Network Engineer, Operations; Network Operations Center

Network Engineer, Operations (Network Operations Center)

This range is provided by CENIC. Your actual pay will be based on your skills and experience — talk with your recruiter to learn more.

$70,304.00/yr - $87,000.00/yr

Join the team that connects California to the world — advancing education and research statewide by providing the world‑class computing network essential for innovation, collaboration, and economic growth. Our organization operates the California Research and Education Network (CalREN), a high‑capacity computer network with more than 8,000 miles of optical fiber. The network serves over 20 million users across California, including the vast majority of K‑20 students, together with educators, researchers, and individuals at other vital public‑serving institutions.

Bring your IT career and technical expertise to help support the California Research and Education Network (CalREN), a high‑bandwidth, fiber‑optic network that serves over 20 million users. CENIC is a nonprofit governed by its member K‑12 schools, libraries, community colleges, universities, and other public‑serving institutions. Its mission is to advance education and research by providing a world‑class network essential for innovation, collaboration, and economic growth.

We are looking for Network Engineers at various levels: mid‑career > senior > technical expert > and leadership roles! Please see our career center for other positions available.

Reporting to the Lead Network Engineer, the Network Engineer II of Operations provides operational support for CENIC's advanced services network to advance CENIC's organizational goals and objectives of a high‑performance, open, and secure network.

• Proactively monitoring the CENIC networks to detect and resolve problems and ensure uninterrupted operations of the networks.
• Review turnover reports, scheduled maintenance, and the general state of the network.
• Participate in a daily triage schedule to investigate monitoring alarms, respond to new requests, and answer incoming calls.
• Problem troubleshooting and resolution, including interaction with carriers, vendors, and CENIC's senior‑level engineering group.
• Serve as the point of contact for major incidents involving multiple sites or backbone services and determine the best course to resolution.
• Take ownership of complex problems involving our member sites or backbone services.
• Draft clear and concise announcements for network outages.
• Investigate, document, and perform root cause analysis of incidents or complex problems.
• Compile post‑mortem reports to be shared with leadership and members, identifying areas for improvement.
• Evaluate all risk exposures and collaborate with teammates on the best paths to resolution.
• Customer Service:
  Problem troubleshooting and resolution with CENIC associates.
• Respond to service requests via phone and ticketing system.
• Provide members with support aligned with CENIC's missions and values.
• Planning, evaluating, and executing network maintenance activities.
• Adhere to change enablement policies and exercise sound judgment when conducting maintenance.
• Draft Methods of Procedures (MOPs) in accordance with standards.
• Assist the network administrators in coordinating the shipment of equipment to network member sites.
• Serve as a subject matter expert for a particular technology used on CalREN or a toolset that Operations utilizes.
• Stay current on emerging trends by self‑learning and collaborating with the engineering team.
• Ensure documentation is current and updated; provide training to the team when needed.
• Participation in updating and revising policies, procedures, technical reports, documentation, and internal training material.
• Maintain accurate inventory for network equipment.
• OKR Execution:
  Sets, monitors, and achieves OKRs that align with organizational goals.
• Identify and implement data‑driven enhancements to processes, systems, and outcomes.
• Tracks progress, adjusts plans as needed, and ensures measurable results.

• Think logically through issues, using best judgment and practices, including seeking guidance from the team when necessary.
• Co…