Communication & Change Manager

Ritter Communications has been at the forefront of the local communications industry for more than a century. We began providing telephone service in Northeast Arkansas in 1906.   Today, Ritter Communications serves over 92 communities and more than 45,000 customers across Arkansas, northeast Texas, southeast Missouri, and west Tennessee. The company has grown steadily over the years, expanding rapidly and is now the largest privately-held regional broadband fiber, telecom, video and cloud services provider in the Mid-South. Ritter invests heavily in the communities it serves by deploying proven, best-in-class infrastructure and technology, while coupling it with a world-class customer focused experience. 

General Summary:   

The Communication & Change Manager is considered a SME within the Ritter Network Operations Center (NOC) team and is responsible for providing Change Management oversight for all maintenance activity affecting the Ritter production network. The Communication & Change Manager should have significant operations knowledge, experience, and exposure in Change Management methodology. This position will oversee Change Request review, scheduling, network deconfliction, customer notifications and approval. The Change Manager will participate in operational and strategic discussions with engineering and operational groups and upper management as they relate to Ritter’s production network. Additionally, this role will oversee outage communication and develop RCA (Root Cause Analysis) documents. Success in this role is highly reliant on the ability to adapt to rapidly changing environments and networks, learn new technologies and processes quickly, and the ability to work both independently and in a team environment.

Essential Job Functions:

• Oversees all Change Management activity for Ritter’s production network;
• Reviews, schedules, deconflicts and sends internal and external customer notifications;
• Standardizes outage communications;
• Gathers data and develop RCA documents;
• Implements and manages policy and procedure concerning Change Management interaction;
• Performs operational approval of Change Requests;
• Participates in a team environment, providing valuable input as well as providing technical leadership to the team;
• Interacts with all Engineering and Operational teams, including Network Architecture, Network Planning and Network Operations;
• Participates in operational and strategic discussions as they relate to Ritter’s production network maintenance;
• Performs other duties as assigned. 

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Knowledge of telecommunications products and services;
• Knowledge and experience of the standard ITIL Change Management process;
• Experience with Remedy, Remedyforce or other IT Service Management systems
• Solid understanding of the OSI layer and LAN/WAN protocols and technologies such as Ethernet, TCP/IP, VLANs, Routing, Switching, NAT, ACL, etc.;
• Operational knowledge and awareness of data, voice, and transport network product and technologies including Cisco, Ciena, Nokia, Calix and Metaswitch;
• Ability to multi-task and effectively manage multiple high-impact projects;
• Ability to be detail oriented while keeping the bigger picture in mind;
• Ability to work well individually and in a team environment;
• Skill in commonly used software such as Visio, Excel, Word, and Power Point;
• Exceptional skill in oral and written communication;
• Exceptional skill in reading and interpreting technical documents and information.

Education and Experience:   

Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering, Computer Science, or a similar technical field and 5+ years of relevant work experience; or equivalent combination of education and experience preferred.

Cisco CCNA, Nokia NRS I, Certified Change Management Professional (CCMP) or similar ITIL certifications preferred.

Ritter Communications is an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer; all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regards to sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, color, religion, national origin, disability, protected Veteran status, age, or any other characteristic protected by law.

We strive to maintain a drug-free workplace.

We offer competitive compensation and an outstanding benefits package including health, dental, vision, cancer, accident and life insurance, short-term and long-term disability, 401(k) with company match, flexible spending accounts, free gym membership, company discounts, tuition reimbursement, paid training, paid leave, and much more!