Operational Service Manager Fiber Infrastructure

Do you understand fibre-optic technology and have a good eye for quality? Do you ensure that people keep to agreements, processes are organised efficiently and everything is neatly put down on paper? Moreover, are you a good communicator who keeps our suppliers on their toes? Are you an experienced service manager who ensures that our supply chain functions optimally? Do you guarantee with your sharp eye that our infrastructure always meets the highest quality requirements? Then you are the right person for this position.

Where you will work

SURF is the IT cooperative for Dutch educational and research institutions. Together with them, we work on digital services and complex innovation challenges to enhance the quality of education and research.

SURF's network has a base of some 13,000 kilometres of fibre: this connects around 100 data centre locations and 350 client locations. There are about 20 suppliers involved in the provision of fibre and 15 commercial data centre suppliers. We use our members' data centre locations intensively. As operational service manager for fibre infrastructure, you will contribute to this: you will ensure that the work of the fibre and data centre suppliers fits well with the operational processes within the team and that everything meets the standards and quality of the SURF network.

The team you will join

The Network Operations team consists of 10 people. Our team promotes cooperation between suppliers, SURF and member institutions. We are also responsible for all operational activities on the SURF network. The emphasis is on the construction (expansion, modification or renewal) and management (24x7 monitoring, incident management) of the network. We also direct and control our suppliers (fibre suppliers, data centres, management parties).

Whoever works at SURF works at a unique and open organisation. You notice this in everything: the structure of the organisation, the set-up of the project teams, the culture at our offices and the mutual atmosphere. SURF offers excellent terms of employment and takes a flexible approach to work-life balance. Everyone enjoys working independently. In addition, everyone is given the space and freedom to use and develop talents in the best and broadest way possible.

What you will do

You are responsible for the quality of SURF's physical network (fibre infrastructure, cabling at data centres). This means you are the point of contact for fibre suppliers when installing new connections. You also check that deliveries comply with SURF's network specifications. You will work closely with the change manager and supervise timelines and agreements with the institutions regarding the fibre route for new connections or relocations.

What else will you do

• You keep an overview of all ongoing processes, set priorities on behalf of the institutions and work purposefully on a smoothly running connection process.
• Together with other team members, you draw up frameworks for the cabling at data centres. You also supervise the work of all suppliers working at these data centres.
• You do supplier management: you hold discussions with suppliers at operational and tactical level. You also steer for excellent cooperation and service provision.
• You do process management: you organise and optimise the processes surrounding the construction and management of fibre infrastructure, both inside and outside the data centre. You ensure that all suppliers (fibre suppliers, data centres, management partners) work together optimally.
• You do configuration management: you ensure that our network administration is up-to-date and that all technical information about fibres is administered correctly and consistently in our CMDB.
• You check the quality of deliveries. This includes both physical checks on site and checks on measurement reports and delivery documentation.

Your skills and experience

• You have at least hbo working and thinking level. You are determined, structured and service-oriented. You are open to change, communicatively strong and a team player.
• You have knowledge and experience of fibre-optic technology and data centres;
• You have demonstrable experience in managing suppliers; in addition, you have experience in the administration of (physical) network connections;
• You have excellent oral and written skills; in addition, you have an excellent command of the Dutch and English languages;
• It is an advantage if you have knowledge of and affinity with the world of education or research.

SURF takes pleasure in doing its recruitment itself; acquisition is therefore not appreciated.