Senior Operations Fibre NOC Engineer in Cardiff

At BUUK Infrastructure, our vision is to be the leading utility partner to accelerate the UK towards net zero for all our customers. Our group of companies has been the major drive for change and innovation over 30 years. We provide a supportive environment that is committed to enabling our people to be the best – ensuring they feel proud to be themselves and part of BUUK Infrastructure.

This is a hybrid position, requiring 3 days in our Cardiff office. You will also be required to take part in an out of hours standby rota.

Purpose of this role

To support the day-to-day operation of the NOC, incident management processes, continual service improvement initiatives, and the maintenance of network stability and performance. To act as a Subject Matter Expert (SME) across the OFNL and FibreNest networks, identifying knowledge gaps and developing, documenting, and delivering technical training to ensure a consistent level of expertise across the NOC. To provide technical leadership and operational guidance to NOC Engineers, acting as the first point of escalation for complex network faults and service-affecting incidents. To lead and deliver operational and network improvement projects, ensuring successful implementation in line with business objectives, timescales, and governance requirements. To participate in the out-of-hours escalation rota, providing support to the Network Operations Centre and wider business during service-impacting incidents.

Your key responsibilities are

• Manage, operate, maintain, and develop OFNL and FibreNest network environments, ensuring secure, resilient, and reliable service delivery.
• Act as a technical escalation point for internal teams, customer service operators, and service providers, delivering excellent customer support.
• Support network availability and performance targets, including maintaining 99.9% service availability.
• Plan, approve, and implement network changes in line with change management processes, minimising risk and customer impact.
• Participate in the on-call rota, supporting major incidents and service outages in accordance with SLAs and incident management procedures.
• Lead complex fault investigations, driving root cause analysis and permanent resolution of recurring issues.
• Maintain operational documentation, network standards, procedures, and knowledge base content.
• Monitor network performance, capacity, and resilience, recommending and implementing service improvements.
• Act as technical lead during major incidents, coordinating internal teams and third-party suppliers.
• Ensure compliance with security, regulatory, business continuity, and TSA requirements where applicable.
• Provide technical input to projects, network designs, infrastructure upgrades, and capacity planning activities.
• Identify and implement automation opportunities to improve operational efficiency and service quality.
• Manage supplier and vendor escalations, service reviews, and technical relationships.
• Produce technical reports, service reviews, and post-incident documentation for stakeholders.
• Provide peer review and technical sign-off for network changes, procedures, and documentation.
• Deputise for the NOC Operations Manager as required.

Qualifications

• Nokia Network Routing Specialist I (NRS I) or Juniper Networks Certified Associate (JNCIA-Junos). Equivalent service provider networking certification may be considered.
• ITIL Foundation Certification.

Experience/Knowledge

• Incident Management and ITIL principles.
• OSPF and BGP routing protocols.
• MPLS technologies including L2VPN, Epipe, VPLS and L3VPN services.
• Network fault investigation and troubleshooting methodologies.
• Service provider network operations.
• Network monitoring platforms and operational tooling.
• Change management and risk assessment processes.
• Major incident management and root cause analysis.
• Understanding of fibre access technologies including GPON/XGS-PON.
• Experience managing vendor and third-party technical escalations.

Abilities/Skills

• Strong technical documentation and knowledge-sharing skills.
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving abilities.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills.
• Good time management and organisational skills.
• Excellent prioritisation and decision-making capabilities.
• Ability to lead technical investigations and mentor junior engineers.
• Ability to remain calm and effective during major incidents and high-pressure situations.
• Strong project delivery and planning skills.
• JNCIP-SP.
• CCNP Service Provider.
• ITIL 4 Specialist: Create, Deliver & Support.
• Experience with network automation and scripting (Python, Ansible, API integrations).
• Experience with GPON/XGS-PON access technologies.
• Experience with network observability, telemetry, and automation platforms.

Conditions of Employment

You are required to have your criminal records checked through the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS). This is due to handling and processing sensitive customer data. You will be required to participate in a standby rota.

What can you expect from us

• Cost of living annual pay review.
• Company pension contributions up to 10% if employees contribute 5%.
• 33 days holiday including bank holidays with the ability to purchase an additional 2 weeks.
• Enhanced maternity, paternity and adoption pay.
• To say thank you, each time you successfully refer someone you will receive a referral payment of £1000 (net of tax).
• Hybrid working for eligible roles.
• Development opportunities to reach your career aspirations.
• BUUK has an award-winning culture.
• We care about your wellbeing and safety as we all deserve the right to go home safe, every day.
• We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer, we respect each other and advocate for equity, diversity and inclusion in all we do.

Research shows that women and people from different underrepresented backgrounds often only apply for a job if they meet 100% of the listed qualifications. You can also ask us about flexible working options. From the supportive culture and opportunities to grow, to the great friends and chocolate brownies, our people tell us what they love most about working at BUUK. We all matter. Find out about our supportive culture. Hear how our shared sense of mutual respect and belonging underpins our culture and supports us all.