Core Network Lead, Run Team

This is a fully remote position, open to applicants in Spain, +2 more countries.

📋 Description

• Lead, mentor, and oversee a team of seven engineers, QA specialists, and Site Reliability Engineers throughout the Mobile Core Network lifecycle.

• Manage sprint and capacity planning, prioritization, stakeholder communication, one-on-one meetings, performance evaluations, and career development.

• Establish engineering best practices, an automated testing strategy, and standards for technical handover.

• Operate and manage the mobile core across CNFs and VNFs, including HSS/HLR, packet core, Diameter, SS7, DNS, GTP, as well as voice and messaging platforms.

• Ensure end-to-end service readiness for data, voice, and SMS with NEPs, IPX/GRX partners, IaaS partners, and managed service and SaaS providers.

• Take ownership of Mobile Core Network performance to achieve 99.98% annual service uptime.

• Define and report health KPIs, including availability, attach and session success rates, call and SMS success rates, latency, packet loss, and utilization.

• Support observability, monitoring, proactive alerting, geo-redundant design, capacity forecasting, failover testing, post-incident reviews, and problem management.

• Oversee configuration management, version control, change control, automated deployment and rollback, as well as configuration drift detection.

• Collaborate with the Build Team to transition CNF, VNF, Managed Service, and partner SaaS systems into live operation.

• Define operational readiness and handover criteria, and accept systems into the Run Team.

• Ensure the Run Team is trained, documented, and equipped to safely operate new systems.

⛳️ Requirements

• Over 5 years of hands-on experience in mobile core networks.

• More than 2 years of experience leading a team of engineers and/or QA specialists in an agile or delivery-oriented environment.

• Strong working knowledge of packet core and voice core, encompassing HSS/HLR, policy and charging, VoLTE, and legacy circuit-switched voice.

• Expertise in Diameter, SS7, and SIP signaling.

• Experience with messaging architecture and SMS routing, including interworking with other operators.

• Strong delivery mindset across multiple concurrent rollout streams.

• Excellent communication skills and the ability to produce handover-quality documentation.

• Proficient in English for effective communication in meetings and asynchronously.

• Nice to have: experience with CI/CD, Terraform, Ansible, Docker, Kubernetes, or automated signaling test frameworks.

• Nice to have: familiarity with Nokia, Ericsson, Mavenir, Oracle Communications, Cisco, Summa Networks, NetNumber, or XIUS.

• Nice to have: experience with cloud-native or virtualized network functions on AWS, Azure, GCP, or private cloud.

• A degree in telecommunications engineering, computer science, electrical engineering, or a related field is a plus.

🏝️ Benefits

• Fully remote work.

• Full-time, permanent contract.

• Localized compensation bands based on location.

• Opportunities for salary growth within the compensation band.

• Potential for discussions regarding compensation above the band in exceptional situations.

• Background checks conducted only with prior consent and as allowed by applicable law.

• Reasonable accommodations provided throughout the interview process.

• An equal-opportunity employer dedicated to diversity, equity, and inclusion.