SOC Manager

SOC Manager — Smart Operating Centre (SOC)

Helios Towers is a leading independent telecommunications infrastructure company, having established one of the most extensive tower portfolios across Africa. It builds, owns and operates telecom passive infrastructure, providing services to mobile network operators. Helios Towers currently operates in 8 markets across Africa and Oman in the Middle East.

Overview

As SOC Manager, you will be accountable for ensuring 24/7 operational control, platform discipline, and operational data integrity across the Smart Operating Centre (SOC). Reporting directly to the Head of Region, with a functional reporting line to the CSOC Senior Manager, you will play a critical role in maintaining reliable, secure, and resilient network operations through effective incident management, operational governance, and execution control.

You will oversee real-time operational execution, enforce disciplined use of ICCP and WFM as systems of record, validate operational facts and execution evidence, and coordinate maintenance and energy activities to ensure service continuity and SLA protection. Working closely with the CSOC, you will contribute to a seamless customer experience by ensuring accurate operational reporting, escalation discipline, and strong operational resilience across the region.        

Role Responsibilities

As SOC Manager, you will be responsible for:

• Leading and managing continuous monitoring, triage, escalation, and restoration of operational incidents in line with severity levels, SLA impact, and operational procedures.
• Driving and ensuring high-quality restoration practices while maintaining operational focus on service continuity and execution discipline.
• Owning and validating incident timelines, dispatch records, restoration evidence, and operational execution data to ensuring accuracy, traceability, completeness, and audit readiness.
• Maintaining and providing the single operational source of truth supporting CSOC governance, reporting, and operational reviews.
• Enforcing and governing disciplined use of ICCP and WFM platforms, ensuring correct workflows, task lifecycle management, and timely closure of operational activities.
• Ensuring and coordinating proper planning, dispatch, execution, and closure of maintenance and energy activities within ICCP/WFM, including validation of operational evidence and safety compliance.
• Escalating and addressing execution delays, quality gaps, and operational risks that could impact service availability or SLA performance.
• Validating and ensuring accuracy and consistency of operational SLA inputs, including incident start/end times and inclusion/exclusion logic, prior to CSOC governance processing.
• Monitoring and analysing operational performance indicators including Power Uptime (PUT), restoration time, incident cycle time, and repeat operational failures.
• Identifying and driving corrective actions with Maintenance, Energy, and Planning teams to removing operational bottlenecks and improving restoration efficiency.
• Driving and implementing improvements in incident handling, dispatch quality, execution validation, and operational data discipline to reducing repeat operational failures.
• Owning and maintaining SOC Business Continuity Planning (BCP) readiness, major incident response preparedness, and operational continuity procedures.Requirements for the Role

To succeed in this role, you will bring:

• Extensive experience in SOC/NOC operations, telecom infrastructure operations, or operational control environments.
• Strong expertise in incident management, operational governance, and real-time operational coordination.
• Proven experience managing operational performance within SLA-driven environments.
• Strong familiarity with ICCP, WFM, RMS, ServiceNow, or similar operational platforms.
• Demonstrated ability to manage cross-functional operational teams and coordinate high-pressure operational escalations.
• Experience working within telecom infrastructure or managed services environments across African markets is desirable.
• Strong analytical, operational decision-making, and stakeholder management capability.
• Professional proficiency in English and French preferred

Desired Skills

• Operational leadership and execution governance
• Incident and crisis management capability
• Strong analytical and operational decision-making skills
• Platform governance and operational data discipline
• Continuous improvement and operational resilience mindset
• Stakeholder coordination and escalation management
• High digital literacy and reporting discipline
• Strong communication and leadership capability

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

• Power Uptime (PUT)
• MTTRA / MTTRO and incident cycle time
• SLA input accuracy and operational data quality score
• ICCP & WFM adoption and compliance rate
• Execution quality and operational rework rate
• BCP readiness and major incident response effectiveness

Helios Towers is committed to promoting equal opportunities in employment. You and any job applicants will receive equal treatment regardless of age, disability, marital status, pregnancy or maternity, race, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin, religion or belief.