Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for a Fault Analyst

🎯 Role Definition

As a Fault Analyst, you are the first line of defense for our critical infrastructure and services. Your primary mission is to monitor system health, investigate performance degradations and outages, and drive incidents to resolution within strict Service Level Agreements (SLAs). You will work within our Network Operations Center (NOC) or a similar command center environment, collaborating with cross-functional teams to restore service and prevent future occurrences. This position requires a blend of technical expertise, analytical thinking, and clear communication to effectively manage the entire lifecycle of a technical fault.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Technical Support Specialist
Junior NOC Technician
IT Helpdesk Analyst

Advancement To:

Senior Fault Analyst / Incident Manager
Problem Manager
Site Reliability Engineer (SRE)

Lateral Moves:

Network Engineer
Systems Administrator
DevOps Engineer

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Proactively monitor the health and performance of network infrastructure, applications, and services using enterprise-grade monitoring tools to ensure optimal uptime and reliability.
Perform initial triage and in-depth troubleshooting of system-generated alarms, alerts, and user-reported issues to quickly ascertain the impact and scope of a fault.
Manage the full lifecycle of incident tickets within systems like ServiceNow or Jira, ensuring all activities, communications, and resolutions are meticulously documented from creation to closure.
Execute first-level and second-level fault diagnostics, utilizing command-line interfaces, diagnostic tools, and established procedures to isolate the root cause of network and system issues.
Coordinate and escalate complex or high-priority incidents to Tier 3 support, engineering teams, or external vendors, while retaining ownership and tracking progress through to resolution.
Conduct comprehensive Root Cause Analysis (RCA) for major incidents, documenting findings and presenting actionable recommendations to prevent recurrence.
Act as a central point of communication during critical outages, providing clear, concise, and timely status updates to stakeholders, management, and affected business units.
Develop, maintain, and enhance the operational knowledge base, runbooks, and standard operating procedures (SOPs) for fault management and incident response.
Analyze incident data and performance metrics to identify recurring problems, chronic issues, and negative trends, providing insights for proactive problem management.
Collaborate directly with network engineers, system administrators, and software developers to diagnose cross-domain issues and validate the effectiveness of implemented fixes.
Perform scheduled health checks and maintenance activities on critical systems during designated maintenance windows to ensure ongoing stability.
Manage and prioritize a queue of active incidents, ensuring adherence to defined Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and Operational Level Agreements (OLAs).
Utilize packet capture tools like Wireshark to analyze network traffic and diagnose complex connectivity, latency, or performance degradation issues.
Provide on-call support as part of a scheduled rotation, responding to critical after-hours incidents to minimize service disruption.
Generate and present regular operational reports on key performance indicators such as Mean Time to Detect (MTTD), Mean Time to Resolve (MTTR), and incident volume.
Participate in post-incident review meetings to deconstruct major events, identify gaps in processes or technology, and drive continuous service improvement initiatives.
Verify service restoration after maintenance or incident resolution by running diagnostic tests and confirming functionality with end-users or automated checks.
Correlate events across multiple systems (e.g., servers, network devices, applications) to identify the primary source of a widespread service-impacting issue.
Interface with telecommunication carriers and third-party service providers to report and track external circuit or service issues impacting the organization.
Assist in the configuration and tuning of monitoring and alerting systems to reduce noise, improve accuracy, and enable faster fault detection.
Uphold and enforce ITIL-based best practices for Incident Management, Problem Management, and Change Management within the daily operational workflow.

Secondary Functions

Support cross-functional teams with ad-hoc reporting and exploratory data analysis to investigate performance trends.
Contribute to the continuous improvement of monitoring tools and fault management procedures by providing data-driven feedback.
Collaborate with engineering and development teams to translate recurring fault patterns into requirements for permanent fixes.
Participate in post-incident reviews and agile ceremonies, representing the operations perspective to improve system resilience.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Deep expertise in using network and system monitoring tools (e.g., SolarWinds, Nagios, Datadog, PRTG, Zabbix).
Proficiency with IT Service Management (ITSM) and ticketing platforms such as ServiceNow, Jira, or Remedy.
Strong knowledge of networking fundamentals and protocols, including TCP/IP, DNS, DHCP, BGP, and OSPF.
Hands-on experience with log aggregation and analysis tools like Splunk, Graylog, or the ELK Stack.
Familiarity with troubleshooting methodologies within Linux and Windows Server environments.
Practical experience with packet analysis tools, primarily Wireshark, for deep-dive network diagnostics.
Foundational understanding of the ITIL framework, with a specific focus on Incident, Problem, and Change Management processes.
Basic scripting abilities (e.g., Python, Bash, PowerShell) for automating routine tasks and checks is highly desirable.

Soft Skills

Exceptional analytical and critical thinking skills with a methodical approach to problem-solving.
Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to convey complex technical information to both technical and non-technical audiences.
High degree of resilience and the ability to perform effectively under pressure during high-stakes situations.
Meticulous attention to detail and a commitment to accuracy in documentation and reporting.
Strong sense of ownership, accountability, and a proactive mindset to drive issues to a complete resolution.
Collaborative team player with strong interpersonal skills to work effectively across multiple departments.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Associate’s Degree or equivalent professional certifications (e.g., CompTIA Network+, CCNA).

Preferred Education:

Bachelor’s Degree.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Computer Science
Information Technology
Network Engineering
Telecommunications

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

2-5 years of experience in a similar role such as a NOC Analyst, IT Operations Specialist, or Tier 2/3 Technical Support Engineer.

Preferred:

Proven experience working in a 24/7/365 operations or command center environment. A strong, practical understanding of ITIL principles is highly advantageous.