Network Engineer II

At ACT Your Work Makes a Difference

Education has power - a power that changes lives forever. It creates opportunities that lift up individuals, their families, and sparks societal change that echoes through generations to come. From our grassroots we have fought the good fight for fairness in education, and we remain devoted to helping anyone who struggles to access that power. This is what matters to us and we must do better -- we've never been more sure of our purpose.

ACT Education Corp. team members are part of an organization dedicated to an important mission: Helping people achieve education and workplace success. Advancing the mission internally, by helping team members achieve education and workplace success of their own, is core to our values. ACT values a diverse workplace and is committed to fostering an inclusive environment in which every team member has equal opportunity to grow.

We want our team members to have the well-being and confidence they need to do their best work, in an environment where both they and the company thrive. To support this, our total rewards include company paid life insurance, medical, dental, vision, flexible spending accounts, 401(k) with company contributions, paid holidays, paid time off, and so much more.You can find a comprehensive list of our benefits here.

We are seeking a Network Engineer II to help us fulfill that mission. The Network Engineer is responsible for designing, maintaining, and implementing our data network campus and the cloud services that support our customers. This position has technical strength to review and recommend solutions, implement technology that supports needs of the organization, and requires thoughful consideration for data network security. This role requires an understanting of network design, protocols, security, and performance optimization with experience in both hardware and software networking solutions, with a strong ability to troubleshoot and resolve customer issues. The candidate will function as part of a team that works closely with all technology teams as well as our business teams to achieve streamlined continuous integration/delivery objectives.

The finalist will be hired at the salary and level commensurate with their qualifications. For this position, we anticipate offering an annual salary in the range of $90,000 to $105,000. ACT manages salaries within the range based on relevant factors including, skills, experience, and internal equity.

Location: Onsite or hybrid and will be located in the Iowa City, Iowa area.

What you will be working on:

40% - Monitor network performance and ensure system availability and reliability.

Monitor and maintain multiple (Infrastructure) environments based on ACT requirements.
• Conduct regular network performance tests and provide reports on network status.
• Develop and maintain documentation to support application environments including VPN, Firewall, Wireless, and Security solutions.
• Guide customers on technical issues that impact releases, deployment, and delivery.
• Create, implement, and assist in everyday operations.
• Stay up-to-date with the latest networking technologies and industry trends.

35% - Troubleshoot and resolve network issues and outages.

• Establishes deployment strategy and implementation.
• Provide technical support and training to end-users as needed.
• Analyze and troubleshoot complex technical problems.
• Identify inconsistencies in the Provider solution and escalate the exceptions for approval.
• Partner with vendors to ensure vulnerability, compliance, and patching across all network service platforms.
• Effectively facilitate discussions with stakeholders and leaders to define clear business requirements for complex, unclear, or large-scale business problems.

25% - Configure and maintain network and security measures to protect data, software, and hardware.

• Work with team members on technical decision making, code reviews and enforcing engineering practices and standards.
• Collaborate with IT team members to develop and implement network policies and procedures.
• Design, implement, and manage network infrastructure, including routers, switches, firewalls, and wireless access points.
• Manage network hardware, cloud, and solution implementations, upgrades, migrations, and change requests on client environments.

Role Progression:

At 3 months you will:

• Have completed onboarding.
• Have a basic understanding of ACT Network topology\tooling.
• Be able to engage in monitoring of the ACT Network environment.

At 6 Months you will:

• Be managing maintenance and patching of ACT Network gear.
• Work under oversight from Network Lead.
• Have a strong understanding of network security, firewall changes and management.

At 12 months you will:

• Be able to conduct reviews of new network solutions and directions in industry.
• Participate in evaluating, recommending changes in technology, upgrades, and security as they pertain to the network.

This could be the job for you if you have (minimum requirements):

• 3 years of progressivly responsible IT and business/industry work experience that includes experience:
• with Network routing and switching fundamentals
• with Firewall security policy and monitoring
• with infrastructure monitoring and support tools
• with enterprise Wireless configuration and management
• with security tools and techniques to secure network and client access
• with VPN and general internet fundamentals
• in cloud providers and solutions in a managed services environment
• with project management methodologies
• Highly autonomous and demonstrated ability to take initiative
• Strong communication and collaboration skills
• Flexible when direction changes and seeks feedback and opportunity for growth
• Results-oriented and able to work across the organization
• Ability to lead team through changes in a rapidly transforming organization
• Strong background in ITIL (preferred) or similar process oriented framework
• Ability to apply continuous improvement to existing processes and programs
• Ability to evolve IT architecture and standards
• Knowledge of Infrastructure technologies and business applications, and their relationships
• Skills and knowledge required for success in this position attained through experience, education (bachelor's degree in computer science, management information systems, or related area of study), or a combination of both.

It's a plus if you have:

• Network or Security certifications
• Experience with multiple IT Infrastructure technologies
• Contributor to an IT industry body or industry related major corporation advisory group

When ACT was founded in 1959, it disrupted the assessment industry with a new approach to helping students better understand their readiness so they could take steps to improve it. By leveraging our expertise and authority in assessment and research, we will again disrupt the industry-helping more people learn, better measure their progress, and improve their navigation through life's transitions.

More than ever before, ACT is fulfilling its mission of helping people achieve education and workplace success. We're doing it by pushing the boundaries of learning innovation through the work of our people, who we call team members because we're all in this together.

We know transformation does not come without challenge. That's why ACT invests in a variety of experiences for team members to strengthen their connections, explore ideas, learn from customers, and celebrate success.

Learn more about working at ACT at act.org!

ACT is an equal opportunity employer, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. ACT participates in E-verify. ACT's online position announcements are intended only to provide general descriptions of employment opportunities; none of the information provided for any position should be interpreted as a commitment by ACT to specific terms and conditions for employment. Application FAQs

If you have received an ACT employment-related communication from an email address that is not affiliated with @act.org and/or that requests personal or financial information, please do not reply. Instead, reach out to us at careers@act.org with the details. ACT's recruitment team appreciates your interest in working with us to transform college and career readiness pathways for all learners and wishes you the best of luck in your career journey.