Optus is an Australian telecommunications company, delivering more than 11 million services to our customers every day across mobile, broadband and digital solutions.

As Senior Technical Specialist, VAS, you will ensure the optimal performance, availability and reliability of the Optus Network, maintaining customer experience through operational support and technical governance of managed service providers across Incident, Change and Problem Management. Working in the Network Operations Centre as part of a 24x7 rostered team, you will provide technical leadership, make decisions to maintain service continuity when operational leaders are unavailable, and act as the primary escalation point for high-severity or cross-domain issues.

What You’ll Do

• Lead resolution of complex or high-severity network faults, particularly when not resolvable by the Managed Service Supplier.
• Provide technical oversight and direction during major incidents to ensure timely restoration of service.
• Manage escalations from Service Assurance Managers, ensuring clear communication and prioritisation of critical incidents.
• Conduct end-to-end Problem Management including root cause analysis, corrective actions, and closure with suppliers and vendors.
• Protect revenue and customer experience through proactive fault reduction across the Transport network.
• Provide input into network expansion and upgrade planning, including assessment and approval of new technologies.
• Drive changes to network design and implementation to improve quality, performance, and reliability.
• Validate and govern planned works (hardware/software changes) to align with quality and performance standards.
• Collaborate with Engineering teams, Managed Services, and Vendors to deliver network strategy and operational improvements.
• Review and sign off on new technology architecture/design to ensure operational supportability.
• Analyse and report on service levels and KPIs (weekly, monthly, quarterly), identifying performance issues and improvement actions.
• Deliver training on new tools, technologies, and operational practices to internal staff and managed service partners.
• Authorise and manage security access for vendors and managed service partners.
• Represent Optus as a technical authority in Change Advisory Boards, approving significant network changes.
• Identify and support automation opportunities (e.g. incident resolution, event correlation) to enhance customer experience and operational efficiency.
• Audit and fine-tune network alarms to improve monitoring effectiveness and support automation.
• Provide input into tool and platform strategy to ensure alignment with operational outcomes.
• Act as the primary technical escalation point and decision-maker during shifts when operational leaders are unavailable.

What makes you perfect for the role?

• Bachelor’s Degree (or higher) in Engineering, Telecommunications, or a related field.
• Strong foundational knowledge of VAS platforms, including SMSC, MMSC, Voicemail, and IVR solutions, along with a solid understanding of their integration and operation within GSM network environments.
• In-depth expertise in Unix/Linux operating systems and telecom signaling protocols, including SS7, Diameter, and SIGTRAN standards, is essential.
• Working knowledge of database technologies—both relational (e.g., Oracle, PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB) and NoSQL (e.g., MongoDB, Cassandra)—is highly desirable and considered an advantage.
• Strong understanding of service operations, including performance and fault management.
• Demonstrated ability to lead and resolve high-severity incidents and cross-domain technical issues.
• Experience managing vendors, delivering projects, and influencing across internal and external stakeholders.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills, including the ability to translate technical detail for business leaders.
• Ability to work independently, take ownership of issues, and implement practical, timely solutions.
• Proven leadership in mentoring, guiding peers, and fostering collaborative team environments.
• Familiarity with automation in Service Assurance processes is highly regarded.

The good stuff…

• Competitive remuneration and employee discounts. Make life easier (and more affordable) with $80 monthly credit and 25% off Optus products and unique shopping discounts with our retail partners.
• Flexible working arrangements with opportunities to work three days in the office, two days remote or home.
• Vibrant and collaborative office campus that includes cafes, convenience store, chill out zones, GP, post office, gym and on-site childcare centre.
• Competitive leave policies, including additional 'Connected’ days to focus on culture, family, health, community, or whatever’s important to you.
• We support growing families with inclusive, carer-neutral paid Parental Leave of up to 16 weeks.
• Build meaningful connections through employee-led networks and diversity initiatives including Culture Connect, Elevate Women, Disability Network and Express Yourself (LGBTQIA+).
• Put your wellbeing first with free access to counselling and support services, 24/7 — in-person, by phone, SMS, or video.
• Free Optus bus from Macquarie University Metro Station (every 6-8 minutes); morning and afternoon.

At Optus, we are strengthened by others and that means valuing diversity and saying ‘yes’ to embracing individual differences.

We are committed to ensuring that our application process provides an equal employment opportunity to all job seekers, including individuals from diverse gender, cultural and linguistic backgrounds, individuals with a disability, individuals identifying as being part of the LGBTQIA+ community, individuals who may have served in the armed forces or who identify as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander.

We also want to do our best to make our recruitment process inclusive.

If you require any adjustments or accessibility support to participate fairly and equitably in the recruitment process, please email AccessibleRecruitment@optus.com.au or call 1800 309 170.

For more information on Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging at Optus, please visit https://www.optus.com.au/about/inclusion-diversity

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