Senior Data Center Infrastructure Engineer (Remote from anywhere in Colorado)

Together, we innovate for a stronger Colorado

The work of employees at the Governor's Office of Information Technology (OIT) is challenging and diverse because the needs of agencies, customers and Coloradans constantly evolve. But our focus never changes: improve the lives of all Coloradans through innovation and collaboration. We're building one of the nation's leading government IT organizations by reimagining how we support agencies, building first-of-their-kind applications, and creating an inclusive, collaborative culture, together. Join us in the important work of providing equitable access to services.

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IMPORTANT NOTE: Please review your application to ensure completion. For the most equitable applicant experience, OIT’s hiring team considers only the contents of your application to review your qualifications. Please do not include any attachments (such as resume or cover letter) with your application as these items are not used by OIT’s hiring team.  

Our next Senior Data Center Infrastructure Engineer will be a senior technical expert and design authority for the shared enterprise network services the team provides to 20 member organizations.  You will architect, engineer, and lead the delivery of highly complex, mission-critical, multi-tenant services, including data center networking; connectivity to cloud providers (AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud); WAN transport; enterprise wireless; F5 application delivery and load balancing; and network and application monitoring, performance management, and troubleshooting. 

You will make design decisions that affect every member organization; defining how organizations and their applications are segmented, routed, and connected to the data centers, the WAN, the Internet, and the cloud; establishes network standards, reference designs, service levels, and configuration templates. You will mentor Infrastructure Engineers, review their technical work, and represent the network service to management, member organizations, cloud providers, carriers, vendors, and other government and private sector entities.

Some of the day to day opportunities include:

Serving as a technical lead for enterprise network projects and for onboarding member organizations, applications, and sites to shared services. Typical work includes data center modernization and migration, new cloud connectivity, WAN and SD-WAN transport changes, wireless refreshes, F5 platform upgrades and application onboarding, and hardware lifecycle replacements.

Acting as a design authority for the shared network services delivered to member organizations. Architecting scalable, resilient, secure, and cost-effective designs for: data center networks (Cisco ACI and/or Nexus EVPN-VXLAN fabrics, or equivalent); multi-tenant segmentation and routing using VRFs, MPLS/L3VPN, and BGP policy; WAN transport and SD-WAN across carrier circuits; the Internet edge; private connectivity to AWS (Direct Connect, Transit Gateway), Microsoft Azure (ExpressRoute, Virtual WAN), and Google Cloud (Cloud Interconnect, Cloud Router); enterprise wireless; and F5 BIG-IP application delivery, including local and global load balancing, SSL/TLS offload, and application security policy.

Defining high availability, failover, disaster recovery, and capacity strategies across data centers and cloud regions.

Defining service levels and the monitoring and telemetry needed to measure them.

Evaluating technologies, vendor platforms, cloud networking services, and software releases.

Developing platform lifecycle and refresh plans.

Designing security into the network in partnership with Enterprise Security, including tenant segmentation, firewall policy, Internet edge protection (DDoS mitigation, BGP route filtering and RPKI route origin validation), zero-trust principles, and integration with cloud-delivered security (SASE/SSE), in line with applicable federal and state requirements.

Setting the strategy and standards for network automation, infrastructure as code, and network source-of-truth data.

Planning data center capacity for high-bandwidth workloads, including analytics and AI workloads.

A wide salary range is posted for this position and any job offer is based upon a salary analysis to comply with the Colorado Equal Pay for Equal Work Act. The salary analysis considers relevant experience, education, certifications, and state seniority as compared to others doing substantially similar work. While all offers are compliant with the Colorado Equal Pay for Equal Work Act, there is no guarantee an offer will be at the top of the posted range based on the salary analysis. 

This is a skills-based job announcement. The required minimum qualifications and/or education (if substituting for the proven experience, knowledge, and skills), are as follows: 

Minimum Qualifications:

A minimum of five (5) years of experience as a Network Engineer designing, implementing, testing, and documenting complex Cisco based network solutions. Experience should include the following: 

3+ years designing and configuring advanced routing and switching for data center, campus, and WAN networks (BGP, OSPF, IS-IS, MPLS, VRF, route policy)

3+ years of network design and architecture experience, including authoring high-level and low-level designs and standards

3+ years acting as technical lead and planning enterprise network projects across multiple teams, carriers, and vendors

3+ years designing or engineering private connectivity and routing to at least two of AWS, Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud

3+ years engineering data center network fabrics (Cisco ACI and/or Nexus EVPN-VXLAN, or equivalent platforms such as Arista or Juniper)

2+ years engineering F5 BIG-IP local traffic management (or an equivalent application delivery platform), including virtual servers, pools, health monitors, SSL/TLS profiles, and high availability

2+ years automating network configuration and operations in production using Python, Ansible, Terraform, or similar tools, with version control (Git)

Experience securing network infrastructure, including firewall policy, Internet edge protection (DDoS mitigation, BGP route filtering), and segmentation

Experience using network and application monitoring tools (e.g., ThousandEyes, NetFlow/IPFIX, SNMP and streaming telemetry, packet capture) to resolve complex performance problems

Experience planning and executing large-scale hardware refreshes, software upgrades, and migrations, including MOPs and rollback plans

Additional appropriate education will substitute for the required experience on a year-for-year basis, but cannot completely substitute for these qualifications. 

Training or Certification related to the work assigned to the position will be assigned credit towards substitution for experience and/or education, but cannot completely substitute for these qualifications. 

If the minimum qualifications include a degree requirement, additional appropriate paid or unpaid experience will substitute for the required education on a year-for-year basis.

Preferred Qualifications:

Cisco Expert or Professional certifications (e.g., CCIE or CCNP Enterprise, Data Center, or Service Provider) or equivalent (e.g., Juniper JNCIP/JNCIE)

Cloud networking certifications (e.g., AWS Certified Advanced Networking - Specialty, Microsoft Azure Network Engineer Associate, Google Professional Cloud Network Engineer)

F5 certifications (e.g., F5 Certified BIG-IP Administrator or F5 Certified Technology Specialist)

Experience with F5 global traffic management (BIG-IP DNS) and Advanced WAF

Experience with Cisco Catalyst Center (formerly DNA Center), SD-Access, and Catalyst SD-WAN at enterprise scale

Experience with Infoblox DHCP/DNS/IPAM in a multi-tenant environment

Experience defining service levels and building service dashboards from monitoring data

Experience with SASE/SSE platforms, Kubernetes or container networking, or high-bandwidth data center design for AI workloads

Network automation certification or experience (e.g., Cisco CCNP Automation, formerly DevNet Professional)

Experience with security frameworks applicable to government organizations (e.g., NIST, CJIS, IRS Publication 1075)

Experience mentoring engineers, leading design reviews, and evaluating vendors or responding to RFPs

Conditions of Employment:

OIT employees must comply with any screening procedures in place at state agency locations where they might perform work. 

A pre-employment background check will be conducted as part of the selection process. Post-employment background checks will be required for specific agencies as business needs dictate, which may include a polygraph exam, fingerprint-based criminal history search, reference checks, and a drug test.

This position may require travel within the specified geographic area, and to locations across the state as needed. 

If this posting indicates “remote from anywhere in CO” in the title, periodic reporting to the primary state work location designated for the position is required. All remote work must be performed in Colorado. 

While candidates from out of state will be considered for this role, the candidate selected for the position must relocate and reside in Colorado on the first day of their new position.  A reasonable timeframe for relocation will be established on an individual basis, while considering business needs, and determining a start date.

We know it's important to support each other, and that means having a healthy balance of work and personal time. Visit our benefits to learn more about some of our great offerings that allow us all to have fulfilling lives. 

Visit our How to Apply webpage to learn more about our application process and what to expect after you apply.

The State of Colorado strives to create a Colorado for All by building and maintaining workplaces that value and respect all Coloradans through a commitment to equal opportunity and hiring based on merit and fitness.  The State is resolute in non-discriminatory practices in everything we do, including hiring, employment, and advancement opportunities.

The Governor's Office of Information Technology is committed to the full inclusion of all qualified individuals. As part of this commitment, our agency will assist individuals who have a disability with any reasonable accommodation requests related to employment, including completing the application process, interviewing, completing any pre-employment testing, participating in the employee selection process, and/or to perform essential job functions where the requested accommodation does not impose an undue hardship. If you have a disability and require reasonable accommodation to ensure you have a positive experience applying or interviewing for this position, please direct your inquiries to our ADA Coordinator at [email protected] or call (303) 764-7900.

This posting may be used to fill multiple vacancies based upon business need. 

The Governor's Office of Information Technology does NOT offer sponsored Visas for employment purposes.