Primary Purpose: Responsible for network management and operations within the Cleveland Guardians organization, including both Baseball and Business Operations. Leads and supports the technical team in designing, implementing, monitoring, and maintaining network and server-related technologies. Manages the full lifecycle of these technologies – from design and configuration to deployment and support. Provides strategic recommendations and expert guidance to Information Systems Leadership on short and long-term technology plans and process objectives ensuring stable, secure, and forward-thinking operations to support the organization.
Essential Duties & Responsibilities
Network Management, Design, and Operations
- Lead the design, deployment, and operations of complex, resilient, and secure network systems including LAN, WAN, VPN, and wireless networks in alignment with industry best practices and organizational goals throughout the organization.
- Ensure network architecture is scalable, secure, and meets all business needs.
- Monitor and optimize network performance to achieve and maintain optimal uptime.
- Configure and integrate network devices including but not limited to such as routers, switches, firewalls, load balancers, reverse proxies, wan accelerators / optimizers, network taps, and servers.
- Perform network maintenance and system upgrades, including services packets, patches, hot fixes, firmware, and security configurations.
- Drive service level agreement compliance for incidents, service requests, and problem management.
- Partner with technical teams (Business and Baseball Systems, End-User, Audio / Video, Cloud, Cybersecurity, etc.) and other key stakeholders to ensure network requirements and best practices are being adhered to throughout projects, tasks, initiatives, etc.
- Contribute expertise and strategic guidance regularly to Information Systems leadership on for short and long-term planning initiatives.
- Coordinate with partners, vendors, and other 3rd party providers for hardware, software, and service providers to develop technical roadmaps and to support our annual business planning and budgeting process.
- Identify, recommend, and implement approved design changes to meet current business and network security objectives to improve performance, efficiency, and resiliency.
- Develop and maintain network schematics, diagrams, configuration guides, and operational procedures that are comprehensive and up to date.
- Prepare After Action reports on network operations, activities, and incidents.
- Provide cross-training and mentoring to all applicable staff
- Perform other duties as assigned.
Security & Compliance
- Assist in enforcing compliance with industry standards, regulations, and best practices.
- Support and monitor state-of-the-art cybersecurity systems to ensure a safe and reliable computing environment.
- Configure and maintain firewalls, VPNs, and intrusion detection/prevention systems (IDS/IPS)
- Provide support for MLB league-wide technology and cybersecurity products and services within the organization.
- Collaborate on activities related to network policies, procedures, and operational processes that support Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Plans, to ensure compliance with applicable industry standards organizations.
- Stay current with emerging security threats and recommend appropriate counter measures.
Troubleshooting & Support
- Lead root cause analysis for critical incidents and develop long-term solutions.
- Diagnose and resolve network issues and outages, ensuring clear and timely communication and effective expectation management with minimal downtime.
- Implement network management tools to proactively identify and resolve issues.
- Work with internal and external teams to develop solutions and effectively communicate complex technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders.
- Responsible for on-call / off-hours support including, but not limited to, ballpark events and system maintenance as needed.
Education & Experience Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in computer science, Information Technology, or a related field; or equivalent work experience
- 10+ years of experience in storage, server, network, and virtualization technologies in a multi-site environment
- Knowledge of and experience in the design, implementation, and management of WAN, LAN, WLAN, VPN networks in redundant / high density / high performance, physical and virtual multi-site environment
- Knowledge of and experience with networking technologies: Layers 1-7, Spanning Tree, Multicast, ARP, IPv4, IPv6, TCP, UDP, DNS, DHCP, SNMP 1-3, BGP, OSPF, ASN
- Knowledge of and experience with network virtualization leveraging Microsoft and VMWare technologies and components
- Knowledge of and proficiency supporting converge networks running: Building Automation, Surveillance, Access Control, Voice, and others. Experience supporting Audio / Video is a plus
- Knowledge and experience supporting cybersecurity tooling including: next generation Firewalls, and Endpoint Protection and Advanced Threat Prevention, and other cybersecurity tools and concepts
- Knowledge and experience with network packet capture and analysis software, intrusion detections and preventions software, and advance network troubleshooting concepts
- Knowledge of and experience with various network monitoring and event correlation systems, IPS/IDS systems, Network Taps, and current security technologies and concepts
- Knowledge of and experience with authentication and encryption technologies including, but not limited to, 802.1 X, Radius, Kerberos, NTML, PKI, IPsec, SSL
- Knowledge and experience with client / server networks running Windows Server and Linux in a standalone and virtual environment.
- Knowledge and Experience with Linux operating systems and familiarity with the concepts of compiling, supporting, and use of open-source applications as needed.
- Knowledge and familiarity of implementing and deploying cloud technologies (i.e., Microsoft, Google, Box, Mimecast, Okta, WorkspaceOne, and others)
- Knowledge and familiarity with the following network technologies: Aruba and Brocade switches, Palo Alto Firewalls, Aruba wireless networks, Cisco IOS routers and switches, F5 Load Balancers, Reverse proxy servers, and Ixia Network Taps and the ability to learn others at a moment's notice.
- Knowledge or familiarity of or with the following software applications: VMWare ESX, NSX, TKGI, and Horizon, Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft SQL, IIS, SharePoint, Mimecast, Workspace One, Attivo, Darktrace, Rapid 7, Sumologic, Logic Monitor, Data Dog, AutoMox, Okta, and the ability to learn others at a moment's notice.
Job Skills
- Demonstrated problem-solving skills and the ability to work under pressure.
- Robust communication and leadership skills, with a proven ability to manage projects, collaborate, and mentor teammates.
Job Requirements
- Game-day duties as dictated by job responsibilities and workload.
- Required to work 100% of all jewel events (Opening Day, Post Season, etc.).
- Required to work irregular hours and long shifts as the business dictates.
- Follow all company policies, including the Information Systems Department Standards and Practices.
- Ability to be reached nights and weekends if necessary to resolve systems end user issues, while also Providing off-hours consulting with clients in rotation with other team members.
Organizational Requirements
- Reads, speaks, comprehends and communicates English effectively in all communications.
- Represents the Cleveland Indians in a positive fashion to all business partners and the general public.
- Ability to develop and maintain successful working relationship with members of the Front Office.
- Ability to act according to the organizational values and service excellence at all times.
- Ability to work with multicultural populations and have a commitment to fairness and equality.
- Ability to walk, sit or stand for an entire shift.
- Ability to work extended days and hours, including holidays and weekends.
- Ability to move throughout all areas and levels of the Ballpark.
- Ability to work in a diverse and changing environment.
- Occasional physical activity such as lifting and carrying boxes up to 55lbs.
The Cleveland Guardians are committed to developing and maintaining an environment that embraces all forms of diversity to enrich our core values, enhance our competitive position, strengthen our impact within our community, and foster a greater sense of belonging for our employees.
In this spirit, we know studies have shown that people from historically underserved groups - including women and people of color - are less likely to apply for jobs unless they believe they meet every one of the qualifications as described in a job description. We are most interested in finding the best candidate for the job and understand that candidate may bring certain skills and experiences to the role that are not listed above, but that would add tremendous value to our organization. We would encourage you to apply, even if you don’t believe you meet every one of our qualifications described.
