Manager, IN & VAS Planning at Airtel Nigeria

Airtel Nigeria (Airtel Networks Limited), a leading mobile telecommunication services provider in Nigeria and a member of Airtel Africa Group, is committed to providing innovative, exciting, affordable and quality mobile services to Nigerians, giving them the freedom to communicate, rise above their daily challenges and drive economic and social development. The company made history on August 5, 2001 by becoming the first telecoms operator to launch commercial GSM services in Nigeria and has scored a series of many "firsts" in the highly competitive Nigerian telecommunications market including the first to introduce toll-free 24-hour customer care; first to launch service in all the six geo-political zones in the country; first to introduce affordable recharge denominations; first to introduce monthly free SMS and first to introduce monthly airtime bonus.

A truly innovative company, Airtel has showed resilience, charting new paths in meeting the demands and needs of its esteemed stakeholders and enhancing distribution as well as providing affordable services to empower more nigerians.

Airtel Nigeria is recruiting to fill the position of:

Job Title: Manager, IN & VAS Planning

Location: Nigeria

Job Description
Service Layer (billing) architecture for IN & VAS Planning and Architecture designed to ensure Uninterrupted Charging and delivery of Value added Services:

• Analyze business requirements and processes before converting ideas to solution design of new services; where required research into new technology and development in Telecommunication industry with regards to Billing/Charging Systems/VAS and where required OTA services.
• Liaise with vendor partner teams, Airtel HQ and other departments to assure seamless real-time Billing for the VAS/IN services, implementation and deployment of key networks systems through the full delivery life cycle from initial design to full operational handover.
• Ensure projects are aligned with the business’s Annual Operating Program (AOP).
• Convert business ideas to solution on prepaid platform.
• Ensure that all IN/VAS core nodes are functioning to support Enhanced/Mobile Circuit and Packet Core as per the business and network requirements in a typical GSM/UMTS/LTE/Wi-Fi/ SAE/IMS environment.

Detailed and Effective Documentation:

• Ensure that the project related documentation reflects a fit-for-purpose design and compiles with the contractual vendor requirements.
• On concept of solutions proffered and prior to implementation, documentation in the form of SD, HLD and LLD designs should be prepared to include technical functionality, platform design and platform integration with relevant network elements.
• Research market trends with emphasis on new and emerging technologies for analysis.

Capacity Planning:

• Perform adequate dimensioning, of all IN/Charging Systems and VAS Nodes - in accordance with network growth and projections.
• Continuously being the loop of the network traffic, licenses, trends and various parameters to ensure the Network elements are operating as expected. Where required, take corrective action with input from Operations.
• Effective understanding of Operational and Business support systems (OSS/BSS) for performance reporting, Key performance indicator (KPI) monitoring and tuning for effective end to end planning of IN/VAS services.

Expand & Evolve Core IN Network:

• Understand the business requirements and impact on the IN network infrastructure.
• Responsible for planning all expansion of OCS nodes well in advance.
• Plan evolution of IN/VAS network to best industry practices; where possible push the technological boundaries.

Employee Engagement

• Provide consultation services to relevant business units including Liaison with Marketing and IT for advice on new tariffs, products and services.
• Develop close working relationships with IT, Core Network and Billing Architects, Product Development team and also with Vendor to ensure IN solutions meet the business's technical and business objectives.
• Hold necessary Kick off meetings with stakeholders where/when required.
• Maintain high Team Harmony and Engagement at all times with both internal and external teams and stakeholders.

Vendor/Partner Management

• Ensuring that the MS/MC partners deliver the projects to the high quality expected first time right.

New Initiatives:

• Explore new initiatives which meet business requirements by developing and delivering cost efficient delivery plans of proposed solutions.
• Technology assessments and POC trials (RFI/RFP/RFQ). Verification of solutions before roll-out

Time Management:

• Prioritize self-workload as required to meet the fluctuating demands of business and requirements from other stakeholders.

Desired Skills and Experience

• Bachelor/Masters of Telecommunication/Electronic Engineering degree
• Detailed working Telecommunications Knowledge
• Analytical, Technical and Presentation skills
• A good understanding of 3GPP /ITU-T and ETSI standard with regards to OCS will be required.
• Relevant experience with Vendor OCS platforms.
• Relevant experience and hands on technical skills with Ericsson Charging systems.
• Minimum of 5-7years working experience in large Mobile Network Operator with the MPC or EPC domains.
• Vendor experience – HUAWEI and ERICSSON platforms and IN architectures - Including Service level configuration for data services.
• Good technical understanding and experience of the commercial deployment of EPC/LTE (including IMS) which could include design, test and/or deployment. Understanding of the evolution of 3G networks moving towards 4G.
• Good understanding of interrelated domains (IT/Voice/Data/Vas applications) functions and working knowledge of the underlying IP technology to facilitate E2E service flow.

Application Closing Date
Not Stated

Method of Application
Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply online