EMEA IT Ops Engineer (Edge Sites)-Kouvola

Role Summary

The EMEA IT Ops Engineer is the regional IT operations engineer for Edge sites across the EMEA portfolio, supporting the IT Operations leader in delivering stable, well-governed operations at every site. The role works alongside networking, deployment, security and commercial teams from site deployment through to decommissioning. It takes handover of new sites, verifies that handover requirements are met and vendors have delivered to agreed standards, and then owns the site's operational lifecycle. The role coordinates providers, smart hands and IMT (IT technicians) to deliver day-to-day operational support, manages change at Edge sites, defines and drives adherence to operational SLAs, and owns the key operational metrics and risk management for the regional portfolio. The role also drives standardisation by writing and maintaining SOPs, and contributes to global IT operations initiatives. Travel across the EMEA is required.

Responsibilities

• Work alongside networking, deployment, security, and other cross-functional teams and providers throughout Edge site deployments and expansions; own the Edge site operational lifecycle from deployment handover through to decommissioning.
• Provide operational support for Edge sites, coordinating with providers and smart hands where applicable, and with IMT for project work as the on-site resource; scope requests, define work instructions, monitor delivery quality, and respond promptly to service requests and emergencies.
• Own change management tasks at Edge sites, ensuring changes are planned, risk-assessed, approved, communicated, executed, and reviewed in line with the change management process.
• Define and manage operational SLAs with internal customers and the commercial team, driving adherence through monitoring, reporting, and remediation of breaches across various providers; perform QA/QC on deployment work and provide hands-on support when needed.
• Own risk identification and management during on-site IT operations execution; surface and consolidate latent risks, follow up to closure, and drive the formation of regional-level solutions.
• Aggregate and surface various IT operations issues at Edge sites in a timely manner; drive cross-team follow-up and remediation, ensuring on-site work is coordinated with infrastructure, operations, asset, and quality assurance teams.
• Participate in the capability build-out of the IT operations platform by submitting requirements, supporting testing and launch, and continuously providing on-site feedback to improve automation, efficiency, and operational transparency; assist in completing operations process specifications and knowledge-base construction, continuously updating SOPs and the risk case library.

Minimum Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in data centre operations, preferably in hyperscale, colocation or Edge/PoP environments.
• Hands-on experience with network hardware in data centre or PoP environments, including racking, cabling and port mapping of switches, routers and firewalls, and identifying and replacing faulty optics, cables and line cards
• Working knowledge of fibre and copper cabling, optics types and fibre cleaning, inspection and testing, with the ability to read network diagrams and port maps and to verify and troubleshoot physical and basic logical connectivity.
• Strong process-control and SLA-attainment capability, able to ensure the team consistently completes all on-site IT operations and maintenance tasks within the required time frames.
• Solid technical foundation: familiar with mainstream server hardware architectures (x86, ARM, etc.), operating principles, and accompanying software; applied knowledge of IT infrastructure, terminal devices, networking fundamentals, hardware replacement or maintenance procedures, and on-site operation safety specifications.
• Possessing strong ability to identify risks and drive closed-loop resolution, able to abstract general solutions from recurring, common issues.
• Capable of training and knowledge transfer, familiar with SOP/MOP authoring, technical documentation writing, and operations knowledge-base construction; strong process-documentation discipline, able to turn on-site issues into reusable troubleshooting guides or optimization proposals.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience managing third-party providers, including colocation, smart hands or remote hands services, with a track record of monitoring performance against SLAs
• Prior experience supporting network deployments or expansions in distributed Edge or PoP sites.
• Familiarity with automated monitoring, telemetry, or DCIM platforms used in Edge operations.
• Experience working with global or regional colocation and smart-hands providers across multiple markets.