Schools, Network Engineer - Hybrid

HEAnet - Schools, Network Engineer 

HEAnet is Ireland’s National Research and Education Network, providing internet connectivity and ICT shared services across all levels of the Irish education system, reaching 1,000,000 end users. We connect learners and researchers across all of Ireland to education resources and to fellow national educational and research networks in Europe, and the rest of the world.  

We have an exciting opportunity for a Network Engineer to join our Schools team on a permanent contract basis.  

This role is based in our office in Dublin 1; however, we have a hybrid work framework in place which will allow you to do some work from home if you choose to do so. On different days of the week, any team member may be working from home, so we use tools like Microsoft Teams to keep in touch.  

What the Shools team does

We provide all of Ireland’s primary and post-primary schools (approx. 4,000 schools) with high-availability Internet and network-security services to more than 900,000 teachers and students. 

Along with connectivity, the HEAnet Schools team provide a range of essential services to both primary and post-primary schools, including Internet content-filtering, IP address allocation & firewall services. These essential services make the HEAnet Schools Network one of the largest proactively managed networks in the country. 

To support these strategic initiatives and the portfolio of network services, we are seeking to appoint a Network Engineer to join the Schools team. Reporting to the Schools Network Director, the successful candidate will be responsible for maintaining and supporting the Schools Network.  

What the Networks Engineer does

We look forward to welcoming a Network Engineer to the Schools team who will be responsible for providing second-level support to schools, troubleshooting network and provider issues. 

One of your main responsibilities will be to provide second-level support to the Broadband Service Desk through our ticketing system, email and by phone during the core hours of 9-5, Monday to Friday. 

The successful candidate will support the Schools core, access and cpe networks, as well as managing the core firewall and content filtering system delivering secure connectivity to over 900,000 users. 

This role involves substantial client & vendor interaction and regular communications with the Broadband Service Desk, telecoms network and network equipment providers. 

Troubleshooting and problem resolution will be a core part of this role, as well as assisting in the testing of new and existing networks systems and providing documentation for all changes and systems deployed.  

How we do it

Our company values underpin how we do things in HEAnet. We believe in and live by our values and understand they are integral to making HEAnet a great place to work.

COLLABORATION - EQUALITY & FAIRNESS - FUTURE FOCUSED - POSITIVE IMPACT

For further information about who we are and our core values, see https://www.heanet.ie/who-we-are.

What you get from us 

We promote a healthy work/life balance. Work outside of standard hours is rare and agreed in advance. We take the care of our team members' mental health seriously.

We value knowledge-sharing and communication. We start each day with a SCRUM to cover outstanding issues and planned work for the day, combined with fortnightly team stand-ups to make sure no one is hitting any roadblocks and to identify progression or delays in any of the major company projects HEAnet is involved in.  

We encourage critical thinking and the exploration of new ideas. We often form cross-team special interest groups for specific topic discussions, both ongoing and for fixed projects. We also have regular presentations from across the company on a wide range of topics from technical demos to project management to mental health.

Company Benefits  

• Hybrid Working


• Flexible start/finish times


• Health insurance for employees


• Defined contribution pension scheme


• On-going well-being initiatives


• Employee Assistance Programme (EAP)


• Tax Saver Ticket scheme


• Cycle to Work scheme


• Professional education support


• Comprehensive group and individual training & development initiatives

What we need from you

• At least 2 years’ industry experience working in a similar role (ideally in an ISP). 

• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, both verbal and written. 

• Strong customer focus and a sincere desire to provide outstanding support and service. 

• Experience of supporting and troubleshooting WAN connectivity issues. 

• Thorough knowledge and understanding of TCP/IP network technologies. 

• Strong working knowledge of configuration, management and maintenance of router equipment. 

• Communicate with telecoms network and equipment providers. 

• Experience with system and network monitoring tools (e.g. Icinga, SmokePing, Cacti). 

• Trustworthy, open and transparent, with a high degree of personal integrity. 

• Proactive and collaborative approach; with a high level of motivation and enthusiasm for the job 

Bonus points  

It is not essential that you have experience in the following areas, but if you did it could be beneficial: 

• JNCIA/CCNA or equivalent certification would be a distinct advantage. 

• Knowledge of routing and switching technologies (OSPF, BGP, VLANs, VRRP). 

• Hands-on experience with Juniper/Cisco/Arista or similar operating systems. 

• Experience in network automation – puppet, ansible etc. 

• Experience in management of content-filtering systems/next generation firewalls. 

• Experience with subscriber management protocols (PPP/L2TP). 

• Knowledge of broadband technologies: xDSL, GPON, Wireless Broadband. 

• Experience with Network Automation & Orchestration tools, such as Git, Ansible, Rancid, Juniper CSD, etc. 

• Experience with ITSM/ticketing systems
  
  

More important information 

At HEAnet we celebrate diversity and understand how important it is to our ongoing success.  We would like to hear from candidates who are great at what they do and whose values align with ours.  

If you need any adjustments made to the application or selection process so you can do your best, please let us know. 

 
HEAnet is delighted to be awarded with the Ibec Keep Well Mark. We take pride in developing, maintaining and enhancing our culture of wellbeing and continue to focus on this into 2024 and beyond.