Overview
Head of ISOC – Manchester – £75k
Pearson Carter are currently working with a leading UK Managed Service Provider who are looking to appoint a senior operations leader to head up their Integrated Network & Security Operations Centre (ISOC).
This is a pivotal leadership role for someone who understands how large-scale networks, managed services, and 24/7 operations function in practice — and how security is embedded into resilient service delivery. This role would suit a network-first operational leader with strong security knowledge, rather than a purely cyber-focused profile.
They offer an excellent salary package alongside strong benefits and long-term progression opportunities.
Get in touch if you’re looking for your next leadership opportunity.
Responsibilities
* Lead and develop 24/7 NOC and SOC teams responsible for service monitoring and incident response
* Own day-to-day operational performance across network and security services
* Develop, implement, and maintain operational processes, runbooks, and escalation procedures
* Ensure network performance, availability, and fault resolution remain industry-leading
* Embed security operations into core service resilience
* Act as senior incident commander during major outages or security events
* Drive operational maturity through tooling, automation, and process optimisation
* Align ISOC strategy with wider platform and product teams
* Oversee service KPIs including uptime, SLAs, MTTD, MTTR, and incident recurrence
* Lead post-incident reviews focused on learning and prevention
* Manage vendors, tooling roadmap, and operational budgets
* Provide meaningful operational reporting to senior leadership and customers
Experience
* 8–10 years’ experience in network, infrastructure, or service operations
* Minimum 5 years in a senior operational leadership role
* Proven experience leading NOC teams (ideally alongside SOC functions)
* Strong background in routing, switching, firewalls, VPNs, and load balancers (Fortinet, Juniper, Cisco, Aruba, Check Point)
* Enterprise and cloud networking experience, particularly Microsoft Azure
* Strong incident and crisis management capability
* Good working knowledge of SOC tooling (SIEM, EDR, IDS/IPS)
* Experience working within a Managed Service Provider environment
Qualifications (Desirable)
* Degree in Computer Science, Networking, IT or similar
* ITIL v4 Practitioner
* Certifications such as CCNP, CISSP, CISM (or equivalent experience)
Salary & Benefits
* 33 days holiday (inclusive of bank holidays), increasing with service
* Annual pay reviews
* Holiday buy scheme
* All-company bonus scheme
* Death in service cover
* Employee Assistance Programme
* Company pension
* Active social calendar
* Strong focus on personal and professional development
Location
Client has an office based near Manchester. This is a hybrid role 3x a week in office
How to Apply
Please apply ASAP with your CV to be considered for this position. You can also get in touch with me on harry.b@pearsoncarter.com or 0191 406 6111.
Pearson Carter is the Global Leader in Microsoft Technology, Web, Mobile and Software Development Recruitment with specialist roles across the globe – www.pearsoncarter.com
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