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Senior Network Engineer

DC - Washington

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Opportunity Snapshot

In this unique role you will act as consultant and trusted advisor for networking as well as many other aspects of IT to our client, a federal government agency. Your mission will be to leverage your network design and management expertise to assist the customer in both short and long term planning as well as to provide leadership for our staff and our client in design and deployments. While you will spend the majority of your time at the client's site, you will be a full time employee of Chesapeake NetCraftsmen.

To be a good fit for this opportunity you will have solid Cisco networking knowledge and experience, but also a broad IT background and the ability to speak to all aspects of technology. We're looking for a professional who will constantly identify opportunities to help the customer, as well as to earn the role of trusted advisor and work with both the customer and vendors to drive improvements. You will need a successful track record of taking important projects from concept to completion. Quick question for you - click here

You will join a company for which "ownership" is not just a metaphor: we have a unique business model that includes profit sharing and transparent, participatory decision-making. This is a broad role offering you multiple opportunities to learn new technologies as you recommend solutions and lead important (sometimes multi-million dollar) projects involving leading edge products. While a CCIE is strongly preferred, the skills and experience are most important, and we will help you pursue certifications.

What Else You'll Bring to the Table

In addition to the qualifications detailed above, you'll need:

Good verbal and written technical communication skills, including the ability to present technical information in ways that make sense for the customer.
The ability to lead technical teams and to represent the client at senior level meetings.
Expertise with routing & switching as well as firewalls. Quick question for you - click here
A bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or other related discipline OR equivalent experience.
In-depth technical and business understanding of the working environment.
Expert knowledge of enterprise network design/configuration/operations/management.
A proven ability to create solutions in complex environments.
Experience with and knowledge of Cisco UC technologies.
Experience preparing technical and business analyses as well as budgets.

The ideal candidate will have experience with MANY of the following technologies, which you will touch in this role:

Cisco: routers, switches, and firewalls, including ASA, Global Site Selector, Network Registrar, 6500, 3750, 4500, 1800, 2800, 3800, 7206, 7500, Unified Communications Manager, Unity, Presence, Unified Mobility, Meeting Place Express, IPCC Express, IP Phones, Wireless LAN, IPS 4240, MARS, Cisco Works, ACS.
Infoblox: DNS, DHCP, DNS Sec.
BIND: DNS.
F5: Big-IP.
CA: eHealth, Spectrum.
Telco: ISDN, Voice, MPLS, WAN, T1, T3, Broadband wireless.
Protocols: EIGRP, Spanning Tree, Multicast, BGP, GigE, 10GigE.

Preferred but not required:

Experience in government environments.
Knowledge of IT security; a CCSA or CISSP would be a plus.
The ability to create bills of materials for projects. Experience with Netformx's DesignXpert preferred.
Master's degree in Telecommunications Management or related technical field.
Cisco Certified Voice Professional (CCVP)

You also will need to be able to pass a federal "position of public trust" background check. This role is a staff augmentation position and you will spend the vast majority of your time at the client's site in downtown Washington, DC.

What's in It for You

Own the relationship, "own" the network -- we'll look to you to assume the role of trusted advisor and approach the client's network as if it were your own. In some cases you may recommend solutions that the client considers out of their reach, but once you have explained how they can do it, you will drive the design and deployment.

Great company culture -- NetCraftsmen is essentially a meritocracy, with a fluid organizational model, where many good people have joined together for mutual benefit. Our Board of Directors is elected annually by the employees and Board meetings are open to all staff. Management processes are transparent; for example, we internally publish the P&L monthly for all to view and discuss.

Collaborate with top talent -- you will become part of a team characterized by rich expertise and deep experience. Our consultants include some of the most experienced Cisco CCIEs in the country. In fact, many of our consultants were among the first to gain those credentials, which is why we have some of the earliest certification numbers. They all take their profession seriously and many author articles, white papers and blogs, and speak at industry conferences. Maybe you will, too.

Excellent compensation -- in addition to a competitive salary and bonus incentive program, we offer comprehensive benefits that include all you would expect plus some pleasant surprises such as a 100% employer match on the 401(k) plan (up to 5% of salary) with immediate vesting, flexible spending accounts, and a generous allotment of personal time off (PTO) and paid holidays.

More About Your Role

If you're a good fit for this position, you already know most of what this job entails. However, to be sure we're providing a complete picture, here are some details.

In this role you will work at the client's site as their senior technical lead for all things network-related, such as routine Cisco router/switch/firewall configuration, supervising cabling contractors on large-scale deployments, and advising the client on short and long term IT strategy. Quick question for you - click here

You will lead a varying number of Chesapeake NetCraftsmen employees on site; typically there are three to five, but there may be larger teams including subcontractors during deployments. In addition you'll at times provide direction to the client's networking staff (that number will also vary, although it is seldom more than five). Pivotal to your success will be your ability to promote a spirit of teamwork, both within our company and with the customer.

Samples of the kinds of projects you'll manage:

Wrapping up the finishing touches on a major Cisco UC deployment
Building out Infoblox to create a more robust DNS architecture.
Coordinating a significant, multi-site firewall upgrade.
Collaborating with the client to improve their security posture.

At various times you and your team's specific activities may include:

Leading project teams on large-scale design and deployments.
Delivering briefings and presentations for the client.
Producing relevant documentation, including backwards and forwards documentation, and user and training guides.
Planning and managing project budgets and schedules and providing project status reports to client and NetCraftsmen management.
Conducting analyses incorporating both technical and business considerations related to risk management, costs and other factors.
Training client and NetCraftsmen staff on existing technologies as well as anything new.
Acting as the "go to" person for network vendors, including evaluating products and making recommendations.
Serving as both pre and post-sales engineer, particularly for Cisco products, to support the Account Manager, make recommendations, create BOMs, and more.
Providing Tier III support.
And more (this list is not exhaustive but intended to give you a feel for the breadth and variety of the position).

Keys to Success

While your role will be that of networking expert, you also will need to be able to "morph" according to the needs of different situations. Of course you'll have resources at Chesapeake NetCraftsmen to back you up, but we'll also look to you to do the research and learn whatever is necessary to provide the client with outstanding guidance. You will need to be motivated to spot opportunities, help to develop them, work with the Cisco account team, and work with our sales team to ensure that Chesapeake NetCraftsmen is the preferred vendor for each opportunity as it comes up.

If this sounds like the right mix of challenge and opportunity for you, and you meet the minimum qualifications, we want to hear from you!

Who We Are

Chesapeake NetCraftsmen has helped design and implement some of the largest networks in the world, including financial institutions and trading networks, with market data, e-commerce, point-of-sale and credit processing. We always make comprehensive knowledge transfer part of every engagement so that when we walk out the door, our clients own the network, manage the network and know how to run the network.

In addition to being a Cisco Premier Certified Partner with all of Cisco's Advanced Specializations and a dozen CCIEs, we collaborate with top quality companies such as Cistera Networks, Element K, IronPort Systems, Netcordia, and NetMasterClass.