Sr IS Network Engineer - INF001181

U.S. Cellular is seeking an experienced Network Engineer to join a top-tier network engineering team responsible for the planning, designing, engineering, development of, implementation of and the troubleshooting of cutting edge infrastructure technologies on the IS network. In this role, the Sr. IS Network Engineer is expected to provide subject matter expertise around specific technologies such as Cisco Nexus Switching technology as well as provide project management expertise for the deployment of infrastructure projects. The Sr. IS Network Engineer will also act as vendor interface for support of applications and technologies and evaluate and drive implementation for new technologies, policies, and procedures for business network operations.

Delivery

• Act as project lead for IS network infrastructure implementation projects.
• Implements technology and IS network infrastructure changes
• Collaborates with partner organizations/departments to engineer cross-functional solutions for IS network infrastructure
• Evaluates new product/solutions for inclusion in the IS network

Support

• Identify changes needed in the IS network infrastructure configuration to achieve the organization's technology goals
• Key contributor to the IS network infrastructure strategy reviews and development by performing applicable analysis
• Analyzes network & system response and determines tuning recommendations to improve performance
• Interfaces with the vendors' senior technical staff/management on critical/escalated network and system related outages
• Administer effective issue identification and resolution process; serve as the focal point for IS network infrastructure-related issue / crisis resolution. Senior escalation point for all IS network infrastructure-related issues
• Actively maintains our current network infrastructure to expedite the resolution process
• Perform 24x7 advanced tier troubleshooting, including off-hour maintenance activities, problem resolution, and on-call

Tools

• Define requirements in support of budget plans and make recommendations for ways to improve performance and reduce costs. Develop business cases that support changes to network and system infrastructure
• Develops network and system performance tools and integrates them into the existing infrastructure
• Ensure communication of process and procedure changes to key stakeholders
• Design an effective test plan for any new / changed IS network infrastructure
• Support identification and collection of metrics and performance reporting processes
• Identify process improvement areas and develop the improvement initiatives
• Determines Key Performance Indicators and network infrastructure standards
• Develop full suite of documentation as it relates to the IS network infrastructure (Engineering Work Plans, Standards, policies and procedures, etc.)

Skills

• Research current industry technology to better facilitate vendor and partner communications
• Subject Matter Expert (SME) for relevant technologies
• Actively mentors other network engineering staff. Develop and deliver cross-training activities. Participates in, and encourages a knowledge-sharing environment both within, and outside the department
• Develop and maintain knowledge of IS network infrastructure, operations, and devices
• Travel required, as needed, to support IS network environment

Business Partnership

• Maintain relationships with customers, associates, and vendors to proactively identify needed changes
• Establish working relationships with technical, business and sourcing counterparts
• Participate and may lead process improvement initiatives
• Assembles cross-functional workgroups of key stakeholders to provide the direction of the various platforms
• Actively participates in industry/vendor forums to guide product development activities

Experience and Educational Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in related technical / business area is preferred
• Minimum 7 years relevant work experience; with understanding of the business and industry
• Experience re-engineering / process improvement
• Strong change management skills; change agent.
• Strong project management experience running cross-functional teams.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills. Experience presenting in front of large audiences.
• Excellent problem solving / analytical skills and knowledge of analytical tools
• Experience creating, and defining metrics that accurately reflect the current state of a given process or operation
• Certification(s) in relevant field of expertise (CCNP, CCDP) is preferred
• Experience supporting mission-critical infrastructure in a fast-paced environment

Technical Skills - The Senior IS Network Engineer will be required to demonstrate the following skills in order to be effective over the course of this role.

• Strong experience to expertise with Layer 2/3 routing and switching specifically with Cisco Nexus technology.
• Firewalls - strong understanding of roles they play in the network and an ability to support the physical hardware from a tier 1 level.
• Load Balancing - Strong understanding of the concepts behind load balancing from a tier 1 level.
• VoIP - strong understanding from a design/implement/test functionality and how they interconnect with the network.

Overview of Environment - The Senior IS Network Engineer is NOT expected to know all of the skills below at any given point in their career. The following is an overview of the environment and is not intended as a block list of experience expectations needed for this role.

• Network Hardware: Cisco ASR 1000 routers, ISR 4000 routers, Cisco Catalyst 2900, 4500, 6500 switches; Cisco Nexus 1000v, 2000, 3000, 4000, 5000, 7000, and 9000 switches; Cisco 5500 and 7500 Wireless LAN Controllers (WLC)
• Firewalls: Cisco ASA 5500 appliances and Palo Alto Firewalls
• Other Network Hardware: Cisco Wide Area Application Services (WAAS), Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS), Riverbed Steelhead and Interceptor, Radware Application Delivery Controllers (ADC), and Gigamon Network Visibility and Monitoring Solutions
• Network Protocols: TCP/IP, MPLS, STP, VTP, 802.1Q, QoS, Multicast, GRE tunneling, IPSEC, DMVPN, Nexus VDC/vPC, FabricPath, VXLAN, FCoE, FCIP, VoIP, VRF, DNS, NetFlow, and IP SLA
• Routing Protocols: EIGRP, OSPF, BGP, IS-IS, and HSRP
• Other: NetScout packet capture and analysis, IP address management / subnetting, statistical analysis, IPv4/IPv6, and familiarity with current network security practices
• Network Applications: Cisco Prime Infrastructure, Cisco ACS, Infoblox, Wireshark, Cisco ASDM, Cisco CSM, and Cisco AnyConnect
• Business Applications: Remedy Ticketing, Citrix, and Microsoft SharePoint
• Standards & Methodology: ITIL, SOX, PCI and CPNI
• Office Automation: Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint
• Planning & Design: Microsoft Project and Visio
• O/S and Software: Windows 7, Red Hat, SSH, VPN Client, and VMware

Job : Information Technology

Location(s) : Illinois-SCHAUMBURG_IL

U.S. Cellular® is an EEO employer and gives consideration to qualified applicants without regard to race/color/age/religion/sex/sexual orientation/gender identity/national origin/disability/veteran status, pregnancy or genetic information.