Network Engineer (Contract)

Freire Schools•Philadelphia, PA

3d•Hybrid

About The Position

Freire Schools is seeking an experienced Network Engineer to serve as an advanced technical resource and strategic advisor for our IT infrastructure. This is a hands-on role that requires both strategic thinking and a willingness to configure, troubleshoot, and document real infrastructure. The ideal candidate is comfortable working independently across a multi-site WAN environment, and managing their own schedule to keep disruption to the school day to a minimum. This is a 1099 independent contractor engagement estimated at approximately 720 hours per year. Work will be demand-driven and project-based, with extended periods — potentially months at a time — where no support is needed. Contractors must be comfortable with an irregular cadence and should not expect a steady, predictable weekly workload. Periods of highest anticipated demand include: Summer (June–August): Infrastructure upgrades, network projects, and system improvements August: Back-to-school readiness, connectivity verification across campuses, and incident response January: Support ahead of state testing windows and semester transitions The selected contractor will work collaboratively alongside our Sr. Director of IT and campus-based IT Coordinators. The Sr. Director of IT handles day-to-day network management and L1/L2 support; this role is intended to provide L3 depth and strategic guidance that goes beyond the scope of internal staff.

Requirements

5+ years of hands-on experience in administering enterprise-grade network infrastructure, including switches, routers, firewalls, and wireless systems.
Demonstrated experience managing multi-site WAN environments with site-to-site routing and inter-campus traffic flows.
Proficiency with managed Layer 2/3 switching: VLANs,), Spanning Tree Protocol (STP), port security, and inter-VLAN routing.
Experience administering firewall/UTM appliances (e.g., Cisco ASA/Firepower, Palo Alto, Fortinet, Meraki MX, or equivalent
Experience supporting multi-site organizations; K-12 or education sector experience preferred
Experience with enterprise wireless infrastructure, specifically Cisco AireOS or IOS-XE Wireless LAN Controllers, including AP provisioning, and SSID/client policy management.
Familiarity with E-Rate funded network environments a plus
Ability to work independently with minimal direction and communicate clearly with both technical and non-technical stakeholders
Must be able to respond to critical incidents promptly, even outside of standard business hours, given the nature of school operations

Nice To Haves

Cisco CCNA or CCNP certification (or equivalent industry certification such as CompTIA Network+, Juniper JNCIA, or Fortinet NSE).
Exposure to SD-WAN technologies and cloud-managed networking platforms.
Familiarity with network monitoring platforms such as SolarWinds, PRTG, Nagios, LibreNMS, or Cisco DNA Center.

Responsibilities

Maintain and monitor all Layer 2 and Layer 3 network infrastructure across three sites, including 36 managed switches (approximately 12 per campus), 3 WAN edge routers, and 3 firewall/security appliances.
Manage and optimize the organization-wide WAN, ensuring reliable inter-site connectivity for applications, shared services, and the centralized wireless infrastructure.
Administer and maintain the Cisco Wireless LAN Controller (WLC) and all access points across the three campuses, including firmware updates, RF tuning, SSID management, and client policy configuration.
Perform routine configuration reviews, firmware and software updates, and change management across all core network devices.
Maintain per-site VLAN architecture and inter-VLAN routing to segment student, staff, guest, and administrative traffic.
Deploy and maintain network monitoring tools (e.g., SNMP, syslog, or a dedicated NMS platform) to provide visibility into device health, link utilization, and alerting across all three sites.
Produce a weekly infrastructure health report summarizing AP status, WAN link performance, switch health, and any active alerts or anomalies
Establish and maintain baseline performance metrics for WAN links, wireless coverage, and switch port utilization; proactively identify degradation trends before they impact school operations.
Respond to and resolve network outages or performance issues, including after-hours emergencies when critical systems are affected
Advise on network design, architecture, and upgrades aligned to a K-12 multi-site environment
Serve as the escalation path for the school based IT Coordinators at each campus when issues exceed their scope — including switch port failures, VLAN misconfigurations, wireless connectivity issues, and WAN disruptions.
Collaborate with IT Coordinators and Senior Director of IT during back-to-school network readiness review at the start of each academic year.
Consult on scalability, security posture, and technology investments as the network evolves
Support the planning, design, procurement, and implementation of new network infrastructure projects, including switch upgrades, wireless expansions, WAN circuit changes, and firewall replacements.
Deliver clear post-incident Root Cause Analyses (RCAs) for significant outages and recurring issues
Document standard operating procedures (SOPs) for common network tasks so that the Senior Director of IT and school based IT coordinators can understand the environment even in the engineer’s absence.
Assist with maintaining accurate and up-to-date network documentation including physical and logical topology diagrams, IP address management (IPAM) records, device inventories, and configuration backups for all three sites.