What are the responsibilities and job description for the Senior Network Engineer position at Washtenaw Community College?
Washtenaw Community College (WCC) is looking for a Senior Network Engineer to help design, secure, and evolve the network that supports our students, faculty, and staff. You’ll be a hands-on technical leader responsible for core campus and data center networking, wireless, and modernization efforts like Zero Trust adoption and Layer 2 to Layer 3 transformation.
This position is 100% onsite in Ann Arbor, MI and reports to the Director of Technical Services.
- Designing, implementing, and supporting campus and data center network solutions with a focus on performance, resiliency, and long-term scalability.
- Advancing Zero Trust security across routing, switching, wireless, and firewall platforms to protect sensitive institutional data.
- Leading Layer 2 to Layer 3 migration initiatives, ensuring smooth transitions with minimal service interruption.
- Owning network documentation—creating and maintaining accurate physical and logical diagrams, standards, and runbooks (Lucid or similar).
- Planning and executing infrastructure upgrades and lifecycle replacements, including core, distribution, access, and edge environments.
- Driving wireless network strategy and delivery, including controller management, large-scale deployments, and coverage/performance optimization.
- Leveraging Cisco Catalyst Center to automate configuration, improve visibility, and streamline operations across switching and wireless.
- Designing and overseeing structured cabling projects (fiber and copper), from planning through installation and validation.
- Deploying and administering Cisco Nexus/Catalyst platforms to support high-availability campus and data center services.
- Configuring and maintaining Palo Alto firewalls, including policy design, segmentation, monitoring, and threat prevention.
- Executing disciplined change enablement practices, including communication, risk/impact analysis, testing, and implementation planning.
- Building test plans and rollback procedures to ensure reliable upgrades and safe recovery paths.
- Collaborating across IT teams and stakeholders to align network solutions with institutional needs and initiatives.
- Mentoring junior engineers and contributing to team capability growth through guidance, peer review, and knowledge sharing.
What you will bring
- 5-7 years of progressive network engineering experience in enterprise or large-scale environments.
- Strong grasp of Zero Trust concepts and implementation patterns.
- Proven success leading Layer 2 to Layer 3 conversion projects.
- Cisco Catalyst switching and wireless
- Cisco Nexus data center switching
- Cisco Catalyst Center (DNA Center)
- Palo Alto firewalls (enterprise policy and threat prevention)
- TCP/IP, VLANs, trunking, STP
- Routing (EIGRP, BGP, OSPF or equivalent)
- Network segmentation and security best practices
- Excellent CLI skills and comfort with complex troubleshooting in production environments.
- Experience designing/supporting enterprise wireless controller environments.
- Skilled in fiber and copper cabling standards, installation oversight, and validation.
- Strong analytical, documentation, and operational discipline—especially in high-impact environments.
- Demonstrated ability to manage change enablement / change management
- Familiarity with ITIL or similar change frameworks.
Nice to have certifications
- CCNP (Enterprise, Data Center, or Wireless)
- CWNA or equivalent wireless certification
- Palo Alto PCNSE