Senior Network Operations Engineer

SBA Communications - Boca Raton, FL

Full-time - Senior

Boca Raton, FL

Real Estate

About the position

The Senior Network Operations Engineer position at SBA Communications is a critical role responsible for the design, installation, maintenance, and support of LAN and WAN infrastructures across the organization. This position requires a high level of technical expertise in data network systems, where the engineer will provide comprehensive support and ensure the integrity and performance of the network infrastructure. The role involves creating and maintaining detailed network documentation, adhering to hardware and software standards, and engaging in various projects aimed at upgrading equipment and improving procedures. The ideal candidate will have a robust understanding of advanced engineering principles and administration of multiprotocol routers, multilayer switches, network security devices, and network management systems. Strong analytical, problem-management, organizational, communication, and customer service skills are essential for success in this role. The engineer will be expected to interface with both internal and external stakeholders to assess and fulfill communications infrastructure needs, manage vendor relationships, and develop disaster recovery strategies for critical systems. In addition to technical responsibilities, the Senior Network Operations Engineer will play a key role in fostering a culture of continuous improvement, ensuring that all network operations align with industry standards and best practices. This includes monitoring service levels, optimizing performance, and ensuring compliance with security requirements. The engineer will also be involved in defining requirements and strategies for Data Center and LAN/WAN network infrastructure, collaborating with various teams to support the overall technology lifecycle from planning to retirement.

Responsibilities

• Provides support for technical direction and engineering expertise for communications (LAN/WAN) systems infrastructure activities, including network planning, designing, and implementing communications infrastructure requirements for buildings and systems.
• Ensures that adequate and appropriate planning is provided in building communications spaces, networks, and media pathways to meet industry standards.
• Interfaces with internal and external customers and vendors to determine communications infrastructure needs.
• Manages third-party vendor relationships and holds them accountable for the delivery of outsourced functions, specifically call center and network operations.
• Develops and implements a robust disaster recovery strategy for critical systems and infrastructure.
• Assesses single points of failure in infrastructure and recommends actions as appropriate.
• Responds immediately to Production issues.
• Utilizes expertise in routing, switching, firewall, and load-balancing using a thorough understanding of IP, routing protocols, switching, and security based on extensive hands-on experience.
• Works with leadership, property LAN service providers (LSPs), end-user computing services delivery, and hosting services to manage enterprise availability, server, storage, and virtualization, inclusive of security/privacy, risk management, and disaster and crisis management.
• Provides senior technical engagement for all phases of the infrastructure lifecycle from ideation through execution, as well as ongoing management and support of the end-to-end network servicing all cloud and Data Center Network systems.
• Works with leadership to develop and execute new initiatives to simplify, standardize, optimize, and automate the network designs, tooling, and operations to reduce implementation cycle times, eliminate service downtime, optimize performance, and ensure that all security and compliance requirements are fully governed.
• Establishes cross-team level relationships and partnering with all business disciplines and other teams to define Data Center Network services, meet service level requirements, and serve as an escalation point to resolve service delivery and operational issues.
• Fosters an environment of continuous improvement and structured processes and procedures that support a zero-fault culture.
• Delivers Data Center Network technical support to meet defined service levels that are benchmarked against industry standards and metrics.
• Monitors area usage/demand of services provided to ensure that shared services' actual expenditures are in line with planned spending.
• Tracks actual utilization of services and products, including reporting of supplier performance, in meeting business service expectations and service levels.
• Defines requirements, strategy, solutions, and standards for Data Center, LAN/WAN Network infrastructure to meet business needs and adhere to enterprise architecture & security standards.
• Partners on all aspects of the technology lifecycle, including requirements, product and services management, planning, procurement, installation, support, and retirement in conjunction with other Infrastructure VPs, Enterprise Architecture, and the business planning teams.
• Supports the development of and compliance with enterprise architecture, engineering, and design plans.
• Demonstrates extensive operational support capability with strong ITIL best practices (i.e. Incident Management, Problem Management, Change Management, Capacity Management, Release Management, Service Level Management).
• Other projects and duties as assigned.

Requirements

• BS in Computer Science or relevant field of study; Networking and firewall certifications strongly preferred (CCNP, CCDP, PCNSE, CCP-N).
• Minimum 8+ years of directly relevant experience.
• Strong understanding of and experience with Enterprise architecture, Cloud Functions, Identity & Security, and how they interoperate with network architecture.
• Required experience: Cisco routers & switches, Cisco, & Fortinet Firewalls, Ruckus Wireless & switching.
• Strong knowledge of device level security, ACLs, port level security, VLANs, VRFs.
• Knowledgeable across a broad set of infrastructure platforms (Cisco, Juniper, Linux, AWS, Fortinet, Ruckus, etc.).
• Extensive experience with instrumentation, enterprise monitoring, and reporting tools.
• Strong knowledge of factors affecting network optimization and performance; strong knowledge of network capacity analysis and trending; knowledge of application designs including 2-tier, 3-tier, and web browser-based designs.
• In-depth knowledge of modern enterprise networking routing protocols such as EIGRP, BGP and OSPF.
• Knowledge of network applications such as DHCP and DNS.
• Strong understanding of voice and data network protocols: Ethernet, R/ARP, LACP, Spanning Tree, VSS, 802.1Q, TCP/IP, IPSEC VPNs, BGP, HSRP, NAT, TACACS+ & RADIUS, MFA, SIP, SNMP/RMON and RDP.
• In-depth knowledge of LAN/WAN communications and network hardware such as routers, Ethernet switches, gateways, firewalls, and load balancers; strong knowledge of multiple topologies and media.
• Strong knowledge of device-level security, ACLs, port-level security, VLANs, and VRFs.
• Proficient in packet captures, such as Wireshark, TCPDump, and TCP flow tools, such as NetFlow, jFlow, SFlow.
• Strong knowledge of network optimization and performance analysis and identifying factors affecting network optimization and performance.
• Strong knowledge of network capacity analysis, planning, and trending.
• Familiarity with general-purpose test equipment, including network sniffers and traffic generators.
• Possess excellent oral and written communication skills.
• Ability to work well with people of various backgrounds and skill levels.
• Self-disciplined, self-starter, and professional who can successfully bring projects to closure with a minimum of direction, guidance, and oversight.
• The ability to operate independently, without close supervision.

Benefits

• Competitive benefits and compensation package