Wireless Network Engineer

14841BR

University IT

Managerial, Professional and Specialist Staff – MPSS

Advert

Wireless Network Engineer
Cardiff University are looking for a Wireless Network Engineer to join the Network Engineering Team. This role will be focused on supporting and maintaining the wireless network infrastructure.
Members of the Network Engineering Team are working on an extensive project to replace all of the network infrastructure, including Wireless. We are transitioning from Extreme to Aruba wireless.
We are looking for an experienced Wireless Network Engineer, with experience of maintaining enterprise-grade wireless infrastructure.
This post is full-time and open-ended.
Salary: £35,333 – £42,155 per annum (Grade 6)

Date advert posted: Tuesday, 20 September 2022

Closing date: Friday, 7 October 2022
Please be aware that Cardiff University reserves the right to close this vacancy early should sufficient applications be received.
Cardiff University is committed to supporting and promoting equality and diversity and to creating an inclusive working environment. We believe this can be achieved through attracting, developing, and retaining a diverse range of staff from many different backgrounds who have the ambition to create a University which seeks to fulfil our social, cultural and economic obligation to Cardiff, Wales, and the world.  In supporting our employees to achieve a balance between their work and their personal lives, we will also consider proposals for flexible working or job share arrangements.

Job Description

You will work as part of a professional service delivery team dedicated to the provision of an efficient, effective and quality driven Information Technology service to staff and students within the Corporate, Administrative, Academic Research and Learning and Teaching functions of the University.

You will provide a highly professional, friendly and customer focused face to the services offered by Information Services.
The Network Engineering team is one of the longest established teams in the department and designs, implements and supports key infrastructure services upon which many other IT service deliverables depend.
The most important include the University Local Area Network (LAN), Wide Area Network (WAN) and the Wireless Network service (WLAN). This is an open-ended role, to support the Wireless Network Service.
You will take responsibility for:

• The development of technology and infrastructure designs and specifications, including the documentation of architectures, topologies and configuration items.
• The specification and development of user/system interfaces, including validation and error correction procedures, processing rules, access, security and audit controls. You will assess associated risks, and specify recovery routines and contingency procedures. You will also assist with the translation of logical designs into physical designs.
• The provision of infrastructure maintenance and support services, both to users of the systems and to service delivery functions. You will pro-actively monitor system performance, investigating and resolving faults and problems in a timely fashion. You will provide information, advice or training to users on functionality, correct operation and system constraints.

The role may also involve the line-management and leadership of staff supporting technical and functional solutions and/or services in the role-holder’s technical domain.

Duties and Responsibilities

You will be required to:

• Contribute to a centre of expertise within the organisation, taking responsibility for the development and maintenance of complex technical systems, covering all aspects of the systems lifecycle including investigation, analysis, specification, design, building, testing, operation, maintenance, upgrade, migration and obsolescence.
• Perform proactive maintenance and management tasks on both the legacy and new wireless network infrastructure.
• Troubleshoot, diagnose and resolve problems reported with the wireless service, including investigating faults with wireless client devices.
• Where capacity or coverage gaps are identified, the role holder will be expected to make recommendations to resolve the issues by using the Ekahau RF design software to model and predict solutions.
• Take responsibility for aspects of the specification and design of technology utilised within the organisation, including recommendations for improving technology operations and cost-effectiveness.
• Produce and maintain technology design policies, philosophies and criteria covering connectivity, capacity, interfacing, security, resilience, recovery, access and remote access using industry standards, methods and tools.
• Suggest design enhancements, capacity changes, contingency and system recovery arrangements as required, enabling design targets to be met and ensuring that the technology provided meets service level targets within the organisation’s planned budget.

Person Specification

Essential Criteria

Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, both written and verbal.

Good organisational skills with the ability to work flexibly to prioritise successfully under pressure.

Demonstrable knowledge and experience in problem, error and knowledge management analysis, resolution and delivery techniques

Able to document complex technical solutions in a logical and clear framework that can be readily understood by others.

Excellent and proven relationship management skills with experience of managing the requirements of stakeholders

Demonstrable experience of utilising toolsets for monitoring, auditing and reviewing service support performance.

Proven ability to shape developments through active participation within teams and groups.

Demonstrable experience of managing and maintaining enterprise-grade wireless network infrastructure, preferably Extreme or Aruba

Demonstrable experience of troubleshooting wireless client device connectivity problems

Desirable Criteria

Experience of troubleshooting wired client device connectivity problems

Experience using Ekahau RF design planning tool to resolve issues of poor wireless coverage or capacity

A degree or equivalent experience / professional qualifications

An understanding of ITIL service management

Job description continued:

• Review technology costs against planned budgets, taking into account public tariffs and new technology developments; liaise with technology suppliers of equipment, software and services, evaluating proposals and approving changes to technology design where appropriate.
• Contribute to technical requirements, tender and proposal documents and participate in reviews and evaluations of responses for the selection of appropriate suppliers, services and contracts.
• Work with colleagues to monitor, optimise and report on the operational performance and stability of technology systems using commercial and open source tools; and identify where further development may be needed.

Additional Information

Job description continued:

• Take responsibility for resolving problems and issues independently, using judgement and creativity to suggest the most appropriate course of action, and ensuring that the impact of complex and conceptual issues and solutions are understood by all parties.
• Contribute to the development of standards to allow staff within the role’s technical domain to carry out all tasks and procedures efficiently and effectively to meet agreed levels of service or specific requirements of Service or Operational Level Agreements. Gather and record service level information and produce statistics for use in measuring key performance indicators (KPIs), and ensure that required targets are met.
• Work within matrix-teams of staff across Information Services to deliver enhanced technology solutions to the University, providing advice and guidance to analysts, designers, and less experienced colleagues where necessary.
• Consult with and advise Project Managers to help them plan, prioritise and set project milestones to ensure that resources are appropriately deployed in order to meet deadlines.
• Lead or participate in projects as appropriate, managing the operation of project teams, planning and organising work and monitoring progress.
• Establish relationships with key contacts to ensure role objectives are met, developing appropriate communication links with internal and external stakeholders as required.
• You will have or be prepared to develop an appropriate knowledge/skill level in the current technologies in use and to develop an appropriate knowledge/skill level in any new technologies that are introduced.
• Carry out some duties associated with a more senior role for developmental purposes or for a more junior role for operational reasons.
• To ensure compliance with legal and regulatory requirements in respect of equality and diversity, data protection, copyright and licensing, security, financial and other University policies, procedures and codes as appropriate.
• To take reasonable care for the health and safety of yourself and of other persons who may be affected by your acts or omissions at work in accordance with the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, EC directives and the University’s Safety, Health and Environment Policies and procedures and to cooperate with the University on any legal duties placed on it as the employer.
• You may also be asked to perform other duties occasionally which are not included above, but which will be consistent with the role.

Where the role requires staff management and leadership the following responsibilities will also apply:

• Be ultimately responsible for development and pastoral care and welfare of the staff under your line-management including objective setting, appraisal, performance review and training. Be a point of escalation for welfare issues including dealing with matters where there are no set guidelines or procedures.
• Ensure that staff for whom you are responsible operate within appropriate risk assessments and operating procedures and are compliant with all University procedures and policies.

Current technologies:

We are currently in transition to new network infrastructure. The legacy network is mostly Brocade/Ruckus, and a handful of HP Procurve wired switches, and the new network is Dell Spine and Leaf switches with Aruba edge switches and Aruba wireless access points. We now use ClearPass for our central control solution, and Entuity as our monitoring and alerting tool.

Job Category

Information Technology