Senior Network Engineer

Job Description and Duties

THIS POSITION MAY BE ELIGIBLE FOR A HYBRID WORK SCHEDULE. THE AMOUNT OF TELEWORK IS AT THE DISCRETION OF THE DEPARTMENT AND IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE AS BUSINESS NEEDS ARISE.
The Enterprise Infrastructure Services Section is seeking a highly motivated and technically skilled Information Technology Specialist II to serve as a Senior Network Engineer supporting one of California's largest enterprise network environments.

This position is responsible for engineering, implementing, integrating, and supporting complex enterprise network solutions that provide secure, reliable, and highly available connectivity for thousands of users across statewide offices, data centers, and remote locations. The incumbent serves as a senior technical resource responsible for designing implementation strategies, leading complex infrastructure projects, resolving critical network issues, and ensuring the operational integrity of the Department's enterprise network.

The successful candidate will work with a wide range of enterprise technologies including routing and switching, Palo Alto firewalls, remote access solutions, software-defined networking (SD-WAN), enterprise wireless, load balancing, DNS, DHCP, IP address management, network monitoring platforms, and data center networking. Responsibilities include network engineering, lifecycle management, technology refreshes, performance optimization, complex troubleshooting, incident response, technical documentation, and implementation planning.

This position regularly collaborates with infrastructure, cybersecurity, server, storage, cloud, application, and project teams to deliver enterprise technology solutions that support critical business operations. The incumbent is expected to exercise sound engineering judgment, evaluate technical alternatives, identify operational risks, develop implementation and rollback plans, and provide technical guidance throughout the project lifecycle.

The ideal candidate possesses strong analytical and troubleshooting skills, excellent communication abilities, and experience implementing and supporting large-scale enterprise network environments. Success in this role requires the ability to balance security, performance, availability, scalability, and maintainability while delivering reliable technology solutions that support the Department's mission.

If you are passionate about solving complex technical challenges, enjoy working on large-scale enterprise infrastructure, and want the opportunity to help modernize one of the State's largest technology environments, we encourage you to apply.

This position may be eligible for a hybrid work schedule. The amount of telework is at the discretion of the Department and is subject to change as business needs arise. Employees are required to report to their headquarters office on their assigned in-office days. Travel expenses to and from the assigned headquarters are the responsibility of the employee.

Position located at 1416 9th Street, Sacramento, CA 95814.

This position is headquartered at the New Labor Agency Building (NLAB), a newly remodeled high-rise building. Located in the heart of Downtown Sacramento and in close proximity of the State Capitol and the Golden1 Center, this beautiful and modern building provides the following amenities: Break areas, wellness/lactation rooms, coffee points, a fitness center with private showers, a Career Center for EDD Employees, a micro market, building-wide WiFi, an outdoor terrace, bike storage, nearby public transit options, and much more.

Apply today for the opportunity to work in this state-of-the-art building!

Effective July 1, 2025, specific Bargaining Units and associated Excluded State employees are subject to a salary reduction between 2% - 4.62% in exchange for hours in the Personal Leave Program 2025 (PLP 2025) per month. For more details, please click  here to visit the California Department of Human Resources (CalHR) website.

You will find additional information about the job in the .

Working Conditions

Visa Sponsorship
This position is not eligible for visa sponsorship. Applicants must be authorized to work in the US without the need for visa sponsorship by the start date of employment.

On-premise work. However, discretionary telework may be available at your home where access to the high-speed internet would be required. Travel may be required.

Special Requirements

It is strongly encouraged to apply through your CalCareer Account at  .

Please only submit ONE application.  Electronic applications submitted through your CalCareer Account are highly recommended and will be received/processed faster than other methods of filing.

If you are unable to apply electronically through your CalCareer account, please mail a completed and signed State Examination/Employment Application STD Form 678 and application package to the mailing address provided in the “Application Instructions’ section below and ensure the following:

• Clearly indicate the Job Code #, Position Number and the Classification Title of this position in the “Examination or Job Title(s) For Which You Are Applying” section located on Page 3 of your State Examination/Employment STD Form 678.

• Clearly indicate the basis of your eligibility (list, transfer, reinstatement, etc.) in the “Explanations” section located on Page 3 of your State Examination/Employment Application STD Form 678.

• Remove and do not submit the “Equal Employment Opportunity” questionnaire (Page 10) with your completed State Examination/Employment Application STD Form 678.  This page is for examination use only.

• Do not include your full Social Security Number on your documents and/or do not provide any LEAP information.

Examination/Assessment

If selected for hire , you must obtain list eligibility by taking and passing the examination. If you already have list eligibility for this classification, you do not need to retake the examination unless your list eligibility has expired.

Click the examination link below for more information and to take the exam:

For more information about the State hiring process,  click here . To watch tutorials on how to apply for a State job,  click here .

Desirable Qualifications

In addition to evaluating each candidate's relative ability, as demonstrated by quality and breadth of experience, the following factors will provide the basis for competitively evaluating each candidate:

The most competitive candidates will possess two or more of the following:

• Experience engineering, implementing, and supporting large-scale enterprise network environments across multiple offices, data centers, or critical business locations.
• Advanced knowledge of enterprise routing and switching technologies, including dynamic routing protocols, network resiliency, segmentation, high availability, and performance optimization.
• Experience administering and troubleshooting Palo Alto Networks firewalls, GlobalProtect, site-to-site VPNs, security policies, network address translation, and related network security services.
• Experience with enterprise load-balancing and application-delivery technologies, including F5 BIG-IP, virtual servers, pools, health monitors, persistence, SSL termination, and end-to-end application traffic analysis.
• Experience with software-defined networking, SD-WAN, data center networking, enterprise wireless, and secure remote-access solutions.
• Experience using network monitoring and troubleshooting tools such as SolarWinds, ThousandEyes, Netscout, Wireshark, NetFlow, SNMP, syslog, packet capture, or comparable technologies.
• Experience leading enterprise network implementations, migrations, upgrades, technology refreshes, office deployments, or other complex infrastructure initiatives.
• Experience developing implementation plans, low-level technical designs, network diagrams, test and validation plans, rollback procedures, standard operating procedures, and root-cause analysis reports.
• Experience coordinating technical work across network, security, server, storage, application, cloud, telecommunications, vendor, and project-management teams.
• Demonstrated ability to provide technical leadership, mentoring, peer review, and guidance without formal supervisory authority.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to explain complex technical concepts to engineers, management, customers, and nontechnical stakeholders.

Benefits

Benefit information can be found on the CalHR website,  , and the CalPERS website,  .

Statement of Qualifications Requirements

A Statement of Qualifications (SOQ) is Required  and must be no more than two pages, single-spaced, using 12-point Arial font with one-inch margins. The applicant’s name and job control number must appear in the upper-right corner of each page.

Applicants must respond to both prompts below. Responses should be specific and clearly identify the applicant’s individual responsibilities, decisions, work products, and results.

1. Describe your experience evaluating the health, reliability, capacity, and operational effectiveness of an enterprise network service or platform.
2. Describe your experience developing or improving network engineering standards, procedures, documentation, or operational practices for a complex technical environment.

Résumés and/or cover letters DO NOT take the place of the SOQ. Applications received without an SOQ or SOQs that do not include a response to the statement above may not receive further consideration and may be excluded from the hiring process.

Required Application Package Documents

The following items are required to be submitted with your application. Applicants who do not submit the required items timely may not be considered for this job:

• Current version of the State Examination/Employment Application STD Form 678 (when not applying electronically), or the Electronic State Employment Application through your Applicant Account at All Experience and Education relating to the Minimum Qualifications listed on the Classification Specification should be included to demonstrate how you meet the Minimum Qualifications for the position.
• Resume is optional. It may be included, but is not required.
• Statement of Qualifications -
  A Statement of Qualifications (SOQ) is Required. Please see “Statement of Qualifications Requirements” section for more information about the SOQ.