Network Engineer, Senior Network Engineer

UConn Careers • Hartford, CT

5h • $80,790 - $117,630 • Hybrid

About The Position

The Connecticut Education Network (CEN) is Connecticut’s trusted internet partner, dedicated to empowering our member community and driving their success. For over 25 years, we’ve upheld this commitment—growing our network and earning a reputation as one of the state’s most valued and high-performing Internet Service Providers. Join CEN and experience a culture built on innovation, collaboration, and purpose . Imagine loving what you do, where you do it, and contributing to a mission that delivers exceptional value to Connecticut. At CEN, meaningful work is more than a job—it’s a calling. We’re seeking a talented professional to join our network services team , bringing expertise and creativity to advance our network architecture and deliver impactful solutions to some of the most vital sectors: K-20 education, state and local government, healthcare, cultural institutions, and more. We offer a flexible, family-friendly work environment, including hybrid work-from-home options, 7-hour workdays, and a culture that values work-life balance. Our sense of community extends beyond Connecticut. We collaborate with state-level research and education networks nationwide, sharing best practices and tackling challenges together—unlike the competitive private sector, we thrive on partnership over profit. Professional growth matters to us. We invest in your development through vendor training, hands-on labs, industry conferences, and leadership programs. Our goal is simple: help you become the best version of yourself. Our members know us by name—and we know their networks. They are some of our strongest advocates at local and state levels, championing shared economies of scale that drive transformative technologies and value for all. CEN, through UConn Information Technology Services (ITS), is seeking two (2) Network Engineers to join our Network Services team. Reporting to the Network Services Manager, you’ll manage a Tier 2 service-provider network offering services such as dedicated internet, internet, exchange peering, content caching, l2/3 VPNs, cloud connect onramps, managed firewall, hosted DNS, content filtering, and more. We’re looking for someone who is highly motivated, collaborative, and skilled at evaluating complex, interconnected network systems. This role offers a fast-paced, rewarding environment where you’ll grow professionally while advancing CEN’s mission and brand. Our office is located at 55 Farmington Ave, Hartford, CT , and as part of UConn, you’ll enjoy excellent benefits and work-life balance. UConn is consistently ranked as the top public university in New England and among the nation’s best, recognized as a Carnegie Foundation Research University —a distinction shared by only the most prestigious institutions.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s Degree in a related field and 4 years of related experience, OR an equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Experience leveraging BGP, OSPF, and/or ISIS in medium to large scale enterprise networks.
• Demonstrated written communication skills.
• Demonstrated understanding of OSI Layers 1 – 4 and TCP/IP protocols.
• Demonstrated ability to troubleshoot complex inter-related network systems.
• Bachelor’s Degree in STEM and 6 years of directly related experience, OR an equivalent combination of education and experience.
• 3 years’ total experience must have been as the lead or senior network engineer in support of a large-scale network.
• Experience leveraging MPLS and traffic engineering.
• Experience leveraging VRFs in complex network environments.
• Proven experience in providing high profile outage resolution and post incident reviews.

Nice To Haves

• Master’s Degree (MD) in a related field.
• 5+ years’ experience in an enterprise network environment or Service Provider network.
• CCNP, or equivalent level certification or better, Service Provider track preferred.
• Career certification(s) in cybersecurity, programming, and/or cloud provider service.
• Demonstrated scripting ability utilizing one or more of: Bash, Python, Perl, Ansible.
• Experience with Cisco ONS 15454/NCS2k and/or other optical networking platforms.
• Experience with web content filtering, associated regulations and technologies.
• Demonstrated advanced knowledge of DNS configurations and troubleshooting.
• Working knowledge of network security concepts and technologies, including but not limited to firewalls, IDS/IPS, proxy servers, access control systems, and web application firewalls.
• Demonstrated experience with Network flow data (i.e., NetFlow, sFlow, IPFIX) or related forms of flow records and session summary data.
• Advanced Degree (Masters or Doctorate) in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) discipline or related to computer networking.
• 7+ years’ experience in a large-scale service provider or multi-discipline enterprise network environment.
• CCIE and/or JNCIE certification; Service Provider track preferred.
• Demonstrated ability to write specifications, document existing, and planned systems.
• 4 years’ programming experience, which includes working directly with network systems.
• Experience developing and/or maintaining emergency/incident response plans.
• Project Management certification or demonstrated project management experience.
• Familiar with IT Security frameworks and relevant regulatory obligations and audit requirements (GDPR, SOX, NIST, ISO 31000, PCI, FERPA, and/or AICPA/SOC2).

Responsibilities

• Ensure the continuous, uninterrupted availability, security, and functionality of the network.
• Perform installation, provisioning, and decommissioning of devices and services.
• Troubleshoot and resolve network related problems, occasionally under extreme pressure.
• Manage timely response to service requests and incidents within ticketing systems.
• Produce and maintain diagrams, records, as-built documentation, and operating procedures.
• Maintain and monitor inventory, assets, and tracking of equipment, parts, and materials.
• Participate in on-call rotation, including after-hours escalation support as needed.
• Maintain vendor relationships, manage contract installations, and liaise with end users.
• Lead, execute, and contribute to all aspects of projects from inception to completion.
• Create, debug, test, and deploy network automation scripts and programming languages.
• Contribute to and execute business continuity/disaster recovery plans as needed.
• Perform optimizations including tuning, upgrading, troubleshooting, capacity planning, etc.
• Oversee network implementation processes, including setting schedules and budgets.
• Research network technologies and stay up to date on advancement in the field.
• Lead testing and recommend purchases of hardware, software, security, and related products.
• Contribute to technical specifications and requirements for procurement documents.
• Participate in virtual and/or physical events and presentations to peers and/or CEN community.
• May provide leadership, supervision, training, and/or professional development plans for staff.
• May represent team and organization on advisory boards, councils, forums, etc.
• Must have a driver’s license and ability to travel to sites within CT, New England, and New York.
• Perform other duties as required.
• Lead long-range planning of the overall network, architecture, security, and capacity.
• Lead outage resolution and post incident reviews including detailed root cause analysis.
• Lead design and implement complex network systems including physical and logical topology.
• Lead business continuity/disaster recovery planning, testing, and execution.
• Present network plans to management staff/key stakeholders aligning strategy and need.
• Serve final as escalation point for incidents, requests, design reviews, and vendor escalations.
• Mentor and guide junior engineering staff and help with cross-team competency.
• Serve as a subject matter expert (SME) on optical, packet, security, and/or cloud services.
• Write technical specifications and requirements for procurements needs and documents.

Benefits

• Defined contribution with employer match or defined benefit program retirement options
• Excellent and affordable healthcare options
• 35-hour work week
• 22 paid vacation days per year, in addition to paid sick leave and 13 paid holidays
• Annual merit increase program
• Employee and dependent tuition waivers
• A highly desirable work environment and work-life balance

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Number of Employees: 1,001-5,000 employees