Title – Network Administrator

Department – Information Technology, Methuen Public Schools Reporting to – Director of Technology

Year round 12 month position

Salary Range – $90,000 - 100,000 (commensurate with experience)

Job Description

The network administrator is responsible for the reliability, security, and efficiency of our data communications network. The network administrator has the skills and expertise to deploy, configure, maintain, and monitor all active network equipment, ensuring seamless network operations.

Responsibilities include troubleshooting and resolving network issues, implementing security measures, and proactively optimizing network performance. The network administrator plays a crucial role in maintaining a robust, secure and dependable network infrastructure for the district.

Detailed Responsibilities

• Fully support, configure, maintain and upgrade the districts network infrastructure
• Install, configure and integrate new software, firewall, VPN, cloud services, servers, routers and other network devices
• Ensure network security and connectivity
• Define network policies and procedures
• Monitor network utilization and performance (availability, throughput, goodput, and latency) and test for weaknesses
• Create, oversee and test security measures (e.g. access authentication and disaster recovery)
• Suggest improvements for network performance, capacity and scalability for continuous improvement
• Specify system requirements and design solutions
• Plan and carry out routine maintenance schedule
• Network management, monitoring, alerting and logging
• Support and administer third-party applications
• Manage permissions and access
• Resolve network and access related tickets in a timely manner

 Requirements and skills

• BS degree in Computer Science or equivalent combination of skills/experience/certifications
• 5 years of technical support experience in a large, networked computing environment
• Proven experience in a network administrator role
• Hands on experience in networking, routing and switching
• Excellent knowledge of best practices around management, control, and monitoring of server infrastructure
• Experience with firewalls, VPN, cloud systems, troubleshooting, and problem resolution
• Ability to set up and configure server hardware
• Familiarity with backup and recovery methodologies
• Ability to organize, prioritize and multitask
• Solid background in network administration and architecture
• Ability to work independently
• Organizational and mentoring skills
• Experience with network diagnostic, monitoring and analysis tools
• Familiarity with access control models and network security
• Knowledge of coding languages for scripting
• Ability to successfully negotiate and collaborate with others of different skill sets, backgrounds and levels with the district

 Specific Experience

• Proficiency with various operating systems and diagnostic utilities, encompassing iOS, Android, MacOS, Windows, ChromeOS, and Linux. Skills extend to tools such as Wireshark for network analysis and performance monitoring utilities.

• Expertise in utilizing security solutions, including EDR (Endpoint Detection and Response), email security management, and incident response. Comprehensive knowledge in administering leading firewall systems, including Secure policy design, Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPS), application control, web filtering policy management, Firewall Logs Analysis, and Continuous Monitoring practices.

• Extensive experience in designing, implementing, and maintaining wired and wireless networks, adhering to industry best practices. This includes proficiency in Layer 2 and Layer 3 network architectures, as well as Storage Area Networks (SANs). Capabilities span the configuration of all network devices, both static and dynamic routing protocols, wireless controllers, phone systems, iSCSI/ZFS storage solutions, VLAN, DHCP, and DNS management(both private and public), virtualization infrastructures, and VPN positioning (both endpoint and site-to-site tunnels).