Change Management Expert - Network Operations Center

About the Role

We are seeking an experienced Change Management professional to join our Network Operations Center (NOC) in Riyadh. The role focuses on overseeing, evaluating, coordinating, and tracking all network changes impacting STC's telecommunications infrastructure. The candidate will ensure adherence to ITIL Change Enablement best practices, customer service level agreements (SLAs), and operational standards.

This position acts as the pivotal coordination point interfacing between Operations, Radio, Core, Transport, IP/MPLS, Security teams, vendors, and customers to guarantee smooth execution of scheduled network changes with minimal disruption.

Key Responsibilities

• Govern the complete lifecycle of network changes following ITIL Change Enablement processes.
• Critically review, validate, and classify Change Requests (CRQs) while confirming comprehensive technical, operational, business, and risk information.
• Confirm plans for implementation, rollback strategies, testing, and communications are fully detailed and compliant with contracts and standards.
• Perform technical and operational impact evaluations and assess and mitigate associated service risks.
• Validate maintenance windows, service dependencies, and resolve any conflicting concurrent activities.
• Coordinate change execution involving Radio Access Networks (2G/4G/5G), Core Network, IP/MPLS, Transmission, OSS/BSS, Field Operations, and third-party vendors.
• Lead Change Advisory Board (CAB) meetings, schedule, and communicate approved changes to relevant parties.
• Conduct Post Implementation Reviews (PIR), examine unsuccessful changes, extract lessons learned, and drive process enhancements.
• Maintain thorough documentation and audit logs.
• Prepare comprehensive reports covering Change Success Rates, emergency changes, rollback instances, compliance metrics, lead times, backlog, maintenance window utilization, service disruptions, CAB effectiveness, and SLA adherence.

Qualifications and Experience

• Bachelor's degree in Telecommunications Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Information Technology or related domains.
• Mandatory ITIL 4 Foundation Certification; ITIL Practice Manager (Change Enablement) or similar credentials preferred.
• Additional certifications such as PMP, PRINCE2, or vendor-specific (Cisco, Nokia, Ericsson, Huawei, Juniper) are desirable.
• Minimum 10 years of experience in telecom network operations, with at least 5 years dedicated to Change Management in a telecom NOC or managed services setting.
• Experience supporting Tier-1 telecom operators and managing large-scale network maintenance is advantageous.

Competencies and Skills

• Strong stakeholder management and communication capabilities.
• Expertise in risk assessment, mitigation strategies, and problem-solving.
• Ability to make sound decisions under pressure and resolve conflicts effectively.
• Leadership skills with a focus on coordination and continuous process improvement.
• Meticulous documentation and reporting proficiency combined with a customer-centric approach.

Working Conditions and Performance Indicators

• Position is based on-site at STC Network Operations Center in Riyadh.
• Involvement in 24/7 operations with on-call duties when necessary.
• Availability required during maintenance windows, weekends, and public holidays.
• Frequent collaboration with customers, vendors, and technical teams is expected.
• Performance measured by change success rate, failed and emergency change percentages, SLA compliance, CAB efficiency, approval cycle timelines, PIR completion rates, audit adherence, and documentation accuracy.