Core Network Lead

Help Us Build The Future of Travel 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. Your Next Destination Location: Remote. Contract: Full-time, permanent. Benefits: Learn more about our benefits here in this link - Languages: English is our main working language day to day, so you'll need to be comfortable communicating in it both in meetings and async.

What You'll Do:

• Lead, mentor and manage a team of around five engineers and QA specialists, owning sprint planning, task allocation and technical reviews across concurrent global rollout streams.
• Establish engineering best practices, integration templates, automated testing strategy and technical handover standards.
• Lead technical integrations with host mobile network operators globally, across signalling, packet core, voice and messaging.
• Own the architecture and setup of Full MVNO core components, from the subscriber database (HSS/HLR) through packet core, signalling routing and messaging platforms.
• Direct implementation and troubleshooting across the signalling stack, including Diameter and SS7.
• Own end-to-end service readiness across data, voice and SMS, covering session management, policy enforcement, data routing, VoLTE, legacy circuit-switched voice and international interconnects.
• Design and validate mobile number portability routing in line with country-specific regulatory frameworks.
• Own regulatory compliance for each market, covering lawful interception (ETSI ES 201 671 / TS 102 232, HI1/HI2/HI3) and emergency service routing such as e112, 911 and 999.
• Partner with QA on integration test plans, stress testing and acceptance testing, then drive Operational Readiness Reviews and clean documented handovers to the 24/7 Run team after launch.

What You'll Bring:

• 5+ years hands-on in mobile core networks and Full MVNO integrations.
• 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 the subscriber database (HSS/HLR), policy and charging, VoLTE and legacy circuit-switched voice.
• Expertise across the signalling stack, including Diameter, SS7 and SIP.
• Experience with messaging architecture and SMS routing, including interworking with other operators.
• Proven experience delivering mobile number portability and lawful interception solutions.
• Strong delivery mindset across multiple concurrent rollout streams, with clear communication and the ability to produce documentation good enough to hand a system over on.

Nice to have

• Automation experience: CI/CD pipelines, infrastructure as code (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.