Observability Operations Manager

University of South Carolina; Columbia (SC); On-site; USD 97,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Downtown COLA Location

Competitive compensation

Paid tuition

Parental leave

Dependent scholarships

Annual leave

Sick leave

13 paid holidays

Job summary

The University of South Carolina is seeking an experienced Operations Manager to lead USC’s Network Operations and Security Center (NOSC). You will oversee day-to-day security operations, observability, incident response, and service reliability, coordinating with threat hunting, Security SRE, and IT teams.

You’ll manage a blended team of full-time professionals and student analysts, act as escalation point for incidents, and drive operational improvements.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a related field and 4+ years in SOC/NOC environments.
• Experience leading blended security operations teams including student staff.
• Strong incident response and threat hunting coordination.

Responsibilities

• Lead day-to-day NOSC operations, integrating security operations, observability, incident response, and service reliability.
• Mentor blended team of professionals and student analysts, ensuring coverage and staff development.
• Serve as senior escalation point for cybersecurity and availability incidents across the university.

Skills

SOC/NOC ops

People leadership

Incident response

Operational improvement

Education

Bachelor’s degree

Job description

Please see Special Instructions for more details.

Positions are advertised for a minimum of five (5) business days on our job website. After five (5) business days, positions can be closed at the discretion of the department at any time. This employment site is updated on a regular basis. The length of the recruitment and screening process may vary from position to position, depending upon a variety of factors. Should review of your qualifications result in a decision to pursue your candidacy, you will be contacted by phone or email.

We are only accepting applications submitted by December 11, 2026.

The University of South Carolina offers a valuable benefits package including but not limited to:

· Health and Life Insurance

· Dependent Scholarships

· 13 Paid Holidays (including an extended December holiday)

· Professional Development Opportunities

Anticipated Hiring Range $97,329 - $130,000; salary commensurate with experience.

Location of Vacancy

Part/Full Time

Part/Full Time Full Time

Hours per Week 37.5

Work Schedule

• The standard work schedule is Monday through Friday, 8:30 am to 5:00 pm, with an hour for lunch. The standard hours per week is 37.50.
• The Observability Operations Manager may be required to work outside of regularly scheduled hours, including evenings, weekends, and holidays, as necessary to address operational needs, critical incidents, or other business requirements.

Basis 12 months

Job Search Category

Job Search Category Information Technology

About USC

About University of South Carolina

From the Upstate to the Lowcountry, the University of South Carolina system is transforming the lives of South Carolinians through the impact of our eight institutions and 20 locations throughout the state. More than 50,000 students are enrolled at one of eight institutions, including the research campus in Columbia and comprehensive four-year universities in Aiken, Upstate and Beaufort. In addition, our Palmetto College campuses in Salkehatchie, Union, Lancaster and Sumter enable students to earn associate or bachelor’s degrees through a combination of in-person, online or blended learning. All of our system institutions place strong emphasis on service — helping to build healthier, more educated communities in South Carolina and beyond.

Veterans' Preference Statement

The University of South Carolina is committed to equal opportunity and proudly values the skills and experience military veterans bring to our workforce. Across South Carolina, we are making veterans a priority for employment and recognize their vital contributions to our state and our communities.

Position Description Advertised Job Summary USC is evolving its traditional Security Operations Center into a Network Operations and Security Center (NOSC)—a blended operational model that brings security operations, enterprise observability, incident response, and service reliability together under one roof. We’re looking for an Operations Manager to lead the NOSC’s day-to-day operations, managing both full-time and student staff while coordinating closely with threat hunting, Security SRE, and IT teams across the University. This is a hands‑on leadership role: you’ll manage operational coverage, serve as an escalation point for both security and availability incidents, and turn recurring operational problems into measurable improvement projects.

The Operations Manager leads the people, processes, and daily operations of USC’s Network Operations and Security Center (NOSC). The role combines team leadership, incident response, and operational improvement, working across security, observability, threat hunting, and SRE to keep critical university services secure and resilient.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead the day‑to‑day operations of USC’s evolving Network Operations and Security Center (NOSC), integrating security operations, enterprise observability, incident response, and service reliability.
• Manage and mentor a blended team of full‑time professionals and student analysts, including operational coverage, internships, and staff development.
• Serve as a senior escalation point for both cybersecurity and availability incidents, working across a large, complex university environment.

What You’ll Bring:

• Experienced operations leader with a strong background in SOC, NOC, or blended security/network operations and incident response in a complex enterprise environment.
• Strong people leader and mentor who can manage professional and student staff, build effective teams, and work independently with sound judgement.
• Operational problem solver comfortable coordinating across security, infrastructure, SRE, and other teams to turn recurring problems into sustainable improvements.

Why Join Us?

• Invest in your expertise with access to advanced professional development, including SANS training and industry certifications.
• Teach and mentor the next generation by working directly with student analysts and helping them develop real‑world security and operations skills.
• Work alongside highly credentialed, experienced professionals across incident response, threat hunting, security engineering, SRE, networking, and enterprise IT.
• Help build something new as USC evolves toward an integrated NOSC model, with opportunities to shape its people, processes, tooling, and culture.

Perks of the University of South Carolina:

• Downtown COLA Location: Enjoy working in the heart of Columbia, SC, with easy access to vibrant city life, dining, and cultural events.
• Energetic Leadership: Thrive under the guidance of an energetic and innovative leadership team dedicated to transforming IT at USC, making your role impactful and exciting.
• Competitive compensation: Some of the BEST benefits you can find!
  • Paid tuition
  • Parental leave
  • Dependent scholarships
  • State benefits
  • State retirement plans
• Work-Life Balance: Full-time pay with a 37.50 hour work week and generous paid time off. (15 paid vacation days, 15 paid sick days, 13 paid holidays, including an extended December holiday!)

Job Related Minimum Required Education and Experience

• Requires a bachelor’s degree in a job related field and 4 or more years of job related experience, which may be substituted by an equivalent combination of job related certification, training, education, and/or experience.

Required Certification, Licensure/Other Credentials Preferred Qualifications

• Extensive experience working in a Security Operations Center, blended Network / Security Operations Center, or Network Operations Center, including incident response, subject to federal and state regulatory requirements as applied in large multi-campus higher education environments or similarly complex enterprise or government environments. Experience with standards-based risk management frameworks (i.e. NIST SP-800, ISO, NIST CSF, HEISC, etc.).
• Experience in the evaluation of new technology and security threats as they arise. Familiarity with information security and privacy best practices and related laws, particularly within the context of higher education.
• Professional certifications such as GCFE, GCFA, GNFA, GCIH, GCIA, GSNA, GSLC, GSTRT, CISSP or other information security and privacy certifications are highly desired.

Knowledge/Skills/Abilities

• Advanced knowledge of information security, observability, and privacy best practices, with an emphasis on security operations center and incident response functions. Excellent interpersonal, customer service and written/oral communication skills.
• Demonstrated ability to develop an effective, collaborative working relationship with a variety of representative groups with potentially dissimilar priorities. Demonstrated judgment and discretion in working with sensitive, confidential information and matters.
• Project coordination experience across diversified operational units. Ability to work with minimal direction and guidance and is self‑motivated while also serving as a mentor to more junior and less experienced staff.

Job Duties Job Duty Operations Management: Serve as the manager of the day‑to‑day operation of the Network Operations and Security Center (NOSC). Ensure coverage for security operations rotations between students and full‑time staff. Act as a liaison with organizational units for the activities of the Network Operations and Security Center (NOSC). Coordinate regularly with the USC ISO Threat Hunting team to align NOSC operations, coverage, metrics, and escalations with active hunting priorities. Recruit student staff and maintain internship programs. Deliver metrics and reporting to senior staff as required. Essential Function Yes Percentage of Time 50 Job Duty Project Management: Manage and coordinate internal technology, process, and operational improvement projects used by the Network Operations and Security Center (NOSC). Serve as the NOSC liaison to the Security SRE team and other organizational units, translating operational needs into project requirements, priorities, acceptance criteria, and status reporting. Coordinate work assigned to SRE, SOAR, analyst, and partner teams without serving as the primary developer. Coordinate with the USC ISO Threat Hunting team on operational improvement projects, investigation support needs, detection feedback, and recurring work intake. Use DevOps practices, agentic coding tools, X-as-code, iteration, repeatability, automation, and measurement of efficacy to organize project work, validate outcomes, and improve daily operations. Essential Function Yes Percentage of Time 20 Job Duty Incident Response: Serve as escalation point and handler for incidents both security related and availability related for DoIT on a rotating basis along with the Deputy CISO for Enterprise Observability and IR. Follow the six steps of incident response as used by the department. Maintain relationships with other organizational units in the University involved in incident response such as Risk Management, the USC Police Department, USC Audit, and the General Counsel’s office. Coordinate with the USC ISO Threat Hunting team on investigation context, escalation support, detection feedback, and recurring response priorities. Essential Function Yes Percentage of Time 20 Job Duty Training: Remain current on information security issues by attending conferences, self‑study, and training. Essential Function Yes Percentage of Time 5 Job Duty Additional duties as assigned. Essential Function No Percentage of Time 5 Position Attributes Employees in Safety-Sensitive or Security-Sensitive positions will be subject to pre‑employment and post‑employment drug testing in accordance with University policy HR 1.95 Drug and Alcohol Testing. Safety Sensitive or Security Sensitive No Hazardous weather category Non‑Essential Posting Detail Information Number of Vacancies 1 Desired Start Date 12/01/2026 Job Open Date 10/27/2026 Job Close Date 12/11/2026 Open Until Filled No Special Instructions to Applicant Positions are advertised for a minimum of five (5) business days on our job website. After five (5) business days, positions can be closed at the discretion of the department at any time. This employment site is updated on a regular basis. The length of the recruitment and screening process may vary from position to position, depending upon a variety of factors. Should review of your qualifications result in a decision to pursue your candidacy, you will be contacted by phone or email. We are only accepting applications submitted by December 11, 2026. The University of South Carolina offers a valuable benefits package including but not limited to: · Health and Life Insurance · Retirement Programs · Paid Tuition · Dependent Scholarships · Annual Leave · Sick Leave · 13 Paid Holidays (including an extended December holiday) · Paid Parental Leave · Professional Development Opportunities

EEO Statement The University of South Carolina does not discriminate in employment opportunities or decisions for qualified persons on the basis of age, ancestry, citizenship status, color, disability, ethnicity, familial status, gender, gender identity or expression, genetic information, military status, national origin, pregnancy, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, veteran status, or any other protected category under applicable law.

Supplemental Questions

Required fields are indicated with an asterisk (*).

• * Do you have at least a Bachelor's Degree in a job related field and 4 or more years of job related experience, which may be substituted by an equivalent combination of job related certification, training, education, and/or experience?
  • Yes
  • No
• * Acknowledgement that this position is on‑site, located on the Columbia, SC campus.
  • Yes
  • No

Required Documents

• Cover Letter
• Resume
• List of References and Contact Information

Optional Documents

• Other Supporting Documents