Core Network Lead, Run Team - Airalo

About Airalo

At Airalo, we're making it easier for people to stay connected wherever they travel. As the world's first eSIM store, we help millions of travelers access affordable mobile data in 200+ countries and regions around the world.

Today, we're a team of 400+ people across 60+ countries, building a product used by travelers every day. We've grown quickly, but we've worked hard to keep what matters: trust, ownership, and the freedom for people to do great work without unnecessary layers or bureaucracy.

We're fully remote by design, genuinely global, and united by a shared mission to make travel simpler for everyone.

Role Overview

• Location: Remote (Europe)
• Contract: Full-time, permanent
• Languages: English

We are looking for a highly skilled, hands-on Technical Team Lead to lead the global build and technical integration of Full MVNO systems. In this role, you will lead a dedicated team responsible for operating the Mobile Core Network across its full lifecycle, from design, build, and deployment through steady-state operations, change management, incident response, and upgrades.

Operating under a Build-to-Run model, you and your team will build new MVNO capabilities and host MNO integrations from the ground up, execute rigorous testing, and hand over stable, operational systems to a dedicated Run team after launch. This role is ideal for someone with deep technical expertise in Mobile Core networks across voice, VoLTE, data, and SMS, strong knowledge of telecommunications regulations, and experience leading engineering and QA teams.

What You'll Do

• Lead, mentor, and manage a team of seven engineers, QA specialists, and Site Reliability Engineers responsible for operating the Mobile Core Network across its full lifecycle.
• Manage the team’s work and people, covering sprint and capacity planning, prioritisation, stakeholder communication, 1-to-1 meetings, performance reviews, and career growth support.
• Establish engineering best practices, automated testing strategies, and technical handover standards.
• Operate and manage the mobile core built on a mix of CNFs and VNFs (HSS/HLR, packet core, Diameter, SS7, DNS, GTP, voice, and messaging platforms).
• Own the performance of the Mobile Core Network to meet 99.98% service uptime per year, defining and reporting on health KPIs.
• Own configuration management of the Core Network as a critical Day 2 discipline, including version-controlled configuration, change control, automated deployment, and rollback.
• Work with the Build Team to take new systems into live operation by defining operational readiness and handover criteria.

What You'll Bring

• 5+ years of hands-on experience in mobile core networks.
• 2+ years leading a team of engineers and/or QA specialists in an agile or delivery-focused environment.
• Strong working knowledge of both packet core and voice core, including subscriber databases (HSS/HLR), policy and charging, VoLTE, and legacy CS voice.
• Expertise across the signalling stack, including Diameter, SS7, and SIP.
• Experience with messaging architecture and SMS routing, including interworking with other operators.
• Strong delivery mindset across multiple concurrent rollout streams with clear communication and documentation skills.

Nice to Have

• Automation experience: CI/CD pipelines, IaC (Terraform, Ansible), containerisation (Docker, Kubernetes), or automated signalling test frameworks.
• Hands-on with core MVNO vendors such as Nokia, Ericsson, Mavenir, Oracle Communications, Cisco, Summa Networks, NetNumber, or XIUS.
• Cloud-native or virtualised network functions on AWS, Azure, GCP, or private cloud.
• Degree in telecommunications engineering, computer science, electrical engineering, or similar.

Compensation & Range

Airalo provides transparent salary ranges based on localized market data across supported regions:

• UK: £89,600 – £134,400
• Ireland: €76,800 – €115,200
• Western & Southern Europe: €50,800 – €130,200
• Central, Eastern Europe & Caucasus: €54,400 – €104,496