UK

United Kingdom · Technology and data · Principal/Manager (12-16 years)

Telecommunications Support Technician Manager

Here is the whole job, in plain words. What it is, what you decide, how you're judged, how people get here and where they go next. Then the part no course gives you: twelve AI tutors who learn your work.

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  • Experience bandPrincipal/Manager (12-16 years)
  • Direct reports5-10 reports
  • Reports toDirector of Network Operations
  • UK framework levelUsually someone running a function, or a director

Also advertised as Network Operations Manager · Principal Network Engineer (Operations) · Head of Telecoms Support · Infrastructure Support Lead

Built on 43,079 real UK job descriptions we analysed · grounded in what real qualifications cover

Two short quizzes about you

1From this job to a course

The qualifications matched to this job

Matched from the standards this job is measured against: a suggestion, not an official ruling.

The units you would start with

Managing and Improving Operations NOCN Level 7 Diploma in Strategic Leadership of Performance and Productivity
Cisco CCNP Troubleshooting Pearson BTEC Level 4 Diploma in Professional Competence for IT and Telecoms Professionals
Operations Management in a Workplace Setting NOCN Level 5 Diploma in Computer Engineering (Information Technology and Data Science)
Managing Networks Pearson BTEC Level 3 Diploma in ICT Systems and Principles

The future skills this job leans on

AI Fluency working with AI as a thinking partner
Data Fluency turning numbers into a decision
AI Governance Fluency using AI responsibly
Automation Fluency building AI into how work runs
Systems Fluency seeing the whole picture
Your Plan Illustration

Built for Telecommunications Support Technician Manager

4 units that map to this job, from the qualifications that cover it.

  1. Managing and Improving Operations NOCN · covers 1 of 9 standards Level 7
  2. Cisco CCNP Troubleshooting Pearson Education Ltd · covers 2 of 9 standards Level 4
  3. Operations Management in a Workplace Setting NOCN · covers 1 of 9 standards Level 5
  4. Managing Networks Pearson Education Ltd · covers 3 of 9 standards Level 3
These are the real units behind this job, in the order they rank for it. Nothing here is marked done, because this plan has not been started by anyone yet. Yours would fill in as you go.

2AI and this work

Will AI change your work as a Telecommunications Support Technician Manager?

Nobody can say exactly how. Here is what this job is being asked for next, and where to start.

The new skills this role is being asked for

  • AI-Driven Operational Intelligence
  • Network Automation & Orchestration Leadership
Why each one is rising

The future skills this job leans on

We'll only ever tell you what we can actually back up. No hype, no scare tactics.

What happens when you start

Next, a free account. We build your Telecommunications Support Technician Manager plan as you set up, starting with the free Automation Fluency module. No card.

Your first Future Fluency module is free. After that, your AI tutor is £70 a month.

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Keep this read. One email with what AI is changing in this job, the new skills it asks for and where to start free. Nothing else follows unless you confirm your address.

3What this role really is

A telecommunications support technician manager leads the team that keeps networks running and fixes them when they fail. The work includes making sure the team has the right tools and processes to stop outages before they start. When a major incident hits, this person guides the team through it, then works out how to prevent it happening again.

4What you'd actually use

The tools this job runs on, and how well you'd need to know each one.

ServiceNow (ITSM Platform) Expert

Designing and implementing ITSM processes (Incident, Problem, Change), managing platform integrations, making purchasing/renewal decisions for the module, and driving team adoption.

SolarWinds NPM / PRTG / Datadog (Network Monitoring) Expert

Architecting the enterprise monitoring strategy, evaluating and selecting new monitoring tools, ensuring end-to-end service visibility, and using data to drive proactive problem management.

Cisco IOS / Juniper Junos / Arista EOS (Vendor CLI) Advanced

Setting enterprise-wide configuration standards, reviewing complex configurations, leading vendor selection processes, and understanding automation scripts (Python/Ansible) for fleet management.

Wireshark / Corvil / NetScout (Packet Analysis) Advanced

Deploying and managing enterprise-grade packet capture appliances, establishing baselines for network performance, and using deep packet inspection for security forensics and major incident analysis.

Bastion Host / PAM Solutions (e.g., CyberArk) (Remote Access) Expert

Designing and managing the secure access strategy for all network infrastructure, enforcing session recording and credential vaulting for the team, and ensuring compliance.

Confluence / NetBox / IT Glue (Documentation) Expert

Establishing the organisational knowledge management framework, enforcing documentation standards across the team, and selecting/managing the documentation platform to ensure accuracy and accessibility.

5What you get to decide, and how that grows

Power in a job isn't your title. It's what you're allowed to decide. Here's how it grows as you move up.

The choiceComing in Where you are nowThe step above
Incident Prioritisation Follows established priority matrix; escalates any ambiguity to senior tech. Independently prioritises P3/P4 incidents; consults senior tech on P1/P2. Prioritises all incidents; may adjust priority based on business impact with manager's approval.
Troubleshooting Approach Follows documented runbooks and supervisor's instructions. Selects appropriate troubleshooting steps within established guidelines; escalates when standard approaches fail. Designs complex troubleshooting plans for non-routine issues; consults with engineering on architectural changes.
Team Hiring & Performance No involvement. May participate in interview panels as a peer reviewer. Interviews junior candidates; provides feedback on team performance to manager.
Budget Allocation (Operational) No authority. No authority. Recommends tool or training purchases to manager (up to £5K).

6How you'll be judged

The scoreboard, and what is not on it. The hard targets, how often each is actually looked at, and the quiet signals that never reach a dashboard.

Network Availability/Uptime
The percentage of time our critical network services are fully operational and accessible.
Target · > 99.99% (Four Nines)

If we have a 10-minute outage on a core service in a month, that's roughly 99.977% uptime. Your goal is to keep us above the 99.99% mark, which means less than 5 minutes of unplanned downtime per month.

Mean Time To Resolution (MTTR) for Major Incidents (P1)
The average time it takes your team to fully restore service for our most critical, business-impacting outages.
Target · < 45 minutes

If a core switch fails and it takes 30 minutes to failover and restore service, that's a win. If it takes 2 hours because of confusion or lack of process, that's a problem we need to fix.

Reduction in Critical (P1) Incidents
The percentage decrease in the number of P1 incidents year-over-year, showing your team's proactive problem management efforts.
Target · 25% reduction year-over-year

If we had 12 P1 incidents last year, we'd expect no more than 9 this year. This means your team is finding and fixing root causes, not just patching symptoms.

Team Ticket SLA Adherence
The percentage of all incidents and requests resolved by your team within their agreed Service Level Agreements.
Target · > 95%

If your team handles 500 tickets a month and 20 of them breach their SLA, that's 96% adherence. We're aiming for fewer breaches, especially on critical P2/P3 tickets.

Team Development & Engagement
How effectively you're coaching, mentoring, and developing your team members, and how engaged they are in their roles.
  • Regular 1-to-1s with clear development plans
  • team members taking on more complex tasks
  • positive feedback in internal engagement surveys
  • low voluntary attrition rates
  • junior team members progressing to senior roles under your guidance.
Problem Management Effectiveness
Your ability to lead the charge on identifying, documenting, and eliminating the root causes of recurring network issues.
  • A robust Problem Management backlog with clear ownership and progress
  • a demonstrable reduction in repeat incidents (as per the quantitative metric)
  • comprehensive root cause analysis (RCA) documents that lead to preventative actions
  • proactive identification of systemic weaknesses.
Operational Process Improvement
Your contribution to streamlining and optimising our network support processes, making them more efficient and less error-prone.
  • New or updated runbooks and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) that reduce resolution times
  • successful implementation of automation scripts for repetitive tasks
  • positive feedback from the team on process clarity and efficiency
  • reduction in manual errors.
Stakeholder Communication & Collaboration
How well you keep internal and external stakeholders informed during incidents and collaborate on problem resolution and project handovers.
  • Clear, concise incident communications that keep the business informed without panic
  • proactive engagement with Network Engineering on design flaws
  • positive feedback from the Service Desk and other IT teams on collaboration
  • effective management of carrier relationships during outages.

7Would you like it

Both sides. What people enjoy, and what grinds them down.

What people enjoy
Building a High-Performing Team

You'll spend time coaching individual team members, running team training sessions, and celebrating successes. You'll get a kick out of seeing a junior tech grow into a senior role under your guidance.

Seeing a new hire confidently lead a troubleshooting session on a complex issue after just six months, knowing you helped them get there.

Ensuring Operational Excellence

You're driven by the pursuit of 'four nines' (99.99%) uptime and constantly looking for ways to reduce incidents and improve resolution times. You'll obsess over metrics and processes.

Implementing a new problem management process that demonstrably reduces recurring incidents by 20% in a quarter.

Solving Complex, Systemic Problems

You enjoy the challenge of diving into a major outage, not just to fix it, but to understand the deep underlying causes and put in place solutions that prevent future occurrences. This often means working across different technical domains.

Leading a cross-functional investigation into intermittent VoIP issues, discovering a subtle misconfiguration in a core router, and implementing a fix that eliminates the problem for good.

What frustrates people
  • The 'Network Blame Game' still happens, but now you're defending your team's work, not just your own.
  • Vague ticket hell from the Service Desk, which you now need to coach your team to clarify, rather than just doing it yourself.
  • Carrier support limbo, but now you're managing the escalation process and the relationship, not just troubleshooting.
  • On-call nightmares hit harder because you're ultimately responsible for the outcome, even if you're not the one on the keyboard.
  • Documentation despair, but now you're responsible for creating and enforcing documentation standards, which is a big job.
  • Change freeze purgatory, meaning you have to justify why a critical fix can't wait, often to non-technical leadership.
What this role does not give you
  • Purely hands-on technical work; you'll be leading and managing more than configuring.
  • A quiet, predictable routine; outages and urgent requests are part of the job.
  • The ability to always say 'yes' to every request; you'll need to prioritise and manage expectations.
  • A world where every problem has a clear, easy solution; many will be complex and require negotiation.

8Who you work with

This role directly impacts our operational expenditure (Opex) through efficient team management and incident reduction, and it's absolutely critical for maintaining our enterprise-wide network availability. You're safeguarding our reputation and ensuring business continuity. Get it right, and we save millions in potential downtime and lost productivity. Get it wrong, and the business feels it immediately.

Inside the business
  • Network Engineering Team (for escalations and new designs)
  • Service Desk Manager (for incident handover and user experience)
  • IT Security Team (for compliance and incident response)
  • Product & Application Teams (for understanding service impact)
  • Project Managers (for operational readiness of new deployments)
Outside the business
  • Telecommunications Carriers/ISPs (for circuit issues and service reviews)
  • Network Hardware Vendors (Cisco, Juniper, Arista – for support and product roadmaps)
  • ITSM/Monitoring Tool Vendors (ServiceNow, SolarWinds – for platform management)
  • Managed Service Providers (if applicable, for outsourced functions)

9What you need before you start

Not a wish list. The things you would be expected to already have.

  • Proven experience (at least 5-8 years) as a Senior Telecommunications Support Technician or similar role, demonstrating a deep technical understanding of network operations.
  • Demonstrable experience in leading incident response for major network outages, including acting as incident commander.
  • Solid experience in Problem Management, including leading root cause analysis and implementing preventative measures.
  • Experience in mentoring or informally leading junior technical staff.
  • A strong understanding of ITIL principles and their practical application in an operational environment.
  • Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including the ability to present technical information to non-technical audiences.

10What to practise next

Where the job is going, and what to do about it starting this week.

Cloud Networking & Hybrid Cloud Operations

Our infrastructure is increasingly hybrid, with workloads moving to public clouds. You'll need to understand how to support network connectivity, security, and performance across on-premise and cloud environments.

Cloud VPC/VNet Architectures · Direct Connect/ExpressRoute Operations · Cloud Firewall & Security Group Management · Multi-Cloud Connectivity Patterns

  • This quarter: Complete an introductory course on cloud networking fundamentals (e.g., AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner).
  • Next quarter: Work with the Cloud Engineering team to understand our current hybrid cloud architecture and operational challenges.
  • Month 3-6: Identify specific operational runbooks that need to be updated or created for cloud-related network issues.
  • Month 6-12: Lead a project to improve monitoring or incident response for our cloud network components.

Quick win: Familiarise yourself with the basic networking concepts in our primary cloud provider (e.g., how a VPC works in AWS). It's a good starting point.

Software-Defined Networking (SDN) & SASE Operational Oversight

Traditional network management is giving way to software-defined approaches. As we adopt SD-WAN and Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) architectures, your team will need to support these new paradigms.

SD-WAN Controller Management · SASE Components & Integration · Policy-Based Network Management · Telemetry & Analytics in SDN

  • This quarter: Research the SD-WAN and SASE solutions we're currently using or evaluating.
  • Next quarter: Attend vendor training or certification courses on our chosen SD-WAN/SASE platforms.
  • Month 3-6: Work with Network Engineering to understand the operational impact of new SD-WAN/SASE deployments.
  • Month 6-12: Develop training plans for your team to support these new technologies and update relevant runbooks.

Quick win: Get a demo of our current SD-WAN or SASE management console. Understand the dashboards and basic operational views.

11Staying current once you are in

What people here do to keep up
  • Regularly attending industry conferences and webinars (e.g., Cisco Live, Juniper NXT, Network Field Day) to stay abreast of emerging technologies and trends.
  • Participating in leadership and management training programmes, focusing on coaching, performance management, and strategic thinking.
  • Engaging with professional networking groups or online communities for network operations managers to share best practices and learn from peers.
  • Undertaking advanced technical training in areas like network automation (Python, Ansible) or cloud networking to maintain technical depth.
  • Reading industry publications and whitepapers on AIOps, NetDevOps, and SASE architectures.

12The rising capability

The rising capability

Zavmo analysis

What's rising in its place

This is where the work is heading, and the higher pay with it. Get fluent here and the shift stops being a threat and starts being your edge.

AI-Driven Operational Intelligence

AI is rapidly moving from a theoretical concept to a practical tool for network operations. Competitors are already using AI to predict faults, automate diagnostics, and streamline incident response. Managers who embrace this will lead significantly more efficient and proactive teams.

  • Predictive Analytics for Network Health
  • AIOps Platform Integration
  • Automated Root Cause Analysis
  • Ethical AI & Bias in Operations

Network Automation & Orchestration Leadership

Manual configuration and troubleshooting are slow, error-prone, and don't scale. As networks become more complex (e.g., SD-WAN, multi-cloud), leading the charge on automation is critical for maintaining agility and reducing operational burden.

  • Infrastructure as Code (IaC) Principles
  • Automation Tools & Frameworks
  • API-Driven Network Management
  • DevOps for Network Operations (NetDevOps)

13What you’ll use

What you’ll use

Skills this role draws on

Technical

  • OSI Model Troubleshooting Leadership
  • ITIL Framework Mastery & Implementation
  • Advanced TCP/IP Suite Analysis & Strategy
  • Routing & Switching Protocol Governance
  • VoIP/SIP Diagnostics & Service Management
  • Network Security Fundamentals & Operational Enforcement

14The pathway

The pathway

How you actually get there, here

How you become one varies far more by country than what one does. This is the UK route. Most people take one of these ways in; the right one depends on where you're starting from.

  1. 1

    Senior Telecommunications Support Technician (L3) to Manager

    3-5 years as a Senior Tech

    Skills to master

    • Leading major incident calls, mentoring junior colleagues, driving problem management initiatives, presenting technical findings to broader teams, and taking ownership of larger workstreams.

    You're ready to move on when

    • Consistently exceeds expectations in complex troubleshooting and problem resolution.
    • Proactively identifies and proposes solutions for systemic issues.
    • Acts as an informal leader or technical lead for specific projects or shifts.
    • Demonstrates strong communication skills with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
    • Expresses a genuine interest in people management and team development.
  2. 2

    Lead Telecommunications Technician / NOC Engineer (L4) to Manager

    2-4 years as a Lead/NOC Engineer

    Skills to master

    • Project management for operational improvements, defining and enforcing technical standards, acting as a point of technical authority, and managing small teams or shifts.

    You're ready to move on when

    • Successfully led significant operational projects from inception to completion.
    • Is the go-to person for complex technical challenges and architectural questions.
    • Has experience with budget recommendations and vendor interactions.
    • Demonstrates the ability to influence technical direction and mentor multiple team members.
    • Shows strong organisational skills and the ability to delegate effectively.
  3. 3

    Network Engineer (from Engineering Team) to Manager

    5-8 years as a Network Engineer

    Skills to master

    • Transitioning from design/implementation focus to operational support and incident management, developing people management skills, and understanding ITIL processes from an operational perspective.

    You're ready to move on when

    • Has a deep understanding of network design and architecture.
    • Demonstrates a keen interest in operational stability and problem resolution.
    • Has experience collaborating with support teams during incidents and handovers.
    • Shows an aptitude for leadership and a desire to manage and develop people.
    • Willingness to embrace the reactive nature of support alongside proactive planning.

15Where this role leads

The long view: This work can lead to broader infrastructure leadership, roles overseeing IT operations, or senior technology leadership such as CTO.

The ten Future Fluencies

Zavmo analysis

The credential is what you can do today. These are what keep you valuable.

A qualification proves you can do the job as it's defined today. These ten are what decide whether you're still the obvious person for it in five years. They're the capabilities employers are now writing into senior roles faster than people are learning them. Zavmo weaves them through whatever you study, so you come out with both: the credential and the fluency.

The highlighted ones are the Fluencies your role leans on hardest, from how Telecommunications Support Technician Manager is actually changing.

Where it leads

Roles this leads to

Also named as a next step, with no page in the catalogue yet:

  • Principal Network Engineer (Individual Contributor Track)

How you would learn this

One to one, on the work you already do

A tutor sets the task against your own job and marks the reasoning, at your pace. There is no cohort to fall behind.

A lesson from Managing and Improving Operations, worked against Telecommunications Support Technician Manager.

Managing and Improving Operations Level 7

Applied to your work in Telecommunications Support Technician Manager

This unit aims to provide learners with knowledge of the procedures involved in analysing process operations and evaluating them to identify areas for performance improvement. Learners will understand the impact of measuring Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and how they contribute to overall performance enhancement.

How the thinking builds
  1. 1 Remember
  2. 2 Understand
  3. 3 Apply
  4. 4 Analyse
  5. 5 Evaluate
  6. 6 Create
An illustration of a Zavmo lesson, built from this role’s own route. The unit, its objective and every criterion above are the awarding body’s own words, not an example.

It is £70 a month, billed monthly. Your free first module is Future Fluency, and you can cancel any time.

See Your Progress Grow Illustration
Telecommunications Support Technician Manager
  • OSI Model Troubleshooting Leadership
  • ITIL Framework Mastery & Implementation
  • Advanced TCP/IP Suite Analysis & Strategy
  • Routing & Switching Protocol Governance
  • VoIP/SIP Diagnostics & Service Management
  • Network Security Fundamentals & Operational Enforcement
This is your Mind Palace on learn.zavmo.ai. Every skill above comes from this role's own record, not an example borrowed from another job. A node lights up when you evidence it, and what you build stays yours between jobs. That is the part a course cannot do.

16The detail, folded away

Everything else the record holds

The career branches in full, how AI is already showing up in the day-to-day, and the questions people ask about this job. Here when you want them, out of the way while you decide.

Where it leads next, rung by rung

Where it leads

The career path, and where it branches

Telecommunications Support Technician Manager is a start, not a ceiling. Each step below asks for new skills and hands back more autonomy.

  1. Director of Network Operations (L6)

    3-5 years in this Manager role

    You'll move from managing a single team to overseeing multiple teams or functions, taking on broader strategic responsibilities and a larger budget.

    • Enterprise-level Network Architecture & Strategy
    • Financial Management (P&L for larger business units)
    • Risk Management & Compliance Governance
    • M&A Due Diligence & Integration (if applicable)

  2. Principal Network Engineer (Individual Contributor Track)

    3-5 years in this Manager role (or from a Lead role)

    This is an expert individual contributor role, focusing on deep technical specialisation, architecture, and complex problem-solving without direct people management.

    • Network Automation & Orchestration Architecture
    • Cloud Networking Design & Strategy
    • Advanced Security Architecture
    • Emerging Technology Evaluation & PoC Leadership
Working with AI on the job

Working with AI

Where AI is starting to help

Let's be real, managing a telecoms support team means juggling a lot. From incident response to team development and process optimisation, there's always more to do than hours in the day. But what if you could offload some of that heavy lifting to smart AI tools? Imagine your team being more proactive, resolving issues faster, and spending less time on tedious admin.

Our AI Productivity Hub isn't just about buzzwords; it's about practical, real-world applications that directly impact your team's efficiency and the network's stability. For a Telecommunications Support Technician Manager, this means empowering your team to work smarter, not just harder, and freeing you up to focus on strategic initiatives and team growth.

Predictive Fault Automation

Imagine AI models analysing real-time network telemetry and logs to predict component failures (like a dodgy switch fan or a degrading fibre link) before they cause an outage. It can automatically create a P3 ticket for your team, complete with diagnostic data, allowing for proactive maintenance. This means fewer late-night P1 calls for your team, and more planned work.

Root Cause Analysis Accelerator

During a major incident, an AI tool can ingest alerts from SolarWinds, logs from Splunk, and config changes from ServiceNow. It then correlates all these events to present a probable root cause hypothesis, e.g., '92% probability the outage is related to BGP route flap initiated by ISP X at 14:05 UTC.' This dramatically reduces Mean Time To Identify (MTTI), getting your team to the fix faster.

Smart Documentation Search & Generation

A natural language search tool (think a private GPT) trained on all your internal Confluence runbooks, vendor documentation, and historical tickets. Your team can ask, 'What's the procedure for upgrading the firmware on a Cisco Catalyst 9300 stack in the London DC?' and get a precise, step-by-step answer. It can also draft new runbooks based on incident resolutions, saving your team hours of writing.

Incident Report Autopilot

After an incident is resolved, an AI assistant can draft the initial post-incident report. It summarises the timeline from ticket comments, identifies the root cause from problem notes, and outlines remediation actions. Your engineers just need to review, add their expert insights, and approve. This cuts down significantly on administrative post-mortem documentation time.

Common questions

Common questions

How do you become a Telecommunications Support Technician Manager?

Common routes in include Senior Telecommunications Support Technician to Manager (3-5 years as a Senior Tech), Lead Telecommunications Technician / NOC Engineer to Manager (2-4 years as a Lead/NOC Engineer) and Network Engineer (from Engineering Team) to Manager (5-8 years as a Network Engineer). Times vary with prior experience.

Where can a Telecommunications Support Technician Manager progress to?

This role can lead on to Director of Network Operations (3-5 years in this Manager role) and Principal Network Engineer (Individual Contributor Track) (3-5 years in this Manager role (or from a Lead role)), depending on the skills you build.

What new skills matter most for a Telecommunications Support Technician Manager?

Increasingly, AI-Driven Operational Intelligence and Network Automation & Orchestration Leadership. These are the skills our record of this role lists as growing.

Free tools

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Three free tools, no account needed. Each one ends with a role, a level and a way in.

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17Where to go from here

Other roles at Level 6

Same depth of qualification, different job. Useful if the work appeals but this particular role does not.

 More jobs in technology and data

Stay in the field you know and move sideways rather than up.
If you leave this industry

The skills built here, including operational leadership, problem management and running critical infrastructure, transfer across most industries. Finance, healthcare, e-commerce and manufacturing all depend on telecommunications and network support. Leading a team that keeps critical systems running is valued in any sector.

This role profile is © 2026 Growth Engineering Technologies Ltd. Built from UK occupational standards and regulated qualification data, and written for Zavmo.

You're not behind. You're right on time. The shift is only just beginning. Your role won't look the same in two years. Be the one who leads the change, not the one it happens to. Start my free Automation Fluency module What happens next: a free account, then we build your plan as you set up. No card. Build your plan, see your roadmap and meet the twelve tutors matched to you. All free. When you're ready to start learning, it's £70 a month, billed monthly. Cancel any time and billing stops.