Senior Network Engineer

Title: Senior Network Engineer Department: Information Technology Reports To: Administrative Superior

Employment Type: Contract with Potential for Direct Hire

This position will begin as a contract assignment supporting the School District of Philadelphia, with the potential to transition to direct employment. Any transition would be subject to funding availability and applicable District hiring approvals and is not guaranteed.

The School District of Philadelphia is the cornerstone provider of public education in Philadelphia. For forward-thinking administrators and educators, opportunities abound. The 130,000 students entrusted to the District arrive at school every day with an extraordinary range of needs and aspirations. We are committed to delivering on their right to an excellent public school education, and we are particularly focused on ensuring every student has access to exceptional educational opportunities. Equity is our mandate. Will you join us?

The Office of Information Technology and Data Management supports the District's Action Plan v3.0 through Strategy 1, Improve Student Learning, and Strategy 5, Become an Innovative and Accountable Organization.

Job Summary

Performs highly technical and mission-critical networking and telecommunications engineering functions, inclusive of the planning, design and execution of network infrastructure and enterprise networking solutions. Operational responsibilities will include the monitoring, management, troubleshooting, administration and facilitating of tier-2 and tier-3 technical support, for the entire District’s networking infrastructure. The person in this position may directly oversee and manage the activities of an internal workforce as well as external contracted technical staff, as required in the implementation and/or operation of the District’s networking systems. This position requires a highly skilled and experienced engineer with a broad range of skills ranging from the architecture, specification and design of local-area networks, wide-area networks, metropolitan-area networks, wireless networking, network security and complex networked environments, to the management of large-scale upgrades and project-oriented implementations. Provides operational support that may consist of access to and the handling of, confidential or sensitive data, accounting logs, communications transmissions, and electronic materials, inclusive of end-user investigatory processes.

Essential Functions

Engineers, designs, implements, manages, and supports all aspects of the District’s enterprise-wide local-area, wide-area, and metropolitan-area network environments.

Provides engineering and implementation support for an evolving unified standards-based voice/video/data communications environment and ensures proper support for legacy network environments.

Provides hands-on support, troubleshooting and management of networking equipment and software including but not limited to LAN switching, MAN/WAN hardware, fiber-optic transmission equipment, wireless access transceivers, controllers, filtering equipment, gateways, power management equipment, HVAC support systems, authentication systems and network monitoring and management services.

Provides the engineering support and technical expertise to implement and support the District’s voice-over-data SIP telephony communications network.

Serves as a highly technical engineering resource for networking technologies including wireless transports, optical transports, security, and facility-based infrastructure.

Assists in the support of technology-related infrastructure inclusive of communications cabling, telecommunications closets, HVAC support systems, and external utility feeds.

Manages and coordinates the day-to-day as well as long-term networking operational functions and requirements of the enterprise to ensure efficient and reliable operation of all integrated communications systems and services.

Coordinates the activities of networking staff and contractors, including scheduling and prioritization of activities, projects, tasks, maintenance requirements, and service requests. Provides strategic oversight and direction for the ongoing upgrade and expansion of the District’s enterprise networking infrastructure, with a focus on capacity planning, performance, redundancy, fault-tolerance and business continuity.

Serves as the project manager for the implementation of mid and large-scale networking infrastructure and systems upgrades valued as high as approximately $15 million.

Implements adequate preventative maintenance, upgrade implementation, systems backup, and systems restoration procedures for all enterprise networking systems/services.

Professionally and securely handles enterprise information, including confidential and sensitive data and/or system logs.

Evaluates and recommends new products and services.

Provides customer service and support at all levels of the organization.

Maintains 24-hour per day, 7-day per week availability via mobile telephone or paging device(s) for response to emergency or related operational issues.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities Demonstrated knowledge of:

o design, operation and theory of wide-area and metropolitan-area networking and communication large-scale broadband systems.

o design, operation and theory of local-area networks and end-user network connectivity.

o networking topologies, networking hardware and software, connectivity infrastructure, switching/routing, WiFi and emerging wireless technologies, communications protocols, virtual private networking, remote access, network addressing, network management, clustering and monitoring.

o IEEE 802.11 standards utilized in conventional networked architectures.

o technology operations inclusive of the management, maintenance, and administration of telecommunications and networking systems and services.

o IP-based networking and associated protocols including TCP, UDP, BGP, IGRP, OSPF, RIP, RSVP, MPLS, DiffServ and SPB.

o LAN protocols including Ethernet, VRRP, Spanning Tree, VLAN, IPSEC, and Multilink Trunking.

o converged voice/video/data communications networks and related technologies inclusive of VoIP, SIP, and associated voice-over-data protocols and standards.

o provisioned carrier-based telecommunications and networking services including leased packet-switched and point-to-point data service.

o basic operations, operational components, and functions of enterprise network management and monitoring platforms.

Demonstrated ability to:

o concurrently manage several large-scale and/or complex projects and activities.

o work in self-directed and team environments.

o utilize problem tracking/resolution utilities.

o provide tier-2/tier-3 technical and customer support.

o work with commercial networking service providers.

o administer equipment and asset management.

o manage and coordinate technical support teams, internally or externally.

o respond to emergency situations and to effect problem resolution processes

o analyze and resolve complex problems.

o present ideas effectively, both orally and in writing.

Demonstrated ability to:

o concurrently manage several large-scale and/or complex projects and activities.

o work in self-directed and team environments.

o utilize problem tracking/resolution utilities.

o provide tier-2/tier-3 technical and customer support.

o work with commercial networking service providers.

o administer equipment and asset management.

o manage and coordinate technical support teams, internally or externally.

o respond to emergency situations and to effect problem resolution processes.

o analyze and resolve complex problems.

o present ideas effectively, both orally and in writing.

Minimum Requirements

Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university.

Four years of full-time, paid, professional, broad-based technology experience which must have included engineering, oversight and/or management of telecommunications and networking services.

OR

Education equivalent to the completion of the twelfth school grade.

Eight years of full-time, paid, professional, broad-based technology experience which must have included engineering, oversight and/or management of telecommunications and networking services.

Possession of an industry-recognized intermediate or advanced network engineering certification.

OR

Education equivalent to the completion of the twelfth school grade.

Eight years of full-time, paid, professional, broad-based technology experience which must have included engineering, oversight and/or management of telecommunications and networking services.

OR

Any equivalent combination of training and experience determined to be acceptable by the Office of Talent.

Certificates/Licenses

Possession of a valid proper class motor vehicle operator’s license issued by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania prior to appointment and during tenure of employment.

Additional Requirements

Must have access to a mode of transportation for performing work-related duties at various locations within Philadelphia.

Candidate must have the ability to push, pull and lift equipment and materials weighing up to 60 lbs.

Disclaimer

The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by people assigned to this classification. They are not to be construed, as an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties, and skills required of personnel so classified.

Pay: $40.00 - $45.00 per hour

Expected hours: 40.0 per week

Benefits:

• 401(k)
• 401(k) matching
• Health insurance
• Paid time off

Work Location: In person