Senior IT Network Engineer (SDWAN)

Are you looking for an exciting job where you can put your skills and talents to work at a company you can feel proud to be a part of? Do you want a workplace that will challenge you and offer you opportunities to learn and grow?  A  position at Xcel Energy could be just what you’re looking for.

Position Summary

The Sr. IT Network Engineer is responsible for leading technical aspects of IT solution delivery, strategic planning, and operational excellence. They are responsible for managing the overall health of the technology ecosystem and will manage and oversee design of solutions to meet business needs and support the overall IT Strategy. They provide technical guidance in partnership with Architecture and with cross-organizational input and in accordance with business unit objectives. They are a consultant to business managers, architecture, security and operations teams to drive cross-awareness of business needs and opportunities. They bring innovative solutions to the business line by leveraging their technical expertise. They identify and implement continuous improvement over cost, security, operation, and functionality of the solutions in their domain.

Essential Responsibilities

• Solution Delivery: Lead and support solution lifecycle technical activities. Ensure solutions are designed for great user experience and operational performance. Lead design, ensuring Enterprise Architecture, Security, Operations and Compliance aspects are continuously integrated into solutions. Provide input to cost and schedule estimation. Responsible for overall integrity of system design and operation. Oversee vendor activities.
• Relationship Management: Conduct peer reviews and approve system changes and technical solution design. Coach and mentor less experienced team members. Partner cross-organizationally to drive minimal costs on optimal solutions. Provide in-depth technical information to stakeholders as needed.
• Strategy & Planning: Innovate through usage of industry emerging capabilities and evolving customer needs. Provide input to strategic roadmap and technical dependencies.
• Subject Matter Expertise: Continuously stay current on, and apply, technical industry knowledge pertaining to the respective domain.
• Operations: Review solution performance and continually assess health of systems. Track and drive awareness to operational and technical debt risks. Provide escalated support to incident and problem management. Utilize analytics to improve availability, reliability, efficiency and capacity. Oversee vendor activities.

Minimum Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in technology, Science, Business or related field, or 4 years of experience equivalent to the position.
• Ten years of related functional experience.
• Excellent communication skills, effective with varying organizational levels and skill set, and able to translate between technical and non-technical concepts.
• Excellent Relationship Management and collaboration skills, with a track record of working as one team cross-organizationally to drive innovation and business results.
• Expertise managing the lifecycle of technical solutions.
• Deep Subject Matter Expertise within the respective system domain products, platforms, processes and architecture.
• Broad and deep knowledge of technology architecture, infrastructure, network, security and software principles and models.
• Experience working in partnership with internal and external vendors.
• Excellent analytical, problem-solving and troubleshooting skills.
• Extensive knowledge of future technology trends within area of expertise.
• Demonstrated leadership on technical aspects of large-scale projects.
• Experience coaching other developers in system deployment or operational troubleshooting.
• Experience with delivery methodologies (Waterfall, Agile, Scrum) and operational models (ITIL).
• Experience and understanding of core IT Service Management functions, such as Change Management and Incident Management.

Preferred Requirements

• 5+ years of experience with traditional Network Engineering (routing and switching) using BGP, OSPF, and MPLS routing protocols.
• 2+ years of experience with Fortinet SDWAN design and deployment.

As a leading combination electricity and natural gas energy company, Xcel Energy offers a comprehensive portfolio of energy-related products and services to 3.4 million electricity and 1.9 million natural gas customers across eight Western and Midwestern states. At Xcel Energy, we strive to be the preferred and trusted provider of the energy our customers need. If you’re ready to be a part of something big, we invite yo