Network Engineer

Network EngineerPennsylvania Department of Agriculture is seeking an experienced Network Administrator/Engineer for our Agency. The candidate will be responsible for support of our LAN/WAN environment.The Network Engineer is involved in the design and maintenance of both the hardware and software necessary for a computer network. The Network Engineer is a high-level technical analyst, specializing in Local Area Networks (LANs)/Wide Area Networks (WANs), TCP/IP, and server/network infrastructure. This position will act as an escalation point for anything related to LAN/WAN Support. The candidate will administer all network equipment under the guidance of the IT Director.Responsibilities:Participation with the installation, monitoring, maintenance, support, and optimization of all network hardware, software, and communication links.Conducting research on network products, services, protocols, and standards to remain abreast of developments in the networking industry.Collaboration with executive management and department leaders to assess short-term and long-term network capacity needs.Developing comprehensive implementation and test plans following change management guidelines.Aiding in the development of the network services disaster recovery plan and maintaining current knowledge of plan execution.Responding to emergency network outages in accordance with business continuity and disaster recovery plans.Designs and deploys LANs, WANs, and wireless networks, including switches, routers, access points, and other network infrastructure components.Prepares design presentations and proposals for IT management and business partners.Provides guidance to junior members of the team.Various duties related to implementation, testing, support, and troubleshooting.Qualifications, knowledge and direct experience in the following areas:Education equivalent to a bachelor's degree in an Information Technology-related discipline or equivalent experience; additional education or certificates equivalent to that of Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP) or higher is preferred.Minimum of 5 years of Information Technology experience; 3-5 years of experience in similar networking roles is preferred.Experience deploying and managing CISCO network equipment access and core layers within a distributed environment.