Job Description

Role: OA/ETSO – NOC Communications Specialist

Client: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

Location: Harrisburg, PA – 100% Onsite at CTC

Schedule: Saturday–Wednesday, 12:00 AM–8:30 AM

Lunch: 1-hour unpaid lunch

Hours: 37.5 hours/week

Employment Type: Contract

Pay Rate: $32.66/hr pay

Visa: No EAD – all other U.S. work authorizations are acceptable

Local Requirement: Candidates local to the Harrisburg, PA area are strongly preferred. Candidates willing to relocate to Harrisburg may also be considered.

Position Overview

Our client, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is seeking a technically strong and customer-service-oriented NOC Communications Specialist to provide Level 1 network and end-user support during overnight and weekend hours.

This position serves as a primary after-hours contact for Commonwealth employees, business partners, vendors, and IT teams experiencing network-related issues.

The ideal candidate should be comfortable working independently during an overnight shift, troubleshooting basic network and end-user issues, monitoring network environments, creating and escalating ServiceNow tickets, and following established procedures and knowledgebase documentation.

Key Responsibilities

End-User & Network Support

• Answer inbound calls regarding network and IT issues from Commonwealth employees, vendors, and business partners.
• Provide first-line troubleshooting and technical support.
• Create, document, update, and escalate ServiceNow trouble tickets.
• Escalate issues to Tier 2/Tier 3 engineers, Commonwealth IT staff, vendors, or third-party service providers as appropriate.
• Research knowledgebase articles, reference documentation, and diagnostic aids to resolve issues.
• Follow established Service Desk, NOC, and Commonwealth standard operating procedures.
• Promptly identify and escalate high-priority incidents.

Network Monitoring & Maintenance

• Monitor Commonwealth network sites and network-connected hardware using tools such as SolarWinds and SquaredUp.
• Monitor network status, alerts, alarms, and attached network assets.
• Perform first-line investigation and diagnosis of network incidents.
• Respond to outages and system failures according to established escalation procedures.
• Document incident details, priorities, actions taken, and escalation information.
• Assign unresolved incidents to appropriate higher-tier support teams or service providers.
• Coordinate with network engineers, vendors, and service providers to assist with service restoration.
• Actively monitor the ServiceNow ticket queue.
• Monitor designated Commonwealth email accounts for network/event notifications and initiate appropriate action.
• Proactively identify potential problems and initiate the appropriate response.

Communication & Incident Management

• Serve as the primary after-hours network contact for Commonwealth employees and business partners.
• Provide professional and courteous customer service over the phone.
• Perform enterprise incident communications using approved processes and templates.
• Provide network status updates according to established procedures.
• Maintain accurate and timely incident documentation.
• Communicate effectively with Commonwealth staff, network engineers, vendors, and third-party providers.

Routine Responsibilities

• Assist network engineers and technicians with outstanding operational tasks.
• Update network operations and knowledgebase documentation.
• Participate in disaster recovery activities.
• Complete assigned operational and administrative tasks.
• Follow established quality and compliance standards.

Required Qualifications

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Strong phone etiquette and ability to communicate clearly with users of varying technical skill levels.
• Customer-service-oriented approach to technical support.
• Ability to follow established procedures, SOPs, and knowledgebase documentation.
• Strong troubleshooting and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to determine when an issue should be escalated and ensure timely escalation.
• Experience with incident management, call tracking, and ticketing systems.
• Strong attention to detail and organizational skills.
• Ability to multitask and prioritize competing issues.
• Ability to work independently during overnight/after-hours operations.
• Ability to adapt to changing priorities and operational requirements.

Preferred Experience

• 2+ years of experience in one or more of the following:
• Systems Administration
• Help Desk / Service Desk
• NOC / Network Operations
• Technical Support
• IT Call Center
• Experience working with ServiceNow.
• Experience supporting network incidents or monitoring environments.
• Experience with SolarWinds, SquaredUp, or similar network monitoring tools.
• Experience working in a 24x7 NOC, service desk, or IT operations environment.
• Familiarity with network troubleshooting and escalation procedures.

Candidate Requirements – IMPORTANT

Please screen for the following before submitting:

1. Harrisburg, PA local candidates strongly preferred.
2. Must be willing to work 100% onsite at CTC.
3. Must be available for the exact Saturday–Wednesday, 12:00 AM–8:30 AM third-shift schedule.
4. Must be comfortable with overnight/weekend work.
5. Must have strong verbal communication and phone support skills.
6. Must have experience with ticketing/incident management systems; ServiceNow is strongly preferred.
7. Help Desk, NOC, Systems Administration, or technical support experience is preferred.
8. No EAD. All other U.S. work authorization types are acceptable.
9. Candidates outside Pennsylvania should be willing to relocate to the Harrisburg area before starting.
10. Candidate must be able to work independently and follow established Commonwealth procedures and escalation processes.

Ideal Candidate Profile

The strongest candidate will be a Help Desk, NOC, Technical Support, or Junior Systems Administrator professional with 2+ years of experience who has strong communication skills, ServiceNow/ticketing experience, basic network troubleshooting knowledge, and is comfortable working an overnight schedule in a 24x7 operational environment.

Priority order:

Harrisburg Local + ServiceNow + NOC/Help Desk/Network Support + Strong Communication + 3rd Shift Availability

Please do not submit candidates who are unwilling to work onsite in Harrisburg or cannot commit to the overnight Saturday–Wednesday schedule.