Rtc Network Engineer (Information Systems Analyst Ii - Option N)

20% Under administrative direction, serves as a Regional Technology Center (RTC) Network Engineer designing and supporting Wide Area Network (WAN) solutions using Department of Innovation & Technology (DoIT) Master Design templates:

• Designs, implements, and operates the highly technical statewide broadband Illinois Century Network (ICN) which includes backbone and access circuits, routers, switches, and Point of Presence (POP) facilities, migrating to a converged network to include voice, video, and other services.
• Designs, implements and maintains network access, control, performance, and disaster recovery standards directly impacting employee and external constituents throughout the state.
• Uses network troubleshooting tools and methodologies to assess network performance and problems including ping, trace, sniffers, Optical Time Domain Reflectometer (OTDR), network performance measuring IPERF, and other network diagnostic tools.
• Transports, installs and removes equipment.
• Meets with customers to obtain requirements using Cisco Security Assessment Framework for Enterprise (SAFE) design guidelines.
• Develops and presents design and other documentation to customers including the “best” solution to ensure high availability of network services resulting in commercially acceptable levels of user/customer satisfaction.
• Resolves customer network and network services issues.
• Provides tier 3 support to staff in Regional Technology Centers (RTC), Network Services, Network Operations Center (NOC), other DoIT teams, and customers of the network.
• Develops service and hardware cost estimates and quotes.
• Coordinates with vendors to provide hardware recommendations, circuits, and pricing.
• Performs research to gather information for the development of Request for Proposals (RFPs).
• Develops single and multi-homed internet solutions and performs on site installations.
• Evaluates and implements new network and designing technologies.
• Directs vendor activity related to evaluating new network products, coordinates with vendors for service improvements and restorations.
• Meets and confers with constituents, state agency personnel and vendors to determine exact designing and technical requirements.
• Conducts in-depth studies, collects and maintains information, and conveys analysis for support of senior management recommendations.

20% Performs complex duties in the support of various areas including routing hardware, fiber and telecommunications circuits, Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN), Virtual routing and Forwarding (VRF), Multilink Point to Point Protocol (MLPPP), Multi-Link Frame Relay (MFR), Boarder Gateway Protocol (BGP) configuration, Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS), Multicast, Label Distribution Protocol (LDP), Label Switching Protocol (LSP), Internet Protocol (IP) telephony, video/audio, Domain Name Service (DNS), monitoring systems, content filtering, wireless communications, etc.: 

• Provides application-specific support (e.g., routing, Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) telephony, video/audio, Domain Name Service (DNS), monitoring systems, content filtering,) to other Network Engineers, other team members and constituents.
• Conducts network assessments on complex network designs, and distribution and access router configurations to ensure best design to maximize efficiency of the system.
• Follows agency policies and procedures ensuring standards are met.
• Meets with customers to gather information.
• Identifies and corrects complex network and network service problems and provides detailed documentation of root-cause and resolution to customer.
• Provides advanced technical advice and analysis to internal teams and customers concerning capacity planning and/or bandwidth assessment and for complex technology assignments.
• Performs network maintenance.

15% Performs in-depth Wide Area Network (WAN) studies which directs complex network implementations including the installation and/or upgrade of access/backbone/egress connections or routers, establishing BGP sessions, configurations, (i.e. Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), MPLS, Load Balancing, Multicast, and Quality of Service (QoS) to support wide-area network services such as IP Video and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), Security (IPSEC), to improve network performance:

• Prepares comprehensive documentation and provides reports to management.
• Develops and implements test plans used to validate network performance before and after work performed such as verifying connectivity across access links, monitoring access and up links for errors and verifying connectivity has resumed.
• Reviews and approves test plans developed for critical implementations and documents maintenance, change management, and workflow processes.
• Maintains inventory records and hardware collections.

15% Opens and tracks trouble tickets initiated via customer phone call or email or through assignment from other work teams:

• Confers with constituents to evaluate and isolate connectivity or performance problems.
• Performs in-depth, complex analysis and diagnostics to determine root cause and appropriate internal or external solutions.
• Reviews and assesses situations to determine complexity of network problems and if problem exists within the statewide data and telecommunications network, and other DoIT area (e.g., Local Area Network (LAN), Midrange, End User Computing (EUC), Network Services, etc.), or outside vendor (e.g., AT&T, etc).
• Determines appropriate solution for problems within the statewide network and performs complex corrective actions such as conducting network testing, designing and implementing router configuration solutions.
• Performs advanced network layer 1 (physical layer, circuits, hardware, etc) layer 2 (Ethernet, MetroEthernet, High Level Datalink Control (HDLC), Point to Point Protocol (PPP) and layer 3 (Internet Protocol (IP), Internet Protocol Exchange (IPX), routing, packet delivery) diagnostics and connectivity functions using networking and diagnostic tools (e.g. telnet, traceroute, ping, loopback and circuit tests, router show and configuration commands, etc,) to troubleshoot, and/or fix network problems.
• Analyzes and enforces Service Level Agreements (SLA).
• Explains network status for network problems outside of the RTC scope and provides complex technical information, specifications and status reports to engineers, other support staff, or external vendors for deployment and/or implementation of solutions.
• Manages escalations and notifications to management.
• Tracks and confirms completion and success of work.
• Updates work log and closes trouble ticket when work is completed.
• Provides leadership during single event or regional network outages.

10% Meets with customers to perform sales of network connectivity and related services:

• Determines customer eligibility and costs
• Processes membership applications, service agreements, master service agreements and other customer forms/documentation.
• Meets with customers and constituent groups to discuss state network services, learn about constituent applications and needs, and to communicate state network policies and future direction.
• Works with telecommunications, cable, fiber optic and other vendors providing network access connectivity options to the network to expand offerings and lower pricing.
• Works with constituents in the development and expansion of connectivity options around the state.
• Maintains accurate network and constituent information in databases supporting the network.

10% Serves as project coordinator for a full range of major/complex networking projects across multiple agencies and locations: 

• Builds design templates for large-scale implementations and/or a single complex component.
• Coordinates circuits and hardware installations, fiber, power and environmental, status reporting, communications, tasks, and timelines for large-scale implementations and/or a single complex component.
• Determines and coordinates project components such as project scheduling and assignments.
• Assigns and reviews the work of project analyst staff while providing direction, guidance and expertise.
• Provides support to other DoIT work units and staff as needed.
• Reviews results and incorporates individual components of project into the final product.
• Provides and maintains network documentation and processes network change requests.

5% Keeps abreast of new developments in the Information Technology (IT) field:

• Continues education by attending meetings, training sessions, seminars and conferences to increase familiarity with and maintain current on IT products, vendors, techniques and procedures.
• Attends demonstrations and exhibitions related to assigned operations.

5% Performs other duties as required or assigned which are reasonably within the scope of the duties enumerated above.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Requires knowledge, skill and mental development equivalent to four (4) years of college with course work in computer science or directly related fields.
• Requires three (3) years of professional experience with network development, applications or a directly related Information Technology field.

Specialized Skills:

• Requires three (3) years of professional experience in telecommunications, network hardware/ configuration, Transmission control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) and Routing Protocol Design, or the OSI network model.
• Requires three (3) years of professional experience in Wide Area Network (WAN) configuration and support, and one or more of the following protocols: Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS), Open Shortest path First (OSPF), Border Gateway Protocol (BGPv4), Multiprotocol (MP-BGP), or Intermediate System to Intermediate System (ISIS) Protocol.
• Requires three (3) years of professional experience testing and turning up Telecommunication circuits and data connections (Ethernet and MetroEthernet, Fiber Optical Services), including one or more of the following models: 802.1Q Tunneling (Q-in-Q), or RFC2547 Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) Pseudowires, Software Defined Wide Area Network (SDWAN), or General routing.
• Requires three (3) years of professional experience of Internet Protocol (IP) Multicast Design, Quality of Service (QoS), Network Diagnostic Tool Integration (Packet Sniffers, network performance measuring, using tools such as IPERF), Label Distribution protocol (LDP), or Label Switching Protocol (LSP).