Background information about the job or company (e.g., role context, company overview)

Firmly established as Africa’s carriers’ carrier, award-winning capacity wholesaler WIOCC provides international and African telcos and ISPs with unrivalled high-speed, resilient and diverse capacity into, within and out of Africa. In November 2012 (at Africa Com), WIOCC won the Best Pan-African Initiative Award for building an unparalleled, diversity-ri...

Job Objective:

We are seeking a highly driven and experienced Service Desk Team Leader to oversee the Service Desk function within our Network Operations Centre (NOC). This role is responsible for delivering exceptional first-line support, ensuring strict SLA compliance and leading effective incident and escalation management across enterprise and hyperscale client environments. The successful candidate will act as the central escalation and coordination point between Clients, Operations, Engineering, IT and Project teams, driving service performance, operational excellence and continuous improvement initiatives.

Reporting Line:

Director, Operations

Responsibilities or duties

The Service Desk Team Leader will provide strategic direction, operational oversight and performance governance of all Service Desk activities, ensuring efficient ticket lifecycle management, structured escalation control and superior client engagement.

Qualifications or requirements (e.g., education, skills)

Minimum Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Telecommunications, Computer Science or related field

ITIL Foundation certification (mandatory)

Networking certifications such as JNCIA, CCNA

Experience needed

Experience and Skills

Minimum five years experience in Service Desk or NOC operations within telecom, ISP or carrier-grade environments

At least two years in a supervisory or team leadership capacity

Proven experience managing critical incidents in SLA-driven, 24/7 operational environments

Strong understanding of transport and IP technologies (OTN, DWDM, SDH, Ethernet, IP/MPLS)

Experience with enterprise ticketing platforms (e.g., ServiceNow, NetSuite, Remedy or equivalent)

Strong analytical capability with ability to interpret operational data and performance trends

Excellent communication, stakeholder management, and executive reporting skills

Any other provided details (e.g., benefits, work environment, team info, or additional notes)

Attributes

Client focused, relationship builder

Integrity, honest with highest ethical standards

Boundless, passionate, and flexible

Personal excellence, accuracy, and attention to detail

Collaborative, achieve results through teamwork and partnerships

Strategic thinker with strong operational execution capability

Accountable, decisive, and performance-driven

Client-centric and service excellence oriented

Resilient and composed under pressure

Detail-oriented with a continuous improvement mindset

Collaborative and able to influence cross-functional stakeholders

• Provide strategic direction, operational oversight and performance governance of all Service Desk activities, ensuring efficient ticket lifecycle management, structured escalation control and superior client engagement.
• Lead, mentor and performance-manage the Service Desk team, establishing clear KPIs aligned to MTTR, MTTA, SLA compliance and client satisfaction targets
• Own and govern the Incident Management lifecycle in accordance with ITIL best practices, ensuring timely triage, prioritization, escalation and resolution of all incidents and service requests
• Act as the primary escalation authority for critical, high-impact and complex incidents, coordinating cross-functional technical teams to restore service within agreed SLAs
• Oversee structured internal and external communications during major incidents, ensuring transparency, accuracy and executive-level reporting where required
• Ensure high standards of ticket quality, data integrity, categorization accuracy and documentation completeness within the ticketing system
• Monitor real-time service performance dashboards and proactively manage risks to SLA adherence
• Produce accurate operational reports and performance analytics for senior leadership review
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives, including workflow optimization, automation of repetitive tasks and integration of monitoring tools to enhance efficiency
• Identify systemic service gaps and implement corrective and preventive measures to improve reliability and reduce repeat incidents
• Collaborate closely with Engineering, IT, Client Services and Project teams to strengthen operational alignment and enhance overall NOC performance
• Support change governance processes by assessing operational risks related to planned network activities

• Strong understanding of transport and IP technologies (OTN, DWDM, SDH, Ethernet, IP/MPLS)
• Experience with enterprise ticketing platforms (e.g., ServiceNow, NetSuite, Remedy or equivalent)
• Strong analytical capability with ability to interpret operational data and performance trends
• Excellent communication, stakeholder management, and executive reporting skills
• Client focused, relationship builder
• Integrity, honest with highest ethical standards
• Boundless, passionate, and flexible
• Personal excellence, accuracy, and attention to detail
• Collaborative, achieve results through teamwork and partnerships
• Strategic thinker with strong operational execution capability
• Accountable, decisive, and performance-driven
• Client-centric and service excellence oriented
• Resilient and composed under pressure
• Detail-oriented with a continuous improvement mindset
• Collaborative and able to influence cross-functional stakeholders

• Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Telecommunications, Computer Science or related field
• ITIL Foundation certification (mandatory)
• Networking certifications such as JNCIA, CCNA