Network and Data Center Engineer

The University of Texas at Austin•Austin, UT

8d•Onsite

About The Position

The School of Computing seeks a Network and Data Center Engineer to administer and support the School’s and departments’ network, data center, and computing hardware infrastructure. The engineer has primary day-to-day responsibility for School-managed network and data center infrastructure and works closely with University networking, information security, facilities, and other central IT teams on shared services and infrastructure. The position also supports network and physical hardware infrastructure for research computing, including HPC, GPU-accelerated computing, and AI/ML research systems. It does not cover HPC operating systems, research software, AI/ML frameworks, or application support. The role includes configuring and maintaining network infrastructure; installing, integrating, and troubleshooting data center and research computing hardware; supporting infrastructure security and operations; and participating in planning, procurement, and implementation projects. Hands-on work in data center and server room environments is required. Occasional work outside normal business hours may be needed for maintenance, equipment installation, upgrades, or critical service interruptions.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in computer science, information technology, engineering, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and relevant professional experience.
Professional experience administering, configuring, and troubleshooting production network infrastructure.
Strong knowledge of TCP/IP, Ethernet, routing, switching, VLANs, DNS, DHCP, and related network technologies.
Experience configuring and supporting managed switches, routers, firewalls, or comparable network infrastructure.
Experience supporting physical servers, data center/server room environments, or comparable computing hardware.
Working knowledge of Linux, MacOS and/or Windows sufficient for infrastructure troubleshooting and collaboration with systems administrators.
Understanding of network and infrastructure security principles and practices.
Ability to systematically diagnose network and hardware problems and work with other technical teams to resolve complex issues.
Ability to create and maintain clear technical documentation.
Strong communication, collaboration, and organizational skills, with the ability to work effectively independently and as part of a technical team.
Relevant education and experience may be substituted as appropriate.

Nice To Haves

Experience supporting network, physical hardware, or data center infrastructure for HPC, GPU-accelerated computing, AI/ML research, or other computationally intensive environments.
Experience deploying or troubleshooting GPU servers, high-density compute systems, or other specialized computing hardware.
Experience supporting IT infrastructure in higher education, academic research, or a similarly complex environment.
Experience administering departmental or organizational networks that operate within a larger enterprise network.
Experience with UT Austin’s enterprise network architecture, platforms, services, management and monitoring tools, and operational practices, or comparable enterprise environments.
Experience with enterprise network technologies such as Cisco, SONiC, FortiNet, or comparable platforms.
Experience with high-speed networking, data center switching, high-performance storage connectivity, or large-scale data transfer.
Experience with network/infrastructure monitoring or automation tools and technologies.
Experience with firewalls, network segmentation, VPNs, network access control, or related security technologies.
Relevant industry certifications or equivalent demonstrated technical expertise.

Responsibilities

Configure, operate, monitor, maintain, and troubleshoot School-managed switches, routers, firewalls, VLANs, and network segmentation.
Diagnose and resolve connectivity, routing, performance, and network security issues, coordinating with University networking and security teams as appropriate.
Implement network upgrades, configuration changes, capacity improvements, and equipment replacements; participate in network improvement and infrastructure planning.
Work with University networking staff to troubleshoot wireless issues and assess coverage, capacity, and upgrade needs.
Maintain network diagrams, configurations, addressing information, technical documentation, and operating procedures.
Install, cable, maintain, and troubleshoot servers, GPU systems, storage, network equipment, and other data center hardware.
Support physical deployment and network integration of HPC, GPU-accelerated, AI/ML, and other specialized research computing systems.
Support high-bandwidth network connectivity and data movement for research computing and storage environments.
Diagnose network and hardware problems and collaborate with systems administrators, researchers, University technical staff, and vendors to resolve issues across infrastructure layers.
Identify rack space, power, cooling, cabling, and network requirements for new equipment and coordinate implementation with appropriate University staff.
Support hardware lifecycle activities, including deployment, upgrades, troubleshooting, repair, replacement, inventory, and vendor support.
Maintain network and infrastructure security controls in accordance with University requirements and established practices.
Support network segmentation, access controls, monitoring, vulnerability remediation, and incident response within the role’s areas of responsibility.
Monitor infrastructure availability, performance, and capacity and address operational issues.
Participate in infrastructure planning, procurement, and implementation projects.
Participate in scheduled maintenance and, when necessary, respond to critical infrastructure issues outside normal business hours.