Lead IS Network Engineer U.S. Cellular
Schaumburg, IL

Job Description

Lead IS Network Engineer - INF001229

We are seeking someone with lead-level experience architecting or designing solutions in a significant Cisco Nexus environment (5K, 7K and/or 9K Nexus product) as our primary focus. Those with that level of experience who are interested in hearing more about this role are encouraged to apply!

U.S. Cellular is seeking a Lead IS Network Engineer to join a top-tier network engineering team on the Information Services side of our technology group. The Lead will be responsible for the planning, designing, engineering, development of, implementation of and the troubleshooting of cutting edge infrastructure technologies on the IS network. In this role, the Lead IS Network Engineer is expected to provide advanced subject matter expertise around specific technologies such as Cisco Nexus Switching technology as well as provide project management expertise for the deployment of infrastructure projects. In addition, the Lead IS Network Engineer will also act as the IS network engineering subject matter expert for analytics, integration of Internal (IS) and external (NNEO) infrastructure (devices and services) that require IP connectivity to the LAN/WAN, as well as to the Internet. The Lead is also expected to provide advanced troubleshooting, architecture design, and best practices in regard to Network Engineering. The Lead IS Network Engineer also is expected to be able to recommend, evaluate, and implement new technologies, policies, and procedures. Additional expectations involve training junior staff on IS systems and practices, defining and presenting IS network engineering analysis, reports, and recommendations to engineers, managers, and executive management.

Essential Duties and Key Responsibilities

* Leads program/project management for complex IS network related projects
* Designs network architecture and integration methodology related to introducing new systems and services
* Provides oversight of data equipment labs locally or remotely, and proof-of-concept activities with vendors involving research, test case execution for viability, performance, integration, and migration of new equipment, software, systems and that are often associated with an RFP or RFI
* Leads interaction with external partner organizations, such as NNEO Engineering, ADMT, RSO, CSO, and EPMO Support
* Creates and presents technical roadmap for IS network architecture
* Leads IS network strategy review meetings
* Creates and presents "root cause" analysis documents in response to service outages, performance degradation, maintenance activity/configuration errors
* As an advanced Subject Matter Expert (SME) for relevant technologies, interfaces with the vendors' distinguished members of technical staff on projects and critical/escalated network issues
* Serves as the lead focal point for IS network-related issues; resolves issues in team environment
* Identifies and implements industry best practices. Research current and future industry technology
* Develops, implements and conducts technical training sessions for engineers
* Develops and presents detailed business cases for IS network projects
* Ensures communication of process and procedure changes to key stakeholders
* Develops and maintains documentation for IS network standards, policies, and procedures.
* Identify process improvement areas and develop the improvement initiatives
* Determines IS network Key Performance Indicators
* Actively mentors subordinate engineering staff
* Develop and maintain advanced knowledge of infrastructure, network operations, and critical services
* Provides guidance to project resources; deliver to agreed-upon milestones
* Proactively promote consistent project-based performance measurement and skill development of junior staff
* Actively participate in HR performance measurement processes
* Provide input to staffing plans at the project-level to identify key / required skills
* Participate in the interview process for network engineer candidates
* Travel required for regional, vendor, training, and engineering meetings and presentations

Business Partnership

* Maintain relationships with customers, associates, and vendors to proactively identify needed changes
* Establish working relationships with technical, business and sourcing counterparts
* Lead and participate in process improvement initiatives.
* Assembles cross-functional workgroups of key stakeholders to provide the direction of the various platforms
* Actively participates in industry/vendor

Experience and Educational Requirements

* Master's degree in related technical area is preferred
* Minimum 10 years relevant work experience
* Mastery of the relevant technologies - Cisco Nexus switching technology, Firewalls, Load Balancing and Network Protocols
* Strong understanding of the business and industry
* Highly experienced in re-engineering / process improvement
* Strong change management skills; change agent
* Strong technical project management experience running cross-functional teams
* Excellent presentation skills demonstrated in front of large audiences; Excellent written and verbal communication skills
* Excellent problem solving / analytical skills and knowledge of analytical tools
* Prior experience creating, defining, and analyzing metrics that accurately reflect the current state of a given process or operation
* Certification(s) in relevant field of expertise (CCIE, CCDE) is preferred.
* Experience supporting mission-critical infrastructure in a fast-paced environment

Overview of Environment - The following is an overview of the environment and is not intended as a block list of experience expectations needed for this role.

* Cisco Hardware: ASR 1000 routers; ISR 4000 routers, Catalyst 2900, 4500, 6500 switches; Nexus 1000v, 2000, 3000, 4000, 5000, 7000, 9000 switches, WLC 5500, 7500 controllers, ASA 5500 appliances, Cisco WAAS, and Cisco UCS
* Other Network Hardware: Riverbed Steelhead and Interceptor, Radware ADC; Gigamon, and Palo Alto Firewalls
* Network Technologies: TCP/IP, MPLS, STP, VTP, 802.1Q, QoS, Multicast, GRE tunneling, IPSEC, DMVPN, Nexus VDC/vPC, FabricPath, VXLAN, FCoE, FCIP, VoIP, VRF, DNS, NetFlow, and IP SLA
* Routing Protocols: EIGRP, OSPF, BGP, IS-IS, and HSRP
* Other: NetScout, IP address management/subnetting, statistical analysis, IPv4/IPv6, packet analysis, familiarity with current network security practices.
* Network Applications: Cisco Prime Infrastructure, Cisco ACS, Infoblox, Wireshark, Cisco ASDM, Cisco CSM, and Cisco AnyConnect
* Business Applications: Remedy Ticketing, Citrix, and Microsoft SharePoint
* Standards & Methodology: ITIL, SOX, PCI, and CPNI
* Office Automation: Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint
* Planning & Design: Microsoft Project, and Visio
* O/S and Software: Windows 7, Red Hat, SSH, VPN Client, and VMware

Job : Information Technology

Location(s) : Illinois-SCHAUMBURG_IL

U.S. Cellular® is an EEO employer and gives consideration to qualified applicants without regard to race/color/age/religion/sex/sexual orientation/gender identity/national origin/disability/veteran status, pregnancy or genetic information.