Responsibilities
- Designing Network Infrastructure: You may be tasked with designing, implementing, and maintaining network infrastructure to ensure it meets the organization's needs for connectivity, security, and scalability.
- Installing and Configuring Network Equipment: This involves setting up routers, switches, firewalls, and other networking devices, configuring them according to the network design and security policies.
- Monitoring and Maintenance: Network engineers often monitor network performance, troubleshoot issues, and perform routine maintenance tasks such as updating firmware and software patches to ensure optimal performance and security.
- Security Management: Ensuring the security of the network is a critical responsibility. This involves implementing security measures such as firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and encryption protocols, as well as regularly assessing the network for vulnerabilities and mitigating risks.
- Network Optimization: Optimizing network performance to ensure efficient data transmission and minimal downtime is another key responsibility. This may involve analyzing network traffic patterns, identifying bottlenecks, and implementing solutions to improve performance.
- Troubleshooting: When network issues arise, it's your responsibility to quickly identify the root cause and implement solutions to resolve them. This requires strong problem-solving skills and a deep understanding of networking principles and technologies.
- Documentation: Keeping detailed documentation of the network architecture, configurations, and changes is essential for maintaining an organized and efficient network environment. This documentation also serves as a valuable resource for troubleshooting and future planning.
- Collaboration: Network engineers often work closely with other IT teams, such as system administrators, security analysts, and software developers, to ensure seamless integration of network services with other IT systems and applications.
- Capacity Planning: Anticipating future network growth and capacity requirements is important for ensuring the network can accommodate increasing demands. Network engineers may be involved in capacity planning activities such as forecasting bandwidth needs and expanding infrastructure as necessary.
- Staying Current with Technology: The field of networking is constantly evolving with new technologies and protocols emerging regularly. Network engineers must stay up-to-date with industry trends, best practices, and certifications to ensure their skills remain relevant and their network infrastructure remains secure and efficient.
Skills
- Networking Fundamentals: A strong understanding of networking principles, including TCP/IP, OSI model, routing, switching, subnetting, and VLANs is fundamental.
- Network Protocols: Proficiency in various network protocols such as TCP/IP, DNS, DHCP, SNMP, FTP, HTTP, and SSL/TLS is crucial for configuring and troubleshooting network devices.
- Routing and Switching: In-depth knowledge of routing protocols (e.g., OSPF, EIGRP, BGP) and switching technologies (e.g., VLANs, STP, EtherChannel) to design, configure, and troubleshoot complex network infrastructures.
- Security: Familiarity with network security concepts and technologies including firewalls, VPNs, intrusion detection/prevention systems (IDS/IPS), access control lists (ACLs), and encryption protocols to ensure network integrity and confidentiality.
- Network Monitoring and Management Tools: Proficiency in using network monitoring and management tools such as Wireshark, Nagios, SolarWinds, Cisco Prime, and SNMP-based monitoring solutions to monitor network performance and troubleshoot issues.
- Scripting and Automation: Basic scripting skills (e.g., Python, Bash) are increasingly important for automating repetitive tasks, streamlining network configuration, and implementing DevOps practices in network management.
- Virtualization and Cloud Networking: Understanding of virtualization technologies (e.g., VMware, Hyper-V) and cloud networking concepts (e.g., AWS, Azure, Google Cloud) to design and manage virtual and cloud-based network infrastructures.
- Problem-solving Skills: Strong analytical and troubleshooting skills to diagnose and resolve network issues efficiently, often under pressure, by analyzing packet captures, log files, and network device configurations.
- Communication Skills: Effective communication skills are essential for collaborating with cross-functional teams, documenting network designs and configurations, and explaining complex technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders.
- Continuous Learning: A commitment to lifelong learning is crucial in the fast-paced field of networking, as technologies and best practices evolve rapidly. Keeping up-to-date with industry trends, certifications, and training programs is essential for career growth and staying competitive.
Job Type: Full-time
Pay: Up to $140,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- 401(k)
- Dental insurance
- Health insurance
- Paid time off
- Vision insurance
Schedule:
- 8 hour shift
- Day shift
- Monday to Friday
Experience:
- Computer networking: 1 year (Preferred)
- LAN: 1 year (Preferred)
Security clearance:
Work Location: Remote