L1 Cisco SD-WAN NOC Engineer

About the role

The L1 NOC Engineer is the first line of defence for the Cisco SD‑WAN service, continuously monitoring the health of the overlay and underlying transport, detecting incidents, performing first‑level diagnosis and escalating with complete information for rapid resolution.

Key responsibilities

• Monitor Cisco Catalyst SD‑WAN edge devices, WAN links, IPsec tunnels and alarms 24/7 via vManage and NOC platforms.
• Log, categorize, prioritize and track incidents in the ticketing system, ensuring SLA compliance.
• Perform first‑level troubleshooting using reachability checks and IOS‑XE/SD‑WAN commands following runbooks.
• Escalate unresolved incidents to L2/L3 with complete logs, command outputs and handover notes.
• Support post‑change validation, new‑site onboarding checks and produce shift and incident reports.

Required profile

• Diploma or degree in IT, Computer Science, Telecommunications/Electrical Engineering or equivalent experience.
• Valid Cisco CCNA certification.
• 1–3 years experience in a NOC, network support or ISP/telco operations environment.
• Willingness to work 24/7 rotational shifts on‑site in Nairobi.
• Clear written and spoken English.

Required skills

• Cisco Catalyst SD‑WAN (Viptela) concepts and vManage, vSmart, vBond, cEdge/vEdge.
• Cisco IOS/IOS‑XE command‑line for diagnostics.
• Networking fundamentals: TCP/IP, subnetting, VLANs, static routing, OSPF, BGP, NAT, DHCP, DNS.
• Monitoring tools such as SolarWinds, PRTG or Zabbix.
• Ticketing systems like ServiceNow, BMC Remedy or Jira Service Management.

What we offer

• Competitive monthly contract rate plus shift allowance.
• Hands‑on experience on a carrier‑grade Cisco SD‑WAN programme.
• Growth path towards L2 and support for CCNP certification.
• Collaborative professional engineering team.