Network Engineer (Contract)

About the Role

Freire Schools is seeking an experienced Network Engineer to serve as an advanced technical resource and strategic advisor for our IT infrastructure. This is a hands-on role that requires both strategic thinking and a willingness to configure, troubleshoot, and document real infrastructure. The ideal candidate is comfortable working independently across a multi-site WAN environment, and managing their own schedule to keep disruption to the school day to a minimum. This is a 1099 independent contractor engagement estimated at approximately 720  hours per year.

Work will be demand-driven and project-based, with extended periods — potentially months at a time — where no support is needed. Contractors must be comfortable with an irregular cadence and should not expect a steady, predictable weekly workload.

Periods of highest anticipated demand include:

• Summer (June–August): Infrastructure upgrades, network projects, and system improvements
• August: Back-to-school readiness, connectivity verification across campuses, and incident response
• January: Support ahead of state testing windows and semester transitions

The selected contractor will work collaboratively alongside our Sr. Director of IT and campus-based IT Coordinators. The Sr. Director of IT handles day-to-day network management and L1/L2 support; this role is intended to provide L3 depth and strategic guidance that goes beyond the scope of internal staff.

Responsibilities

Core Infrastructure Management

• Maintain and monitor all Layer 2 and Layer 3 network infrastructure across three sites, including 36 managed switches (approximately 12 per campus), 3 WAN edge routers, and 3 firewall/security appliances.
• Manage and optimize the organization-wide WAN, ensuring reliable inter-site connectivity for applications, shared services, and the centralized wireless infrastructure.
• Administer and maintain the Cisco Wireless LAN Controller (WLC) and all access points across the three campuses, including firmware updates, RF tuning, SSID management, and client policy configuration.
• Perform routine configuration reviews, firmware and software updates, and change management across all core network devices.
• Maintain per-site VLAN architecture and inter-VLAN routing to segment student, staff, guest, and administrative traffic.

Monitoring and Reporting 

• Deploy and maintain network monitoring tools (e.g., SNMP, syslog, or a dedicated NMS platform) to provide visibility into device health, link utilization, and alerting across all three sites.
• Produce a weekly infrastructure health report summarizing AP status, WAN link performance, switch health, and any active alerts or anomalies
• Establish and maintain baseline performance metrics for WAN links, wireless coverage, and switch port utilization; proactively identify degradation trends before they impact school operations.
• Respond to and resolve network outages or performance issues, including after-hours emergencies when critical systems are affected

Infrastructure Consulting & Strategic Advising

• Advise on network design, architecture, and upgrades aligned to a K-12 multi-site environment
• Serve as the escalation path for the school based IT Coordinators at each campus when issues exceed their scope — including switch port failures, VLAN misconfigurations, wireless connectivity issues, and WAN disruptions.
• Collaborate with IT Coordinators and Senior Director of IT during back-to-school network readiness review at the start of each academic year.
• Consult on scalability, security posture, and technology investments as the network evolves
• Support the planning, design, procurement, and implementation of new network infrastructure projects, including switch upgrades, wireless expansions, WAN circuit changes, and firewall replacements.

Documentation & Root Cause Analysis

• Deliver clear post-incident Root Cause Analyses (RCAs) for significant outages and recurring issues
• Document standard operating procedures (SOPs) for common network tasks so that the Senior Director of IT and school based IT coordinators can understand the environment even in the engineer’s absence.
• Assist with maintaining accurate  and up-to-date network documentation including physical and logical topology diagrams, IP address management (IPAM) records, device inventories, and configuration backups for all three sites.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of hands-on experience in administering enterprise-grade network infrastructure, including switches, routers, firewalls, and wireless systems.
•  Demonstrated experience managing multi-site WAN environments with site-to-site routing and inter-campus traffic flows.
• Proficiency with managed Layer 2/3 switching: VLANs,), Spanning Tree Protocol (STP), port security, and inter-VLAN routing.
• Experience administering firewall/UTM appliances (e.g., Cisco ASA/Firepower, Palo Alto, Fortinet, Meraki MX, or equivalent
• Experience supporting multi-site organizations; K-12 or education sector experience preferred
• Experience with enterprise wireless infrastructure, specifically Cisco AireOS or IOS-XE Wireless LAN Controllers, including AP provisioning, and SSID/client policy management.
• Familiarity with E-Rate funded network environments a plus
• Ability to work independently with minimal direction and communicate clearly with both technical and non-technical stakeholders
• Must be able to respond to critical incidents promptly, even outside of standard business hours, given the nature of school operations

Preferred Qualifications

• Cisco CCNA or CCNP certification (or equivalent industry certification such as CompTIA Network+, Juniper JNCIA, or Fortinet NSE).
• Exposure to SD-WAN technologies and cloud-managed networking platforms.
• Familiarity with network monitoring platforms such as SolarWinds, PRTG, Nagios, LibreNMS, or Cisco DNA Center.

Terms

• Independent contractor (1099); not an employee of Freire Schools
• Estimated engagement of approximately 100 hours annually; actual hours will vary based on organizational need
• Hourly rate negotiable based on experience; candidates should submit their rate expectation with application
• Work location is a mix of remote and on-site at Philadelphia and/or Wilmington locations as needed