Senior Wireless Network Engineer

The client is looking for a Senior Wireless Network Engineer to work a 9 month extendable contract based in Reading.

What you’ll be doing:

• The EMEA Venues & Stadiums Team is seeking at Senior Wireless Network Engineer to assist in the Stadium Wi-Fi practice.
• As a member of the technical delivery team, the candidate will be responsible for working on all aspects of the Stadium Wi-Fi solution – including, but not limited to – stadium design, Access Point / Controller testing and configuration, documentation, operational support, device certification, technical evaluation, RF surveys, optimisation and tuning and event day testing of Stadium Wi-Fi solution.
• As an integral member of the Stadium delivery team, you will be working closely with major sports brands, venue owners and venue operators, installation and construction teams.
• The candidate will need a deep understanding of the latest 802.11 Wi-Fi standards, have existing experience working on complex, large scale High-Density (HD) Wi-Fi deployments, ideally within a Stadium or Arena environment.
• The engineer will work closely alongside the Technical Design Authority and cabling and construction coordinator to ensure accurate access point/antenna placements, and the Principal Network Engineer for network integration throughout the project. The Senior Wireless Network Engineer will be responsible for assisting with the design, configuration, testing/verification, and support of the High-Density Stadium Wi-Fi solution.
• The candidate will also need to have the ability to troubleshoot technical issues and resolve problems in respect of the Wi-Fi Solution and the legacy wi-fi solution
• This role calls for someone with not only excellent technical capabilities but also exceptional communication skills. You will be adept at presenting before internal and external stakeholders and be proficient in developing documentations of solution/configuration/operations in Visio and MS Office.

Responsibilities: 

• Assist with the design and configuration elements of the Stadium Wi-Fi solution, including access point model and placement, controller, resilience and licensing requirements, according to industry or vendor best practice.
• Configuration and installation of Cisco products from their Stadium portfolio.
• Verify that best practices are followed for all Extreme Wi-Fi device configuration (including wireless controllers, wireless access points and antennas) in coordination with the Network Engineer.
• Oversee execution of a complete Wi-Fi signal coverage plan in accordance with the defined acceptance criteria.
• The integration of Wi-Fi and/or network components into wider Enterprise grade network, including Layer 2 (Switching), Layer 3 (IP, Routing and SDWAN) and Layer 4-7 (Firewalls, DNS, DHCP, Authentication & Authorisation, management, logging, etc).
• Contribute to the High-Level Design (HLD) and Low-Level Design (LLD) documents, including textual and diagrammatic representation of the design, to support your Wi-Fi and/or LAN design decisions.
• Feed into the Customer requirements, HLD, LLD or implementation documents developed by the Technical Design Authority.
• Support and complete documentation such as Access Requests and Record-of-Change (ROC) to support the implementation of the Wi-Fi or LAN solution at the Customer’s site.
• Install, configure, implement and test Wi-Fi networks according to the LLD and change control documentation.
• Perform and document on-site Wi-Fi Surveys using tools such as Ekahau and Hamina, or manage others to do this.
• Carry out AP design validation and produce high quality AP placement drawings based on best practice guidelines.
• Work with electrical engineering and constructions teams to create bespoke mounting solutions, either under seat or overhead.
• Contribute to the overall Project Plan.
• Perform testing and tuning validation, as coordinated with the project implementation plan.

You’ll need to have:

• BSc or BEng degree in Computer Science or related field or work experience equivalent.
• Hands-on experience with one or more Wi-Fi and network vendor’s equipment such as Extreme Networks, Cisco, Juniper, Cisco Meraki, Aruba, etc.
• Extensive experience within wireless network engineering, data communications fields, Wireless/Mobility/Cellular networks and Networking/Internetworking devices, protocols and operating systems.
• Demonstrate expertise in network design, ability to lead a Wi-Fi and network design-related discussion with leading questions to fully vet a customer’s requirements.
• Demonstrated expertise in network implementation, including configuration of W-Fi controllers, access-points, switches and routers, across a variety of network technologies including; VLANS, IP Addressing, Routing Protocols, Security and Management functions.
• Demonstrated expertise with industry survey tools and techniques.

Even better if you have:

• Experience of developing Stadium RF designs, RF propagation modelling, site surveys at Stadium locations with tools such as Ekahau & AirMagnet.
• Data collection, troubleshooting, interference analysis, and High-Density RF optimization.
• Demonstrated expertise in solution design ability to lead a design related discussion with leading questions to fully vet a customer’s requirements and develop a proposed design fulfilling said requirements, identify potential impacts of a given design recommendation, knowledge of other technologies and their network requirements/impact, ability to produce comprehensive yet understandable technical documentation (design document, diagrams, etc.).
• Demonstrate expertise in electrical engineering and construction techniques.
• Demonstrated communication and relational skills – able to form a trusted advisor relationship with a customer, able to listen and guide a technical discussion, able to clearly articulate complex topics.

Desired Industry certifications:

• CWNA (Certified Wireless Networking Administrator) or +5 years of experience in RF engineering.
• CWDP (Certified Wireless Design Professional).
• Extreme Certified Expert (Wireless).
• CCNP (Wireless).
• Wireless Enterprise Specialist (RF, signalling).
• Ekahau Certified Survey Engineer (ECSE).
• Experience with Hamina RF Modelling Software.

Please note: This position will be inside IR35 & consultants must already be based in the UK