Ceres: Operations Manager – Wireless Internet Infrastructure – Onsite – Ceres, Tulbagh, Wolseley

About the Role

Our client, a wireless internet service provider based in Cape Town, is seeking an Operations Manager to oversee and grow its field operations function. The role is responsible for managing all on-the-ground activities related to the company’s wireless network infrastructure. As a hands-on operational leader with strong technical knowledge of wireless internet infrastructure, you will be instrumental in driving business growth through expansion into new towns, markets, and customer bases.

Key Responsibilities

• Field Operations Management
• Managing installation teams, maintenance teams, tower crews, subcontractors, and field technicians.
• Scheduling and supervising client installations, tower work, maintenance visits, and infrastructure repairs.
• Ensuring that all field work is completed safely, professionally, and to company standards.
• Monitoring productivity, quality of work, technician performance, and job completion times.
• Creating and improving operating procedures for installations, callouts, maintenance, stock usage, safety, and reporting.

• Wireless Network and Tower Maintenance
• Maintaining towers, masts, high sites, poles, brackets, cabinets, enclosures, batteries, solar systems, power systems, cabling, radios, antennas, switches, routers, and related infrastructure.
• Ensuring tower sites are inspected regularly and kept in good physical condition.
• Planning preventative maintenance schedules for towers, access points, backhaul links, client equipment, and power systems.

• Client Premises Maintenance and Installations
• New client installations.
• Upgrades to customer equipment.
• Repairs and troubleshooting at client sites.
• Relocation or realignment of client equipment.
• Quality control on mounting, cabling, signal strength, router setup, and customer handover.

• Outage Management and Emergency Response
• Taking charge of field response during outages.
• Coordinating technicians, tower teams, network staff, suppliers, and contractors during incidents.
• Prioritising outage repairs based on customer impact and business importance.
• Ensuring key infrastructure is repaired or replaced quickly.

• Infrastructure Replacement and Upgrades
• Identifying and managing the replacement of ageing, damaged, unreliable, or underperforming infrastructure.
• Radios, antennas, routers, switches, brackets, cables, power systems, cabinets, batteries, and solar equipment.
• High-site equipment that has reached end-of-life.
• Client equipment that causes repeat faults or poor service quality.

• Network Growth and Physical Expansion
• Identifying areas where new towers, masts, poles, or relay sites are needed.
• Planning physical expansion into new towns, suburbs, farms, or business areas.
• Managing site surveys for new tower locations.
• Coordinating land access, landlord discussions, permissions, and site preparation.

• Project and Contractor Management
• Managing projects from planning through completion, including:
• New tower builds.
• High-site upgrades.
• Major client installations.
• Backhaul upgrades.
• Power system upgrades.
• Civil works and concrete foundations.
• Infrastructure replacement projects.
• Rollout projects in new towns or areas.

• Safety, Compliance, and Quality Control
• Ensuring that all physical work is performed safely and legally.
• Working-at-heights safety.
• Vehicle and tool safety.
• Electrical and power safety.
• Proper use of PPE.
• Safe tower climbing practices.
• Site access procedures.
• Risk assessments before high-risk work.

Requirements

• Experience in wireless internet, telecommunications, fibre, tower infrastructure, electrical, construction, or field operations.
• Strong understanding of physical network infrastructure, including towers, masts, antennas, radios, cabling, brackets, power systems, and customer premises equipment.
• Experience managing field teams, technicians, contractors, or construction crews.
• Strong planning and scheduling ability.
• Ability to manage multiple towns, sites, teams, and urgent issues at the same time.

Qualifications

(No qualifications mentioned in the original job description)

Salary & Benefits

(No salary information mentioned in the original job description)