Network Team Lead: Office of Innovative Technologies - UTK

This position is a senior-level expert in deploying, managing, and evolving wired and wireless network projects and solutions across a production enterprise architecture. Supervises and manages a work team under the direction of senior staff for large scale projects, new implementations, system upgrades, etc.  Operates independently for all sizes of systems, networks, and/or databases. Designs, collects, analyzes, and creates professional written and oral reports for senior staff. Focuses on short to intermediate strategic priorities within the network transport function and contributes to the identification of areas for evolution. Work is completed with minimal oversight with a high level of accuracy and quality. Must have the ability to learn, implement, and operate new technologies. Participation in on-call rotation, which covers non-business hours including the weekend. On-call support is for one week and may be required for three to four weeks within a year.

• Lead and supervise a technical team that supports wired and wireless network infrastructure.

• Manage daily team operations, including task assignments, prioritization, and escalation.

• Promote consistent processes and communication across all network activities.

• Oversee wired and wireless network projects through discovery, design, implementation, and closure phases.

• Research and deploy new networking technologies and tools to enhance university systems.

• Coordinate with departments and vendors for major network deployments and upgrades.

• Analyze technical data to assess network risks and recommend improvements.

• Maintain accurate documentation of network designs, configurations, and inventories.

• Develop solutions to meet evolving university network needs and new technology trends.

• Respond to and resolve network service requests efficiently through the ticketing system.

• Communicate clearly with both technical and non-technical staff during troubleshooting.

• Monitor and interpret network performance and telemetry data to identify issues.

• Facilitate and participate in meetings regarding network operations and readiness.

• Collaborate with on- and off-campus partners during planned or emergency outages.

• Ensure network services meet high standards of reliability, scalability, and security.

Required Qualifications

• Education & Experience: 

  • Associate’s degree in a related field and 8 years direct industry-related experience in network engineering or leading a technical team.

  • Or 12 years’ direct industry-related experience in network engineering or leading a technical team.

• Knowledge, Skills, Abilities: 
  • Strong ability to work independently of direct supervision and in line with strategic direction.
  • Intermediate ability to manage projects. 
  • Strong verbal and written communication skills.
  • Intermediate working knowledge of networking concepts: WAN/LAN, DNS/DHCP, Layer 3/2, TCP/IP, Wi-Fi, firewalls, and security policies such as access control lists.
  • Ability to glean network requirements from users, technical and conceptual drawings. 
  • Strong working knowledge of network planning tools and processes: Aruba Central/VisualRF, databases, Microsoft Visio.
  • Intermediate working knowledge of network infrastructure and supporting systems: routers, switches, wireless controllers, wireless access points, IDS/IPS, gateways, firewalls, NAC, virtual private clouds, structured cabling.

Applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis without need now or in the future for sponsorship for employment-based visa status.

Preferred Qualifications

• Education: Professional certifications such as PMP, CCNA, CCNP, ACMA, AZ-900, AZ-700, CWNA, or CWDP
• Experience: 
  • Experience in large-scale campus area wired and wireless networks environments. 
  • Experience with hybrid cloud infrastructure. 
  • Experience as a project manager. 
  • Experience in a higher education environment. 
• Knowledge, Skills, Abilities: 
  • Ability to effectively perform in a hybrid environment. 
  • Intermediate working knowledge of automation tools and their application to this role: scripting, API integration, authentication, version control systems, and others.
  • Intermediate working knowledge of network diagnostic, monitoring, and performance analysis tools and techniques: SolarWinds, netflow, Ekahau, Wire Shark, fault isolation, trace route, Nmap, HPe User Experience Insight, packet capture, and others.
  • Working knowledge of Cisco, Aruba, Arista, Fortinet, and Juniper network products. 
  • Experience providing enterprise network support in a higher education environment. 
  • Basic knowledge of network automation tools such as Ansible, Terraform, GitLab.
  • Basic knowledge of open-source platforms such as Linux and FreeRADIUS. 
  • Basic knowledge of major cloud service providers: Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform.

Work Location: 

• This is an on-campus position in Knoxville, Tennessee with some flexibility for hybrid/remote work.

Compensation and Benefits 

• UT market range: MR16 (Find more information on the UT Market Range structure here)
• Anticipated hiring range: $100,000-$115,000

• Regular Full Time Exempt 

• Benefits include: (Find more information on UT Benefits here)

  • Generous paid leave, accruing up to 24 days of vacation and 12 days of sick leave annually, plus 14 paid holidays and administrative closing days 

  • Education benefits for employees and their dependents at UT System campuses 

  • Retirement and deferred compensation plans, including 401(k), 403(b), etc.  

  • Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision insurance plans 

  • Employee discounts to attractions, services, and goods 

Application Instructions

All applicants must upload the following attachments. The documents should directly address the required qualifications. 

• Resume

• Cover Letter