IT NETWORK OPERATIONS MGR

City of Columbia; Columbia (SC); On-site; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

The City of Columbia Information Technology Department seeks a Network Operations Manager to oversee daily network operations, security, and performance across municipal systems. You will lead a team of network professionals, guide project work, and ensure reliable connectivity for city departments and public safety.

You will implement security policies, monitor health and vulnerabilities, and coordinate with vendors to maintain the city’s network architecture while ensuring compliance with

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in computer science or closely related field.
• Six (6) years of relevant prior experience.
• Valid South Carolina Class 'D' Driver’s License.

Responsibilities

• Oversee operation, maintenance, and optimization of City network infrastructure (data centers, firewalls, routers, switches, wireless).
• Lead network projects, upgrades, expansions, migrations within scope, timeline, and budget.
• Develop and maintain business continuity, disaster recovery, and backup strategies.

Skills

TCP/IP

BGP

OSPF

VLANs

VPNs

Network security

Cybersecurity

Zero-trust

Cloud networking

Monitoring tools

Education

Bachelor's degree in computer science or related field

Tools

Cisco

Juniper

Fortinet

Palo Alto

SolarWinds

Job description

The City of Columbia’s Information Technology Department provides executive-level leadership, delivers technology services to city departments and partnership agencies, and coordinates information technology initiatives across the organization to support, enhance and advance citizen service delivery.

The Network Operations Manager is responsible for overseeing the daily operations, security, and efficiency of the City of Columbia’s network infrastructure. This role ensures that city departments, public services, and emergency response teams have reliable, secure, and high-performing network connectivity. The position involves managing a team of network and security professionals, collaborating with government agencies, and implementing strategies to improve city network services while ensuring compliance with state and federal regulations.

The work is considered sedentary in nature, involves walking or standing some of the time, and involves exerting up to 10 pounds of force on a recurring basis, and occasionally more up to 50 pounds, and routine keyboard operations. The work requires the following physical abilities to perform the essential job functions: climbing, crawling, crouching, fingering, handling, hearing, kneeling, lifting, mental acuity, repetitive motion, speaking, talking, visual acuity, and walking.

Work environment involves exposure to no known environmental hazards; and is dynamic that requires sensitivity to change and responsiveness to changing goals, priorities, and needs.

• Oversee the operation, maintenance, and optimization of the City’s network infrastructure, including data centers, firewalls, routers, switches, and wireless networks.
• Lead network infrastructure projects, including upgrades, expansions, and migrations, ensuring completion within scope, timeline, and budget.
• Develop and maintain business continuity plans, ensuring proper network failover, backup solutions, and disaster recovery strategies.
• Develop and enforce network policies and procedures, ensuring secure access to municipal systems.
• Implement and enforce security policies to safeguard network integrity and protect against cyber threats. Ensure compliance with industry regulations and company policies. Position
• Supervise and mentor a team of network, administrators and analysts to include security analysts. Assign tasks, provide technical guidance, manage schedules, and conduct performance reviews.
• Lead network troubleshooting efforts, diagnose connectivity issues, and minimize downtime by implementing swift resolutions.
• Utilize network monitoring tools to track system health, performance, and security vulnerabilities, ensuring optimal uptime.
• Plans, designs, and deploy the City’s voice, video and data network infrastructure;
• Work with vendors, Internet Service Providers, and third-party service providers to manage network contracts, procure necessary hardware/software, and resolve service-related issues.
• Maintain accurate network documentation, including network diagrams, configurations, and incident reports. Generate reports on network performance and suggest improvements.
• Provides after-hours, and weekend support for mission-critical network operations, including 24/7 public safety systems
• Participates in the development and maintenance of disaster recovery plan for computer systems and network infrastructure
• Immediately communicates network or system issues to management and responds appropriately;
• Tracks system’s end of life and specifies replacements when needed;
• Researches and recommends hardware/software purchases. Participates in assessment of needs in order to select and purchase appropriate hardware/software to integrate with the existing infrastructure;
• Communicates hardware/software problems with outside support personnel, i.e. vendors and technical support representatives;
• Assists with relocation of equipment and needs created by a move to a new facility, i.e. bids for cabling, networking, and communication systems;
• Manages phone systems; including cabling, phone system programming, acquiring of new services, support of all existing services and assessment of existing services. Knowledge of different technologies a must (i.e. VOIP, POTS, PRI, ISDN);
• Monitors local-area network, wide-area network and Web services for network availability and optimal performance;
• Represents the department on City committees and in meetings as required;
• Assists the CIO with short- and long-term strategic planning for the City’s networking infrastructure;
• Prepares annual budget and monitors expenditures;
• Receives and responds to inquiries, concerns and complaints in areas of responsibility;
• Attends training, seminars and conferences as appropriate to enhance job knowledge and skills; and
• Performs other related duties as assigned.

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS TO PERFORM WORK:

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, network engineering or closely related field;
• Six (6) years of relevant prior experience;
• Valid South Carolina Class “D” Driver’s License.
• Prior supervisory or team lead experience preferred.

• Strong knowledge of network protocols (TCP/IP, BGP, OSPF, VLANs, VPNs, etc.),
• Hands-on experience with Cisco, Juniper, Fortinet, Palo Alto, or other networking hardware.
• Familiarity with cloud networking (AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud).
• Proficiency in network monitoring tools (SolarWinds, PRTG, Nagios, etc.).
• Understanding of cybersecurity best practices, zero-trust principles, and network segmentation strategies Knowledge of the English language;
• Collaborate with various city departments to assess technology needs and develop network strategies to enhance efficiency.
• Ability to accept the responsibility to be required to provide twenty-four (24) hour maintenance support, possibly be on call or serve on a rotating on-call team;
• Ability to develop new approaches or methodologies to solve problems not previously encountered by analyzing, synthesizing or evaluating data or information using unconventional or untried methods;
• Ability to counsel or instruct/train others outside IT through explanation, demonstration and supervised practice or making recommendations based on technical expertise;
• Ability to read and write technical instructions, procedures, manuals and charts to solve practical problems; composing routine reports and specialized reports, forms and business letters with proper format; speaking compound sentences using normal grammar and word form;
• Ability to read journals, manuals and professional publications; speaking informally or formally to groups of co-workers, staff in other organizational agencies, the general public, people in other organizations; presenting training; composing original reports, training and other written materials using proper language, punctuation, grammar and style;
• Ability to perform professional-level work requiring the application of principles and practices in a wide range of administrative, technical or managerial methods in the solution of administrative or technical problems; or the coordination of entry-level managerial work; requires general understanding of operating policies and procedures and the ability to apply these to complex administrative problems; requires continuous, close attention for accurate results or frequent exposure to unusual pressures and;
• Ability to take action of others, requiring almost constant decisions affecting coworkers, customers, clients or others in the general public; works in a moderately fluid environment with guidelines and rules, but frequent variations from the routine.