North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University
Director of Network and System Administration
Academic Career & Executive Search is pleased to assist North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (N.C. A&T) in its search for Director of Network and System Administration.
For full consideration, please apply by January 27, 2025.
This is an exceptional opportunity for a Director of Network and System Administration to join a growing institution as it continues the course of moving from a Carnegie R2 to R1 classification (very high research) – one of several exciting institutional goals that N.C. A&T is pursuing. The Director of Network and System Administration will manage N.C. A&T’s rich technology environment with a large and growing $150 million research program. Building on this momentum, N.C. A&T welcomed this summer James Martin II as Chancellor and accepted an historic $20 million donation.
The Director of Network and System Administration manages the technology infrastructure of the university. This includes managing advanced network, telecommunications, server, storage systems and cloud computing environments. It includes providing essential network, virtualization, directory, database, application, telephony, communications and related services. The Director provides support for high- performance and research computing and second and third level support for other technology departments. This is a leadership position requiring a broad range of communication, planning, and management skills and extensive and wide-ranging technical knowledge.
The Director reports to the Associate Vice Chancellor of Information Technology and Deputy Chief Information Officer (Deputy CIO). The Director works with the leadership of Information Technology Services (ITS) to provide the technology infrastructure and services required to fulfill the university’s mission and provides infrastructure support for other departments within the division. This position leads employees of Network and System Administration.
DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
- Infrastructure Management – The Director manages the university’s infrastructure equipment and services, and ensures that they provide resiliency, high availability and high performance. This includes managing the configuration, deployment and operation of switches, routers, firewalls, wireless access points, gateways, servers, storage, backup systems and related equipment. This position maintains hardened configuration standards for each, manages rotation cycles and hardware updates, ensures that software updates and patches are applied in a timely fashion and works with other ITS leaders and clients to identify and resolve performance and access issues.
- Technical Support – The Director provides second and third level technical support to several leaders and departments. This includes assisting clients with the identification and resolution of technical issues related to the network, servers or applications, providing information and access to support the operations and services of clients, review and assessment of needs and system configurations, support for server, application and device configuration and technical expertise to assess new technologies and systems as well as their configuration and deployment. Examples include cable television, building control systems and keyless entry systems.
- Data Centers – The Director manages the university’s primary data centers and network equipment rooms. The Director sets standards for and may manage distributed data centers. The Director ensures the security and integrity of these facilities, as well as adequate power management, environmental controls, fire suppression and monitoring according to standards adopted by the university.
- Network Connectivity – The Director manages the university’s network connectivity, including the North Carolina Research and Education Network (NC-REN) connections, telephone service provider connections, campus fiber, copper cable and wireless infrastructure, and connections at remote sites. The Director works with Facilities and clients to address cabling issues, new construction, renovation and ensures that buildings and other physical structures are connected to the university network.
- Network Management – The Director manages essential network services such as Domain Name System (DNS), Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), Network Time Protocol (NTP), Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (STMP), Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), and various routing and gateway protocols. This position hosts and provides technical support for the university’s network access control (NAC), directory, identity management, authentication, and security certificate systems. The Director monitors network equipment and traffic to identify and address performance issues in a timely fashion and works with clients to address performance issues. The Director provides support to Client Technology Services for the support of user interaction with NAC, directory and identity management services, the identification and initial troubleshooting of network and server issues, and access to applications to identify and resolve basic client technology issues.
- Network Security – The Director manages the security of the university’s network by maintaining appropriate network segmentation, hardened device configurations, perimeter and internal firewall rules, virtual private network (VPN) services, and device and traffic monitoring. This position manages intrusion detection and prevention systems and works with other ITS leaders to identify and address security incidents. The Director works with Client Technology Services and Enterprise Endpoint Management and other units to provide secure remote desktop access. This position works with clients to assess network connectivity and isolation requirements and provides custom virtual local area networks (VLANs) for research, instructional or other needs.
- Server Management – The Director manages the university’s server, storage and backup environment. This includes operating the server and storage hardware systems and the virtualization systems used to support servers and desktops, managing configuration and software management applications, managing storage systems and subsystems, managing campus network shares, and providing virtual servers running Windows, Linux or other operating systems. It includes hardening operating systems and ensuring appropriate local firewall and anti-malware configurations. It includes managing and configuring proxy and load balancing systems. It includes managing the campus enterprise backup system, ensuring timely system, database and application backups, and routinely testing recovery processes. It also includes managing central Infrastructure as a Service (Iaas), Platform as a Service (PaaS) and other cloud computing environments. The Director supports Client Technology Services and Enterprise Endpoint Management and other units by providing the infrastructure to support virtual desktops, desktop and laptop management platforms, business applications and databases. This position provides virtual servers for the campus and works with clients to assess server and storage needs, resolve performance issues and update applications.
- Applications and Databases – The Director manages the university’s application and database servers, provides database administration services and supports some business applications. These services may include installing updates, assessing performance issues, managing application access or internal security and assisting clients with these and similar tasks. This position provides technical expertise for clients related to the installation, configuration, hosting and operation of applications and databases. The Director works with clients to identify and resolve technical, performance and access issues in a timely fashion.
- Collaboration Applications – The Director manages business, productivity and collaboration applications such as Office 365 and G Suite. This includes the provision of accounts, access control and security. This position provides technical support and expertise to the Directors of Academic and Instructional Technology, Client Technology Services, Enterprise Endpoint Management and other units for the deployment and use of these systems.
- Telecommunications – The Director manages the telecommunications systems and services of the university. This includes managing call managers, contact system software, and related systems and services. This position manages services from national carriers, works with clients to assess and implement improvements in campus services, and ensures timely resolution of issues or outages. The Director manages the university’s Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) environment as well as analog telephone connections to support fire and security alarms, emergency phones and other devices. This position manages the network connectivity of teleconferencing and other communication systems. The Director provides support and technical expertise to the Director of Client Technology Services for operation and first level technical support of telephony and teleconferencing systems.
- Infrastructure Architecture – The Director works with the Deputy CIO to plan, implement and assess the architecture of the university’s technology infrastructure to ensure it provides resiliency, high availability and high performance. This includes planning the deployment of network cabling and equipment, the location and provision of data centers and network closets, the design of network routing and segmentation, the configuration of servers and storage systems, and the deployment of applications.
- Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery – The Director works with the Deputy CIO and clients to establish service and recovery objectives for the division. This position ensures that network, server and storage systems are designed and deployed to meet service commitments and objectives, leads regular testing of failover and backup services, and works with campus business continuity and disaster recovery leaders to support campus plans and programs.
- User Device Management – The Director works with the Director of Enterprise Endpoint Management to host end user device management systems and networks. This includes hosting management platforms, software configuration and distribution systems, patch and anti-malware systems, and device monitoring systems. It includes providing controlled remote access to these systems and maintaining network segmentation to ensure the controlled and secure use of these technologies.
- High Performance and Research Computing Support – The Director provides support for high-performance and research computing to the Advanced Computation for Engineering and Science (ACES) Center and various college and department-based programs and projects. This includes hosting servers and storage systems and providing system administration services. This position also addresses network performance issues related to the collection, storage or processing of large volumes of data.
- Incident Management – The Director works with ITS and campus leaders to assess incidents, develop and implement response plans, and monitor developments. The position provides technical expertise to support these efforts.
- Technology Evaluation – The Director works with the Deputy CIO and clients to evaluate and select technology solutions. This position supports technology acquisition processes and provides technical expertise to create, review and evaluate proposals.
- Construction – The Director works with the Deputy CIO to plan the technology aspects of new buildings or renovations, and the expansion of the university network to improve access, reliability, resiliently or performance.
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS
- 10 or more years of experience in network, server and telecommunications technology roles, including 5 years with primary responsibility for management of advanced, complex and high-performance network and server environments.
- 5 or more years of experience in a management position leading technical professionals.
- An advanced degree related to the duties and responsibilities of the position. (A combination of education and experience will be considered in lieu of advanced degree requirements.)
- Significant technical knowledge of networks, telecommunications, servers, storage systems, cloud computing, virtualization, directory, applications, security, business continuity, and disaster recovery.
- Demonstrated experience in partnering with other units and fostering a team spirit within the department.
- Strong interpersonal and communication skills and the ability to work effectively with a wide range of constituencies in a diverse community.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
- Significant technical knowledge of:
- modern network, telecommunications, server and storage technologies and their deployment within a major research university.
- the design and construction of resilient, high performance, secure networks that provide high availability, including the ability to design and deploy automated service failover and traffic rerouting.
- network and telecommunications protocols, including the ability to configure and troubleshoot routing protocols and secure devices at network protocol levels.
- network security including segmentation, firewall configuration, monitoring, and intrusion detection and prevention system operation, including the ability to design virtual routing and forwarding (VRF) and local area networks (VLAN).
- server, storage and virtualization systems, including the ability to manage virtual environments supporting server and desktop clients.
- the configuration, deployment and hardening of Cisco network switches, routers and access points, Windows and Linux operating systems, NetApp storage systems, and additional equipment such as firewalls, load balancers, and backup systems.
- directory, authentication, access control, and identity management systems, such as Microsoft Active Directory and Active Directory Federation Services, Shibboleth and Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) servers.
- network and system management and monitoring platforms such as including Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM), Group Policy Objections, ADManager Plus, ADAudit Plus, Solarwinds Network Performance Monitor, Network Configuration and Netflow Traffic Analyizer, Nagios, RANCID and Cisco Prime.
- business continuity, disaster recovery, and system recovery including the ability to design and test networks and systems with these capabilities.
- Cisco Call Manager and Unified Communications systems including the ability to configure these systems, troubleshoot and resolve call routing issues, and develop contact center scripts.
- remote network communications, including the ability to route and tunnel traffic between locations.
- commercial cloud computing environments including deployment of hybrid premise and cloud systems.
- service management principles including experience in the identification and collection of metric data and implementation of process improvements.
- Experience in the development of annual plans, and development of project goals and objectives.
- Ability to provide effective and appropriate guidance to clients in the assessment and development of technology systems and solutions.
- Knowledge of current trends and developments in information technology.
- Skill in effectively organizing resources and establishing priorities.
- Experience with managing technology design and deployment during construction or renovation projects in a higher education setting.
- Experience in or knowledge of Extreme Networks’ Fabric technology.
About the Institution
Located in Greensboro, N.C. A&T is one of 17 institutions of the University of North Carolina (UNC) System and is an 1890 land-grant doctoral research institution with national distinction in STEM education and research. The university is committed to fulfilling its fundamental purposes through exemplary undergraduate and graduate education, scholarly and creative research and effective community engagement. The mission of N.C. A&T is: An 1890 land-grant doctoral high research activity university, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University prepares students to advance the human condition and facilitate economic growth in North Carolina and beyond by providing a preeminent and diverse educational experience through teaching, research, and scholarly application of knowledge.
N.C. A&T ranks third in the UNC System in external research and sponsored program awards, trailing only UNC-Chapel Hill and N.C. State University. The university’s new strategic plan, Preeminence 2030, focuses on development of its teaching, research and engagement work consistent with attaining the “R1 / Very High Research Activity” institutional designation.
The university’s academic structure comprises the:
- College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
- College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences
- Willie A. Deese College of Business and Economics
- College of Education
- College of Engineering
- Honors College
- John R. and Kathy R. Hairston College of Health and Human Sciences
- College of Science and Technology
- Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering
- School of Nursing
The University offers 59 undergraduate degrees, 36 master’s degrees, 12 PhD programs, 43 online degree programs and 45 certificate programs. N.C. A&T provides a dynamic learning experience to all students that is responsive to current critical needs in higher education and in the disciplines. To learn more about the Division of Academic Affairs and its strategic plans, visit here.
N.C. A&T competes in Division I of the NCAA and is a member of the Coastal Athletic Association.
Living in the Area
Offering a 16.1% lower cost of living than the national average, Greensboro is a thriving city of 300,000 with something for everyone: shopping, restaurants, the visual and performing arts, golf courses and 21 institutions of higher learning locally and in the surrounding area. The city itself has more than 90 miles of trails for hiking, biking and walking. It was voted a “Top 10 Green City” by Livability.com, and North Carolina is ranked America’s top state for business by CNBC for the second straight year.
Greensboro is situated in the Piedmont Triad, an area of great natural beauty, diverse industry and mild temperatures. North Carolina’s mountain resorts are an easy two-hour drive from Greensboro, and the beaches of North and South Carolina are three to four hours away. North Carolina’s famed Research Triangle, home to multiple collaborative partners with N.C. A&T, is just an hour away. More information on the region is available here.
To Apply
For full consideration, please apply by January 27, 2025.
Please apply through the application link and do not email applications.
Applications will be reviewed as they are received and should include a cover letter and curriculum vita. Ideally cover letters should not exceed two pages. All applications are treated confidentially.
Inquiries, referrals, and nominations are also treated confidentially.
Inquiries and questions: Please send to NCATNetworkSystemAdmin@acesrch.com.
Nominations and referrals: Please send the nominee’s name, title, and contact information if available to nominations@acesrch.com.
Institution’s EEO Statement
North Carolina A&T State University is an Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Employer. No one who applies or seeks employment will be denied admission to or employment at North Carolina A&T State University on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, age, disabling condition, veteran status, political affiliation, genetic information or sexual orientation and sexual identity.
