Senior Network Engineer and Manager

JOB SUMMARY

The Connecticut Education Network (CEN) is Connecticut’s trusted, mission‑driven Research and Education (R&E) network, delivering high‑performance Internet connectivity and secure shared services to community anchor institutions statewide. For more than 25 years, CEN has supported education, research, healthcare, government, libraries, cultural arts, and open access organizations by providing a resilient, scalable, and secure Internet and network service platform. Built on trust, partnership, collaboration, and high‑quality service, CEN works closely with its members and peer research and education networks nationwide to drive unparalleled value for the communities we serve.

Join and lead CEN’s Network Services team and work hands‑on with a large‑scale service‑provider network supporting critical connectivity and security services across Connecticut. This position bridges network operations, design, and engineering, providing technical leadership for Internet, MPLS, security, peering, DNS, and content delivery platforms. The ideal candidate combines strong technical expertise, supervisory experience, sound operational judgment, and a passion for delivering reliable services to education, healthcare, government, and nonprofit organizations statewide.

CEN offers a challenging, fast‑paced, and rewarding environment where incumbents will grow professionally while advancing the CEN mission, vision, values, business, and brand. The CEN office is located at 55 Farmington Ave, Hartford, CT. As a team aligned under UConn, this position offers great work/life balance and an excellent benefit package.

UConn has been named the top public university in New England for over a decade and is ranked among the top public universities in the nation. The University is also a Carnegie Foundation Research University; a prestigious honor shared by only the nation’s top higher education institutions.

The hiring range for this position is $106,474 to $138,416; final salary will be based on the successful candidate’s background and experience.

• 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

As a senior‑level expert in network engineering, you will lead the design, implementation, and strategic development of the Connecticut Education Network (CEN), supporting a robust carrier‑grade IP/MPLS infrastructure. Your responsibilities will include:

• Build:
  Network Architecture & Strategy
  • Design and implement complex physical and logical network systems aligned with organizational goals.
  • Lead long‑range planning for architecture, capacity, and security.
  • Provide engineering plans, detailed diagrams, implementation specifications, and materials quotes.
  • Develop network architecture to support evolving services and constituent needs.
• Run:
  Operations & Incident Management
  • Serve as the final internal escalation point for network incidents, outages, and service requests.
  • Lead outage resolution and post‑incident reporting with detailed root cause analysis.
  • Ensure high availability and performance of services including DIA, MPLS VPNs, DNS, firewalls, and content filtering.
  • Plan and conduct software/firmware upgrades.
• Grow:
  Capacity planning
  • Conduct software/hardware lifecycle management.
  • Quarterly capacity planning.
  • Network failure analysis.
• Repeat & Test:
  Automation & Optimization
  • Develop and deploy advanced automation scripts and software to streamline operations and telemetry.
  • Perform system tuning, upgrades, and proactive optimizations to ensure efficiency and scalability.
  • Ensure config standardization and minimize drift.
  • Conduct device‑level testing with Ixia, identify software defects, and behavior anomalies.
• Project & Business Development
  • Provide project management support for customer provisioning and network expansions.
  • Collaborate with business units and leadership to develop new services…