Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Network Operations Administrator

🎯 Role Definition

The Network Operations Administrator (aka NOC Administrator / Network Administrator) is responsible for maintaining, monitoring, and optimizing the organization's network infrastructure to ensure high availability, security, and performance. This role handles 24/7 network monitoring, incident detection and escalation, routine maintenance, configuration management, change control, and coordination with engineering and vendor teams. The ideal candidate brings strong hands‑on experience with routing and switching, firewalls, VPNs, network monitoring tools (SolarWinds, Nagios, Datadog, Zabbix), and scripting/automation (Python, Ansible) and follows ITIL best practices to meet SLA objectives.

Keywords: Network Operations Administrator, NOC, LAN/WAN, TCP/IP, routing, switching, BGP, OSPF, firewalls, VPN, network monitoring, incident response, SLA, ITIL, network automation, Ansible, Python, SolarWinds, Nagios.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Network Technician (Tier 1 Support)
Systems Administrator with networking focus
Field Network Engineer or IT Help Desk with routing/switching exposure

Advancement To:

Senior Network Administrator / Senior NOC Engineer
Network Engineer (Routing & Switching) or Security Engineer
NOC Team Lead / Network Operations Manager

Lateral Moves:

Systems Engineer (DevOps-focused roles)
Cloud Network Engineer
Security Operations (SOC) Analyst with network specialization

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Monitor network performance and availability 24/7 using enterprise monitoring tools (SolarWinds, Nagios, Zabbix, Datadog), detecting anomalies, thresholds breaches, and capacity issues; proactively escalate incidents per SLA and incident playbooks.
Respond to, triage, and remediate network incidents and outages, performing root cause analysis, coordinating cross‑functional teams, and documenting incident timelines to minimize Mean Time To Repair (MTTR).
Configure and maintain routers, switches, wireless controllers, load balancers, and WAN optimization appliances, ensuring firmware/OS are updated and configurations adhere to baseline standards.
Administer firewall policies, VPN concentrators and site‑to‑site/remote access VPNs (IPsec, SSL), including troubleshooting connectivity, applying rule changes, and auditing rules for security and compliance.
Manage routing protocols (BGP, OSPF, EIGRP where applicable), design and implement routing changes, and troubleshoot routing loops, flapping, and route convergence issues.
Maintain LAN/WAN infrastructure, including VLAN design, STP, EtherChannel, QoS policies, and WAN link monitoring with ISPs, performing failover and redundancy testing.
Perform scheduled maintenance windows: apply patches, firmware upgrades, and configuration changes using change management processes, rollback plans, and communication to stakeholders.
Maintain comprehensive network documentation: topology diagrams, runbooks, device inventories, configuration backups, and change logs using centralized documentation systems.
Execute routine backup and restore of network device configurations and verify backups with periodic restore testing to mitigate configuration drift and support disaster recovery.
Implement and enforce network security best practices: segmentation, NAC, ACLs, threat prevention integration, and compliance checks (PCI, HIPAA or corporate security frameworks).
Coordinate with carriers, ISPs, cloud providers and third‑party vendors for circuit provisioning, trouble tickets, escalations, and performance SLAs; act as primary escalation contact when required.
Develop and maintain incident response runbooks, escalation matrices, and playbooks for common outages and security events and participate in tabletop and post-mortem reviews.
Support VoIP/SIP and UC infrastructure connectivity and quality troubleshooting, working with telephony teams to resolve jitter, latency and packet loss issues affecting call quality.
Implement monitoring, logging, and alerting improvements, tuning thresholds, reducing false positives and ensuring actionable alerts for NOC staff and engineering teams.
Perform capacity planning and traffic analysis using flow exports (NetFlow/sFlow/IPFIX) and historical data to recommend upgrades, optimization, and cost‑effective scaling.
Provide tier‑2 and tier‑3 technical support for escalated network issues, mentoring junior NOC staff and participating in on‑call rotation to provide 24/7 coverage.
Execute network change requests and projects under change control, including lab testing, pre/post validation checks, and stakeholder communication to ensure minimal business disruption.
Apply network automation and scripting to reduce manual tasks — automate repetitive configuration, backups, and common remediation actions with Ansible, Python, Bash or PowerShell.
Integrate cloud networking (AWS VPC, Azure VNets) with on‑prem networks using Direct Connect / ExpressRoute, VPNs, and hybrid connectivity design and troubleshooting.
Maintain compliance with IT policies and regulatory requirements; assist auditors and produce network security and change control evidence as requested.
Produce regular operational reports (availability, incident metrics, SLA compliance) and present findings and recommendations to operations managers and engineering leadership.
Participate in continuous improvement initiatives: root cause elimination, playbook refinement, process automation, and knowledge base upkeep to reduce incident recurrence.
Conduct periodic vulnerability scans and coordinate remediation of network device vulnerabilities with security and patching teams.
Assist in onboarding and offboarding of sites and remote users, ensuring proper network access provisioning, deprovisioning, and asset tracking.

Secondary Functions

Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory data analysis.
Contribute to the organization's data strategy and roadmap.
Collaborate with business units to translate data needs into engineering requirements.
Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies within the data engineering team.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Strong knowledge of TCP/IP, OSI model, subnetting, VLANs and switching fundamentals.
Hands-on experience with enterprise routing protocols: BGP, OSPF, EIGRP; route redistribution and policy‑based routing.
Firewall/VPN administration experience (e.g., Palo Alto, Cisco ASA/FTD, Fortinet, Check Point) and secure VPN design.
Proficiency with network monitoring and observability tools: SolarWinds, Nagios, Zabbix, Datadog, ELK/EFK stacks, or Prometheus/Grafana.
Familiarity with network automation and scripting: Ansible, Python, Bash, or PowerShell to automate configuration and operational tasks.
Experience with network hardware platforms: Cisco (IOS/XE/IOS-XR), Juniper (Junos), Arista, HPE/Aruba.
Knowledge of WAN technologies (MPLS, Metro Ethernet, VPN, Broadband, LTE/5G failover) and SD‑WAN solutions.
Understanding of network security concepts: ACLs, IDS/IPS, NAC, VLAN segmentation, threat prevention and vulnerability remediation.
Hands-on experience with configuration management and backup systems for network devices; ability to restore configs.
Familiarity with cloud networking (AWS, Azure, GCP) and hybrid connectivity patterns (Direct Connect, ExpressRoute, Transit Gateway).
Experience with NMS and ITSM tools (ServiceNow, JIRA) and following ITIL incident/change management practices.
Ability to analyze NetFlow/sFlow/IPFIX and packet captures (tcpdump, Wireshark) to troubleshoot performance and security issues.

Soft Skills

Strong analytical and problem‑solving skills with attention to detail during incident triage and RCA.
Clear verbal and written communication to produce runbooks, status updates, and post‑incident reports for technical and non‑technical stakeholders.
Team player who can collaborate across engineering, security, cloud, and vendor teams to resolve incidents and implement projects.
Ability to prioritize under pressure and manage multiple incidents while following defined SLA procedures.
Continuous learning mindset and adaptability to evolving network technologies, cloud architectures, and automation practices.
Customer service orientation with urgency and empathy when supporting business-critical services.
Organizational skills to maintain documentation, track changes, and follow compliance and audit requirements.
Mentorship ability to coach junior team members and contribute to knowledge base and training materials.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Associate degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Network Administration or equivalent experience.

Preferred Education:

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Network Engineering, Telecommunications, or related technical discipline.
Relevant certifications (see below) often preferred in lieu of advanced degrees.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Network Engineering / Computer Networking
Information Technology / Systems Administration
Computer Science / Cybersecurity

Common certifications that strengthen candidacy:

CCNA / CCNP (Cisco)
JNCIA / JNCIS (Juniper)
CompTIA Network+ / Security+
Palo Alto PCNSE, Fortinet NSE, or equivalent
ITIL Foundation
AWS/Azure networking certifications (AWS Advanced Networking, Azure Network Engineer)

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

2–5 years for mid‑level Network Operations Administrator roles; 5+ years often expected for senior positions.

Preferred:

Prior NOC or network operations experience in 24x7 environments, demonstrated incident management, routing/switching configuration, firewall administration, and use of enterprise monitoring/ITSM tools. Experience automating tasks with Ansible/Python and integrating cloud networking is highly desirable.