Operations Analyst

Encore Talent; Cincinnati (IA); Hybrid; USD 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

Encore Talent is seeking an Operations Analyst in Cincinnati. This role involves leading incident management and ensuring smooth operational governance in our IT Operations Command Center.

The ideal candidate will have 2-4 years of experience in IT operations, a strong understanding of ITIL frameworks, and the ability to coordinate teams under pressure. This is a hybrid position, offering both remote and on-site work options.

Qualifications

• 2-4 years’ experience in IT operations, service desk, NOC, or command center environments.
• Strong understanding of incident management frameworks in ITIL.
• Experience in real-time operations, escalation management, or crisis coordination.

Responsibilities

• Maintain continuous presence in the designated telephony queue during assigned shifts.
• Act as the primary responder and coordinator for incidents.
• Serve as Incident Commander for Major/Critical Incidents.
• Deliver clear, concise incident communications to stakeholders.
• Execute against and continuously improve incident management runbooks.
• Analyze incident patterns and recommend preventative measures.

Skills

Incident management frameworks in ITIL

Real-time operations

Crisis coordination

CompTIA A, Server, and/or Network certifications

Team coordination under pressure

Education

2-4 years’ experience in IT operations

Tools

Monitoring/observability tools (i.e. LogicMonitor, Datadog, Zabbix)

Job description

Position Summary

The Operations Analyst serves as a process and engagement leader within the IT Operations Command Center responsible for real time operational governance, critical incident coordination, and service health oversight across client and internal environments. The role extends beyond traditional monitoring and triage by owning execution of incident management processes, facilitating major incident response, and ensuring cross functional alignment during service disruptions. The Operations Analyst acts as the initial Incident Commander, driving structured response, communication, and activities in high impact situations. This role reports to the Operations Manager.

Responsibilities

• Service Monitoring & Event Monitoring
  • Maintain continuous presence in the designated telephony queue during assigned shifts to ensure immediate response to incoming priority and high priority incident reports.
  • Continuously monitor enterprise environments (network, infrastructure, cloud, applications) using centralized observability platforms.
  • Proactively identify anomalies, service degradation, and early indicators of critical incidents.
  • Correlate alerts and events to reduce noise and identify actionable incidents.
  • Maintain situational awareness across all environments within the ITOCC scope.
• Incident Management Execution
  • Act as the primary responder and coordinator for incidents, following defined processes and procedures.
  • Perform incident classification, prioritization, and severity determination.
  • Drive timely triage and escalation aligned to runbooks and service level objectives.
  • Encore incidents are owned end-to-end until resolution or proper handoff.
  • Maintain strict adherence to defined incident management workflows and governance.
  • Orchestrate cross functional teams (i.e. engineering, service desk, vendor, client stakeholders).
• Major Incident & Crisis Leadership
  • Serve as Incident Commander for Major/Critical Incidents.
  • Initiate and lead technical bridge calls, ensuring structured participation and progress tracking.
  • Orchestrate cross functional teams (i.e. engineering, service desk, vendor, client stakeholders).
  • Provide real time executive level updates and situational summaries.
• Client Communication & Stakeholder Management
  • Deliver clear, concise, and timely incident communications to internal and external stakeholders.
  • Communicate impact, status, risks, and estimated restoration timelines.
  • Serve as the single source of truth during active incidents.
  • Ensure communication aligns with both internal and external expectations.
• Process & Runbook Governance
  • Execute against and continuously improve incident management runbooks and SOPs.
  • Identify gaps in existing processes and recommend enhancements.
  • Contribute to standardization of ITOCC operating procedures.
  • Ensure consistency and auditability of response actions.
• Documentation & Post Incident Activities
  • Maintain detailed and accurate incident timelines, actions, and decisions.
  • Support post incident reviews, and improvement opportunities.
  • Ensure all incidents meet documentation and compliance standards.
• Continuous Service Improvement
  • Analyze incident patterns and recommend preventative measures.
  • Collaborate with engineering teams on problem management initiatives.
  • Participate in process maturity advancements within the ITOCC.
  • Support automation and tooling improvements for event and incident handling.
  • Other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

• 2-4 years’ experience in IT operations, service desk, NOC, or command center environments.
• Strong understanding of incident management frameworks in ITIL.
• Experience in real-time operations, escalation management, or crisis coordination.
• CompTIA A, Server, and/or Network certifications desired.
• Ability to lead calls and coordinate teams under pressure.

Preferred

• ITIL Foundation or higher certification.
• Experience with monitoring / observability tool (i.e. LogicMonitor, Datadog, Zabbix, etc.).
• Exposure to enterprise infrastructure (network, server, cloud).
• Experience supporting external clients in managed service.

Certifications (nice to have)

• ITIL
• CompTIA Network, Security, or equivalent
• HDI certifications

Physical Requirements

• Prolonged periods sitting at a desk and working on computer.
• Occasional walking between facilities.
• Occasional lifting, pushing, pulling up to 15 lbs.
• Hybrid Position