Network Engineer - SLED & K - 12

Network Engineer – SLED & K-12 Infrastructure

Location: West Virginia / Mid-Atlantic Region
Job Type: Full-Time
Experience Level: Junior through Senior
Compensation: Competitive and based on experience, certifications, and technical capability

About the Role

Advantage Technology is looking for a Network Engineer to support State, Local Government, Education, and K-12 customers throughout the region.

We are intentionally open to candidates at multiple experience levels.

You may be an experienced engineer who can independently lead complex network projects, or you may be an earlier-career engineer with strong networking fundamentals who wants to grow into larger enterprise networking responsibilities.

Compensation and responsibilities will be aligned with your level of experience and technical ability.

What matters most is that you understand networking, enjoy solving problems, are comfortable working hands-on with infrastructure, are comfortable with travel, and want to continue developing your skills.

What You’ll Work With

Our SLED and K-12 environments include technologies such as:

• Extreme Networks

• Fortinet

• Cisco Meraki

• HPE Aruba

• Juniper Mist

• Cisco

• Enterprise switching and routing

• High-density wireless

• Network segmentation

Experience with Extreme Fabric Connect and ExtremeCloud IQ is especially valuable.

You do not need experience with every technology listed above.

What You’ll Do

Depending on your experience level, responsibilities may include:

• Installing and configuring enterprise switches

• Configuring VLANs, uplinks, routing, and redundancy

• Deploying and replacing wireless access points

• Supporting high-density K-12 wireless environments

• Troubleshooting wired and wireless connectivity

• Supporting network refresh and modernization projects

• Participating in network cutovers

• Troubleshooting Layer 1 through Layer 3 issues

• Supporting VPN, WAN, and site-to-site connectivity

• Assisting with network segmentation and security projects

• Staging and configuring equipment before deployment

• Testing and validating completed installations

• Documenting customer network environments

• Working with project managers, engineers, field technicians, and customers

• Traveling to customer locations when projects require on-site support

K-12 & SLED Networking

A major focus of this position is supporting schools, municipalities, state and local government, and other public-sector organizations.

Projects may include:

• Campus network upgrades

• Core and access switch refreshes

• Wireless modernization

• MDF and IDF upgrades

• Network segmentation

• Multi-building connectivity

• Internet and WAN migrations

• Troubleshooting production network problems

• Improving wireless coverage and performance

You may work in classrooms, schools, government facilities, MDFs, IDFs, and other customer environments.

Grow With the Position

We are intentionally hiring across multiple experience levels.

Earlier-Career Engineers

You may be a strong fit if you:

• Understand networking fundamentals

• Have experience configuring switches, wireless, or firewalls

• Understand VLANs, IP addressing, routing, DHCP, and DNS

• Have hands-on experience in network closets or customer environments

• Are comfortable troubleshooting connectivity problems

• Want exposure to larger enterprise and campus networks

• Want to learn technologies such as Extreme, Fortinet, Aruba, Juniper, and Cisco

You will have opportunities to work alongside experienced engineers and grow into larger design and implementation responsibilities.

Experienced Engineers

More experienced candidates may:

• Design complete network solutions

• Lead major infrastructure refresh projects

• Lead network migrations and cutovers

• Troubleshoot complex production issues

• Design switching, wireless, firewall, and segmentation solutions

• Serve as the technical lead on customer projects

• Mentor developing engineers

• Work directly with customers on architecture and strategy

Your level of responsibility will match your demonstrated experience and capability.

This Is a Hands-On Position

This is not a remote-only networking role.

You should be comfortable:

• Working in MDFs and IDFs

• Installing and replacing network equipment

• Connecting and testing infrastructure

• Participating in network cutovers

• Troubleshooting live customer environments

• Working in schools and government facilities

• Traveling throughout the region based on project needs

• Working alongside engineers, field technicians, and structured cabling teams

What We’re Looking For

Candidates may range from developing network engineers to highly experienced professionals.

We are looking for some combination of:

• Hands-on networking experience

• Enterprise switching experience

• Wireless networking experience

• Firewall experience

• Strong troubleshooting skills

• Understanding of Layer 2 and Layer 3 networking

• Understanding of VLANs and IP networking

• Experience with enterprise Wi-Fi

• Experience with VPN and WAN technologies

• SLED or K-12 experience

• Strong communication skills

• Professional presence at customer sites

• Willingness to learn new technologies

• Willingness to travel as projects require

You do not need to check every box to apply.

If you have strong networking fundamentals, enjoy hands-on engineering, and have the ability and desire to learn, we want to hear from you.

Technologies That Will Get Our Attention

Experience with any combination of the following is valuable:

Networking & Wireless

• Extreme Networks

• Extreme Fabric Connect

• ExtremeCloud IQ

• Cisco

• Cisco Meraki

• HPE Aruba

• Juniper Mist

Firewalls & Security

• Fortinet / FortiGate

• Cisco Meraki

• Enterprise firewall platforms

• VPN

• Network segmentation

Certifications

Certifications are helpful but are not required for every experience level.

Relevant certifications may include:

• CompTIA Network+

• CCNA

• CCNP

• Extreme Networks certifications

• Fortinet certifications

• HPE Aruba certifications

• Juniper certifications

• CWNA

Demonstrated technical ability and willingness to learn are just as important as certifications.

Who Will Excel Here

This position is a strong fit for someone who:

• Enjoys networking and infrastructure

• Likes troubleshooting difficult problems

• Wants exposure to large networks

• Enjoys learning new networking technologies

• Is comfortable working both independently and with a team

• Takes pride in clean, organized implementations

• Wants increasing responsibility as their skills grow

• Likes seeing the real-world impact of their work

Whether you are early in your networking career or already capable of leading complex enterprise deployments, there is room to grow and make an impact at Advantage Technology.

Employment Type: Full Time
Years Experience: 3 - 5 years
Salary: $60,110 - $114,234 Annual
Bonus/Commission: Yes