IT Operations Center Team Lead

About the Role

MIS - Al Moammar Information Systems Co. is seeking an IT Operations Center Team Lead to join their team in Riyadh. This full-time role involves leading and supervising the Enterprise Operations Center (EOC) team, ensuring continuous operational support across various IT domains in a 24/7 environment. The ideal candidate will have 5-10 years of experience in IT Operations, with a significant portion in a leadership capacity.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead, supervise, and develop the EOC team, covering Monitoring, Systems, Network & Security, Network & Data Center, and Application Operations.
• Manage 24/7 shift schedules, on-call rotations, shift handovers, and leave coverage to ensure continuous operational support.
• Set daily priorities, allocate tasks, monitor open tickets, and follow up on outstanding actions.
• Identify skill gaps, coordinate cross-training, and ensure team members can provide operational coverage across different areas.
• Lead daily operational meetings and report service status to management.
• Oversee monitoring of servers, networks, applications, and data center facilities using tools such as SolarWinds, PRTG, Site24x7, and Liebert SiteScan.
• Ensure alerts are addressed within agreed timelines and escalated to appropriate L3 teams when required.
• Oversee daily systems operations, including SCCM activities, server patching, and coordination of patching windows.
• Oversee L2 network, security, voice, and video conferencing support, ensuring timely escalation of technical issues.
• Manage after-hours emergency phone coverage and coordinate with vendors.
• Oversee data center operations, including equipment racking and stacking, ensuring compliance with approved change and access procedures.
• Oversee L2 operational support for enterprise applications, including Appian, Oracle EBS, SharePoint, Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM, and ServiceNow.
• Own L2 incidents and service requests in ServiceNow, ensuring compliance with agreed SLAs.
• Coordinate major incidents, engage appropriate teams, maintain stakeholder communication, and track incidents through resolution.
• Contribute to Problem Management and root cause analysis (RCA) for major and recurring incidents.
• Represent the EOC in Change Advisory Board (CAB) meetings and ensure approved changes are monitored.
• Prepare daily, weekly, and monthly operational reports covering availability, incidents, SLA performance, and team activities.
• Maintain runbooks, shift logs, escalation matrices, and operating procedures.
• Identify recurring issues, recommend service improvements, and explore automation opportunities.
• Lead EOC knowledge transfer activities and ensure operational readiness for service transition.

Qualifications and Experience

• BSc. degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field.
• 8+ years of experience in IT Operations, including at least 3 years leading a NOC, EOC, or IT Operations team in a 24/7 environment.
• Broad hands-on experience across infrastructure operations, including systems, networks, data centers, and application support.
• Experience in government, financial, or other regulated environments is preferred.
• Good working knowledge of monitoring tools, including SolarWinds, PRTG, and Site24x7.
• Solid understanding of Windows and Linux servers, networking, security fundamentals, and data center operations.
• Familiarity with SCCM and server patching processes.
• Understanding of enterprise application support and cross-team incident management.
• Strong experience with ServiceNow and ITIL processes, including Incident, Major Incident, Problem, Change, and Event Management.
• ITIL 4 Foundation certification is preferred; higher-level ITIL certifications are an advantage.
• Networking or systems certifications, such as CCNA or Microsoft certifications, are preferred.

Required Skills

• Proven ability to lead, motivate, and organize a 24/7 operations team.
• Strong decision-making and problem-solving skills, particularly during critical incidents.
• Excellent communication skills in Arabic and English, both written and verbal.
• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail in reporting and follow-up.
• Availability for out-of-hours escalations and critical incidents when required.

Work Environment

This is a full-time position based in Riyadh, requiring leadership of a 24/7 operations team and availability for out-of-hours escalations as needed.