Priya Arora

Senior Major Incident Manager with 11+ years of experience leading P1/P2 critical incident response across SaaS, cloud, and global enterprise environments.

Proven Incident

Commander with a track record of restoring services under pressure, sustaining 99%+ SLA compliance, and reducing MTTR through disciplined triage, cross-tower coordination, and data-driven governance. Adept at running 24x7 follow-the-sun command-center operations, leading executive communications during high-impact outages, and driving Problem Management and Continuous Service Improvement (CSI) initiatives. Skilled at integrating AI-powered tools and prompt engineering into incident workflows to accelerate triage, automate communications, and improve operational maturity.

Trusted by global leadership to manage business-critical incidents, protect customer trust, and embed scalable incident governance across distributed teams.

Senior Incident Manager at Cisco Systems Inc. (2021-05 – Present)

Direct end-to-end Major Incident Management for global SaaS and enterprise platforms, owning the lifecycle from detection through recovery and post-incident review.

• Command P1/P2 incident bridges as Incident Commander, aligning Engineering, SRE, Infrastructure, Cloud, Network, and Product teams to accelerate decisions and restoration.
• Sustain 99%+ P1 and 98%+ P2 SLA compliance through structured triage, clear ownership, and disciplined escalation across globally distributed teams.
• Lead 24x7 follow-the-sun operations, ensuring seamless regional handoffs and continuity across APAC, EMEA, and Americas.
• Reduced MTTR and repeat incidents by introducing proactive bridge calls for high-risk changes and early-warning alerts.
• Partner with Change and Release Management to assess operational risk and mitigate change-related service disruptions.
• Deliver executive-level communications - impact assessments, recovery timelines, and business-impact summaries - during critical outages, strengthening customer trust and transparency.
• Built and optimized operational dashboards in ServiceNow, Jira, and CSOne to track MTTR, SLA adherence, and incident trends for data-driven governance.
• Leverage Splunk and ServiceNow observability dashboards to detect early-warning indicators and enable proactive incident prevention.
• Engineered reusable AI/LLM prompts (MIM prompt library) for day-to-day incident operations - including stakeholder updates, executive summaries, RCA drafts, and timeline reconstruction - improving communication speed and consistency during live bridges.
• Designed custom AI bot profiles and assistants (using Generative AI tools) to automate routine incident tasks such as initial impact summaries, RCA templates, and post-incident review documentation.
• Lead Root Cause Analysis (RCA) and Post-Incident Reviews (PIRs), converting findings into preventive actions that reduced recurring incidents.
• Coordinate with external vendors and third-party providers during critical incidents to ensure timely escalation and SLA accountability.
• Established global incident governance frameworks - standardized runbooks, escalation models, operational readiness reviews, and response protocols.
• Conduct incident simulations and readiness drills, strengthening team response in high-pressure, business-critical scenarios.
• Maintain audit-ready documentation supporting internal and external compliance audits.
• Promoted to Senior Incident Manager (2024) for consistently leading global critical incidents and driving measurable service stability improvements.
• Earned multiple 'Above and Beyond' awards for decisive leadership and stakeholder communication during major outages.
• Institutionalized proactive collaboration and early escalation practices, improving response efficiency across global teams.

Consultant – Incident Management at KPMG India (2020-02 – 2021-05)

• Led incident response for enterprise clients during high-impact outages, serving as Incident Commander across multi-team environments.
• Accelerated resolution timelines through structured cross-functional coordination and disciplined escalation.
• Delivered executive-ready communications, enabling faster business decisions during critical service disruptions.
• Authored detailed RCA reports and drove Continuous Service Improvement (CSI) initiatives, reducing incident recurrence.
• Trained client teams on ITIL practices, crisis communication, and escalation frameworks, improving incident management maturity.
• Built operational dashboards to identify systemic gaps and track performance improvements.
• Recognized with 'Super Team' award for performance during critical client incidents.
• Commended by leadership for concise reporting and strong executive presence.

Senior Service Analyst – Incident Management at Ericsson (2014-03 – 2020-02)

• Managed global P1/P2 network incidents across large enterprise accounts, ensuring rapid service restoration.
• Coordinated L2–L4 technical teams, reducing downtime through structured escalation and ownership clarity.
• Sustained 99.4% network uptime through proactive monitoring and incident response discipline.
• Handled customer escalations, safeguarding SLA commitments and long-term relationships.
• Developed triage playbooks, reducing MTTR and improving response consistency.
• Delivered performance analytics and trend insights to senior leadership for operational improvement.
• Mentored analysts, strengthening team capability in incident handling and communication.
• Promoted to Team Lead (2018) for consistent KPI delivery and leadership.
• Recognized for end-to-end ownership of critical incidents.

Network Operations Engineer at Nokia (IMSI) (2012-07 – 2014-02)

Monitored multi-region telecom networks and identified service-impacting issues in real time.

• Troubleshot BSC/BTS network issues and coordinated with field and backend teams for resolution.
• Managed incident tickets and ensured SLA adherence across operations.
• Prepared Major Incident Reports, including timelines, RCA insights, and corrective actions.

Bachelor of Technology in Information Technology – Uttar Pradesh State University (2012)