Sr. Data Center Operations

About the role

The Network Operator keeps Nscale's network available, fast and secure around the clock. You will monitor network health, resolve incidents before they affect customers, and carry out planned changes safely.

As a senior operator, you work independently on most issues, act as the escalation point for junior operators, and partner with network engineering on complex problems. You are the kind of technician focused on moving fast, staying humble, and taking full ownership of any issues that arise to ensure we achieve the best outcome.

Key responsibilities

Monitoring and incident response

• Monitor LAN, WAN, data center and cloud network infrastructure 24/7 using tools such as SolarWinds, PRTG, Zabbix, Nagios or Datadog.
• Triage, troubleshoot and resolve Tier 1 and Tier 2 incidents covering routing, switching, firewalls, VPNs, load balancers and wireless.
• Escalate complex or high-severity incidents to network engineering or vendors with clear diagnostic detail.
• Lead the response to service outages during your shift, coordinating with internal teams and carriers until service is restored.
• Meet defined SLAs for incident acknowledgment, response and resolution.

Change and configuration management

• Implement approved network changes during maintenance windows, including configuration updates, firmware upgrades and device replacements.
• Follow change-management processes, including pre-checks, rollback plans and post-change validation.
• Maintain accurate configuration backups and device inventories.

Documentation and continuous improvement

• Write clear incident tickets, root cause analysis (RCA) inputs and shift handover notes.
• Create and update runbooks, standard operating procedures and network diagrams.
• Tune monitoring thresholds and alerts to reduce noise and catch issues earlier.
• Identify recurring problems and propose permanent fixes or automation opportunities.

Collaboration and mentoring

• Act as the first escalation point and mentor for junior network operators.
• Work with ISPs, carriers and hardware vendors on circuit faults, RMAs and support cases.
• Support security teams by responding to network-related security alerts and applying access-control changes.
• Participate in the on-call rotation.

Required qualifications

• 3-5 years of experience in network operations, a NOC, or a similar infrastructure support role.
• Solid understanding of TCP/IP, subnetting, VLANs, DNS, DHCP and NAT.
• Hands-on experience with routing protocols (BGP, OSPF) and switching technologies (STP, LACP, trunking).
• Working knowledge of firewalls and VPNs from vendors such as Palo Alto, Fortinet or Cisco ASA.
• Experience configuring and troubleshooting enterprise devices from Cisco, Juniper, Arista or similar vendors via CLI.
• Proficiency with network monitoring platforms and diagnostic tools (ping, traceroute, Wireshark, SNMP, NetFlow).
• Experience working within ITIL-style incident, problem and change processes using a ticketing system such as ServiceNow or Jira.
• CCNA, JNCIA or an equivalent certification, or comparable hands-on experience.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including clear updates during live incidents.
• Willingness to work rotating shifts to include night shift and participate in on-call rotations.

Preferred qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Network Engineering or a related field.
• CCNP, JNCIS, Network+ or a vendor security certification (PCNSA, NSE).
• Scripting or automation experience with Python, Ansible or Bash for routine tasks and health checks.
• Exposure to cloud networking in AWS, Azure or GCP (VPCs, transit gateways, cloud VPN).
• Familiarity with SD-WAN, MPLS, data center fabrics (VXLAN/EVPN) or high-performance networking (InfiniBand, RoCE).
• Experience in a large-scale, high-availability environment such as a data center, ISP or cloud provider.

Pay and benefits

The range below reflects the base salary for the position. Actual compensation may vary based on job-related factors such as skill set, experience, education, and location. In addition to base salary, this role may be eligible for bonus, equity, and/or commission programs. Nscale may offer a competitive benefits package including medical, dental, vision, flexible paid time off, parental leave, and retirement plan participation.

Salary Range $140—$200 USD

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