Network Operations Specialist (Onsite/Direct Hire)

IOC Network Operations Specialist (Full Time, Direct Hire;Onsite in Fort Worth, TX)

Optomi, in partnership with one of our clients, is seeking an IOC Network Operations Specialist to support the reliability and performance of large-scale AI cloud infrastructure within a 24x7 operations environment. This role focuses on providing Tier 2 support for complex network incidents, monitoring cloud network performance, and troubleshooting routing, switching, firewall, and hybrid cloud connectivity issues across enterprise data center environments. The IOC Network Operations Specialist will be responsible for incident response, network change execution, root cause analysis, and maintaining operational documentation while collaborating with senior engineers, vendors, and internal teams to ensure high service availability. This individual will also mentor junior technicians and support major incident response efforts in a fast-paced, mission-critical environment. The ideal candidate brings strong enterprise networking experience, a background in NOC/IOC or data center operations, hands-on experience with Fortinet or Cisco networking technologies, and excellent troubleshooting skills. Success in this role requires strong ownership, effective communication, and the ability to resolve complex network issues while maintaining the reliability of critical cloud infrastructure.

Mon-Fri | 8am to 5pm | On-Call Rotation

Responsibilities:

• Provide Tier 2 escalation support for complex cloud and network incidents, ensuring timely resolution and meeting SLA targets.
• Monitor network performance and availability, proactively identifying, troubleshooting, and resolving service degradations.
• Perform advanced troubleshooting across routing, switching, firewalls, and hybrid cloud connectivity to restore services quickly.
• Execute, validate, and document network changes while following established change management processes.
• Lead technical investigations and contribute to root cause analysis for major or recurring network incidents.
• Collaborate with Tier 3 engineers, vendors, carriers, and internal teams to resolve infrastructure issues and improve network reliability.
• Mentor Tier 1 technicians, maintain operational documentation and runbooks, and participate in on-call rotations and major incident response activities.

Experience:

• 7–10 years of experience supporting enterprise network operations within a Network Operations Center (NOC), IOC, or large-scale data center environment.
• Strong hands-on experience troubleshooting routing, switching, firewall, and network connectivity issues in production enterprise environments.
• Experience supporting Fortinet technologies (FortiGate/FortiSwitch) or enterprise Cisco platforms such as Nexus, Catalyst, and Firepower.
• Strong networking fundamentals with CCNP-level knowledge of TCP/IP, VLANs, BGP, OSPF, routing, switching, and network protocols.
• Experience supporting mission-critical infrastructure in a 24x7 operations environment with strict SLA requirements.
• Proven experience leading incident response, root cause analysis, and network change execution across multiple technical teams.
• Experience mentoring junior technicians or engineers and contributing to operational documentation and process improvements.