orchestration exposure (Ansible, Python, Terraform) and hybrid/cloud networking awareness.
KPIs & Operating Cadence:-
Reliability: MTTR, SLA/SLO attainment, change success rate, and incident recurrence trend.

Readiness: % of documented systems with current diagrams/runbooks; testevent pass rate; cutover rehearsal outcomes.

Team Effectiveness: Ticket aging/throughput, knowledge base contributions, and L2 skill uplift (mentoring outcomes).

Stakeholder Satisfaction: Postevent and postincident feedback scores; timely and accurate status communications.
Working Conditions:-
Venuebased work with eventdriven hours (nights/weekends/holidays possible); oncall participation and occasional travel to support test events or adjacent venues.
Ability to coordinate and, when necessary, assist with field activities in live environments (in partnership with L2 resources).