Lead - IT Operations

📋 Description

• • Own the end-to-end health of Freshworks’ global network backbone, spanning 15 offices and 4,000+ hybrid users. You will architect, deploy, and continuously tune routers, switches, Wi-Fi controllers, access points, load balancers, and next-generation firewalls to guarantee sub-100 ms latency and 99.9 % uptime for business-critical SaaS traffic.
• • Serve as the final escalation point for all Level-2 network incidents, changes, and service requests. You will triage alerts from SolarWinds, ThousandEyes, and custom Zabbix dashboards, perform root-cause analysis, and restore service within aggressive SLAs while documenting every step in Freshservice for audit and knowledge-base growth.
• • Design and roll out new office networks from scratch—translating user counts, floor plans, and compliance mandates into scalable LAN/WAN topologies. You will lead site-surveys, AP heat-mapping, PoE budget calculations, ISP negotiations, and Palo Alto security zoning so that every new site is “Day-1 ready” for seamless employee onboarding.
• • Engineer and maintain secure remote-access solutions: IPSEC site-to-site tunnels, GlobalProtect SSL VPN, and ZTNA policies. You will integrate MFA via Okta, craft granular role-based access rules, and monitor VPN concentrator capacity to support 2× growth in remote workforce without performance degradation.
• • Automate repetitive operational tasks using Python, Ansible, and Palo Alto Expedition. You will version-control device configs in Git, push templated changes through CI/CD pipelines, and build self-service portals that allow Helpdesk to open firewall ports or create SSIDs without touching CLI.
• • Champion continuous security posture: schedule monthly patch windows for firewalls, controllers, and switches; run quarterly pen-test remediation sprints; and partner with the CISO team to implement IPS signatures, DNS-filtering, and micro-segmentation policies that map to SOC-2 and ISO-27001 controls.
• • Establish capacity-planning models that forecast bandwidth, wireless density, and firewall session limits 12–18 months ahead. You will translate these insights into executive dashboards and budget proposals that secure CapEx for hardware refresh cycles and SaaS licensing renewals.
• • Mentor a 6-member L1/L2 operations pod, conducting weekly tech talks, run-book reviews, and war-room simulations. You will define KPIs (MTTR, first-call resolution, change success rate) and coach engineers toward Palo Alto ACE, Cisco CCNP, or CWNP certifications.
• • Maintain living network documentation: topology diagrams in Draw.io, IPAM in NetBox, run-books in Confluence, and asset lifecycle data in ServiceNow. You will enforce change-management gates so every update is peer-reviewed, rollback-tested, and approved via CAB.
• • Collaborate cross-functionally with CloudOps, DevOps, and InfoSec to extend on-prem visibility into AWS and Azure via Transit Gateway, Direct Connect, and Prisma Access. You will craft unified security policies that protect east-west traffic across hybrid environments.