Director Network Engineering & Unified Communication

Job DescriptionAll the relevant skills, qualifications and experience that a successful applicant will need are listed in the following description.POSITION OBJECTIVE Working with a high degree of independence and under general direction, the Director of Network Engineering and Unified Communication leads strategic and operational aspects of the University Technology (UTech) data, voice, and video communications network services, critical to the mission of Case Western Reserve University. The existing physical network, consisting of approximately five hundred network switches and five thousand wireless access points, serves over 25,000 connected devices in over one hundred buildings with a one hundred Gbps backbone and the capability to provide 10 Gbps connections to individual faceplates. Network Engineering and Unified Communication provides services in several mission-critical areas: internal campus wired and wireless network, connectivity of the university campus network to the Internet and Internet2 via OARnet, IP telephony services for voice communications, emergency campus telephones, campus telemetry network for security and environmental monitoring, and budgeting and management of the university contracts and services for those services as well as with national mobile/cellular telephone carriers. The director will provide leadership in support of goals and strategies established by the assistant vice president, research computing and infrastructure services, and is responsible for applicable governance processes and technical operations, managing all aspects of data, voice, and video network services and infrastructure of the university environment, including articulating and implementing a vision for unified communication for the university. The director leads a highly technical staff of skilled IT professionals working to accomplish university goals and to deliver high-quality services. The position involves significant and close interaction with senior leadership of UTech and other university organizations as well as faculty and staff.ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS 1. Provide strategic vision and leadership for emerging technologies at the national and international level related to data, voice, and video communications at Case Western Reserve University. Supervise and assist in the design, development, implementation, and management of the university campus network and WAN connections as well as university network architecture and topology. Proactively recommend and implement solutions for capacity planning purposes based on network performance metrics. Participate in the development of university network architecture and design standards. Enforce network design and usage policies. Within the context of established governance processes, interact with university stakeholders to manage expectations and anticipate needs, including accommodating for rapid changes in IT-supported business processes, ensuring they are addressed appropriately. Function as an advocate for change to improve the university processes with the goal of increased efficiency in resource utilization, increased user service, and decreased risk. Maintain an understanding of IT and higher education trends in the market and develop plans that utilize these changing trends to further the priorities of the university using the operating models defined within enterprise architecture. Perform market and product research for software and services to meet future goals of the university. Represent Case Western Reserve University locally, nationally, and internationally at meetings and conferences, in publications, etc. (30%). 2. Direct, manage, and monitor activities of staff as they relate to network engineering and operations, network quality of service, network availability, and data, voice, and video communications at the university for the development and deployment of new services for the university while striving for continual improvement, innovation, and service excellence for existing services. Develop and maintain policies and procedures for day-to-day and emergency operations. Manage day-to-day operational issues concerning services provided by Network Engineering and Unified Communication to the university. Select and work with vendors and outside consultants to bring optimal solutions to the university. Ensure that services provided by network engineering and unified communication staff, including but not limited to DNS, DHCP, and firewalls, meet established service level expectations and availability targets and are thoroughly documented. Provide the UTech Senior Leadership team with regular reporting of systems performance and utilization metrics, identify significant risks and operational issues, and propose action plans to address them. Manage the portfolio of projects and simple work requests in network engineering and unified communication and collaborate closely with supervisor to ensure the establishment of realistic project schedules and budgets for network engineering and unified communication activities. Coordinate activities and/or projects with other departments and customers, ensuring effective communication and successful project management. Ensure compliance with university and UTech technical standards for all services in terms of hardware, software, and security. Ensure that activities are aligned with the priorities of the supervisor and with the UTech strategic plan. (28%) 3. Conduct personnel and budget management for the network engineering and unified communication area. This includes conducting performance reviews, providing coaching and mentoring, identifying and approving training and professional development opportunities, writing and revising job descriptions, and recruiting, hiring, and training new staff members. Develop subordinates into positions of greater responsibilities within the department. Collaborate with supervisor in developing operating budget, capital budget, and staffing plans for network engineering and unified communication, and ensuring that use of operating funds, capital funds, and staff resources kept within established limits and accrues to the benefit of the university. Motivate staff by creating a sense of purpose to meet the goals of the university through coaching and leading by example. Serve as mentor for and provide professional support to peer leaders in UTech. (25%) 4. Collaborate with the information security office in network security and privacy, including development and implementation of new services. Develop network-focused objectives in the information security plan to address timely accomplishment of elements of the UTech strategic plan. (15%)NONESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS 1. Fill in for supervisor in his/her absence. (1%) 2. Perform other duties as assigned. (1%)CONTACTS Department: Weekly to bi-weekly contact with supervisor for the purpose of reviewing goals, achievements, and overall performance. Daily to weekly contact with peer managers in UTech and with direct reports for the purpose of addressing issues and opportunities collaboratively, to resolve any outstanding issues or challenges, and to ensure progress toward goals. Monthly to quarterly contact with UTech senior leadership for the purpose of status reporting, policy support, and operational reviews. Frequent contact with all UTech leadership and staff to facilitate and promote joint action and cooperation to achieve results. University: Moderate contact with faculty and staff, as needed, to enable understanding of user requirements as they relate to assigned responsibilities and to engage in IT governance. External: Regular contact with vendors, as well as external affiliates such as OARnet and Internet2, to manage the execution of tasks, coordinate efforts, and learn about new capabilities. Regular contact with peers at other universities to share information, experience, and best practices in the broad area of network engineering. Students: Occasional contact with students involved in IT governance. Occasional contact with student employees of UTech.SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES This position will directly supervise eight to twelve staff. Will direct multi-disciplinary project teams of staff (engineers, database administrators, application developers, solutions architects, and project managers). Provide coaching and mentoring to staff and peers. May direct the work of contractors and student employees.QUALIFICATIONS Experience: 10 years of progressive experience, success, and leadership in support of network infrastructure services (preferably in higher education). Strongly prefer experience to include five years of direct vendor engagement management. Require experience preparing and managing budgets and in creating business cases for technical infrastructure initiatives. Education: Bachelor's degree, preferably in computer science, engineering, information systems, or a related field. Prefer Master's degree.REQUIRED SKILLS 1. Demonstrated leadership skills, preferably in the context of IT and preferably in the context of higher education. Demonstrated excellent mentorship, managerial, and facilitation skills. Require experience in supporting university enterprise technology at the enterprise or school level. 2. Extensive experience with and in-depth knowledge of network communication technologies and protocols, including software-defined networking, TCP/IP, DNS, routing, and firewalls, and the ability to apply that knowledge to design creative solutions. Strong understanding of Ethernet networking concepts including VLANs, spanning trees, LACP, LAG, and best practices for deploying high-bandwidth networks. In-depth knowledge of high-performance networking using Ethernet or InfiniBand as applicable to high performance computing settings. 3. In-depth knowledge of network security as it relates to the network and network services infrastructure. Desire an understanding of HIPAA, HITECH, FISMA, and other security and privacy controls relevant to the conduct of research at the university. Knowledge and skill in risk monitoring and control. The ability to implement the approved actions and workarounds required to mitigate project risk events to minimize the impact of the risks on the project. 4. Excellent understanding of IP telephony and unified communication, especially regarding interaction with the university data network, including familiarity with Cisco Call Manager products. 5. Proficiency with multiple versions of the UNIX/Linux and Windows operating systems, including their system scripting languages. Proficiency with HTML and web page creation. Basic proficiency with word processor, spreadsheet, presentation, and diagramming tools such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Visio, graphics, database, diagnostic utilities, terminal emulators, and communication/network software. 6. In-depth knowledge of Science DMZs and other approaches to supporting research uses of an enterprise network infrastructure across a range of academic areas. 7. Demonstrated familiarity with project management approaches, tools, and phases of the project lifecycle. 8. Knowledge of the principles of ITIL and Lean Six-Sigma preferred. 9. Excellent interpersonal, verbal, and written communication skills (in English) to work with both technical and non-technical personnel at various levels in the organization. Ability to communicate effectively with management and faculty leadership. Ability to communicate technical information in a clear and concise manner, including the ability to write technical documentation. Ability to review technical design documents to ensure requirements are met. Ability to interact with colleagues, supervisors, and customers face to face. 10. Enthusiasm for using technology to solve problems in an innovative collaborative and interdisciplinary scientific computing environment. 11. Attention to detail in all aspects of employment. 12. Must be self-motivated, work independently and as part of a team, able to learn quickly, meet deadlines and demonstrate critical thinking skills. 13. Ability to develop networks and use them to strengthen internal and external support. Ability to identify opportunities and take action to build strategic relationships between UTech and other university areas, teams, departments, etc., to help achieve business goals. Ability to work effectively at all levels within an organization. 14. Ability to actively listen; responsive to verbal and non-verbal clues. 15. Ability to respond to difficult, stressful, or sensitive interpersonal situations in ways that reduce or minimize potential conflict and maintain good working relationships among internal and external customers. The ability to recognize awkward or potentially embarrassing situations that sometimes arise. Always aware of tone and careful choice of words, while at the same time ensuring that the intended message is clear, polite, and readily understood. 16. Ability to develop an in-depth understanding of the client needs to be more helpful. The ability to consider how different audiences are likely to respond and choose the best method of communicating the message to each audience. 17. Consistently models high standards of honesty, integrity, trust, openness, and respect for the individual. Must have the ability to use discretion and good judgment on sensitive and important matters. A high level of integrity is required, as the individual will be required to work with and manage sensitive information. Embraces diversity. 18. Ability to recognize the importance of certain tasks and responsibilities and the ability to prioritize to ensure that deadlines are met. Ability to be flexible to meet the constantly changing scope and needs of the department, division and customers being served. Ability to work in a face-paced environment while managing multiple projects. Ability to optimize the use of time and resources to achieve the desired results; effectively plan and organize work to minimize crises; prioritize appropriately. 19. Ability to look at situations from multiple perspectives, break problems into component parts, and look for underlying causes and think through the consequences of different courses of action. Ability to identify various types of problems along with the creation of workable solutions. Requires the identification and analysis of problems, evaluation of alternatives, and provision of solutions. 20. Ability to understand how an organization must change considering internal and external trends, influences, and future technology. 21. Desire an explorative attitude - ability to work with technologies for which little or no documentation or precedence exists. Desire a commitment to self-motivated lifelong learning. 22. A service-oriented collaborative approach to customer and peer relationships 23. Ability to effectively influence others to achieve understanding, acceptance, and commitment to act in support of ideas, programs, or causes. 24. Demonstrated history of successful support, education, and advocacy for all students, aligned with the values, mission, and messaging of the university, while adhering to the staff policy on conflict of commitment and interest. 25. Ability to interact with colleagues, supervisors, and customers face to face. 26. Ability to meet consistent attendance.WORKING CONDITIONS The working conditions are typical of an office environment and computer rooms. The position requires typing on a computer keyboard and using a computer mouse. The position may occasionally require lifting equipment weighing as much as forty-five pounds. Travel between various locations on campus may be required. There may be campus locations that are accessible only by stairs. The position may occasionally require long hours and the associated pressure to meet deadlines. The employee may be required to carry a cell phone, during and after their normal work hours, including weekends to attend to after-hours emergencies. The employee may be required to attend meetings/functions outside normal working hours.Diversity StatementIn employment, as in education, Case Western Reserve University is committed to Equal Opportunity and Diversity. Women, veterans, members of underrepresented minority groups, and individuals with disabilities are encouraged to apply.Reasonable AccommodationsCase Western Reserve University provides reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities. Applicants requiring a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application and hiring process should contact the Office of Equity at 216-368-3066 to request a reasonable accommodation. Determinations as to granting reasonable accommodations for any applicant will be made on a case-by-case basis.#J-18808-Ljbffr

Created: 2024-11-06