IT Engineer - Network

Vivmark Residential exists to set the mark for what home can be. Formed through the merger of AvalonBay Communities and Equity Residential, Vivmark brings together two industry leaders with a shared commitment to excellence, innovation, and delivering exceptional living experiences. Our vision is to be the most trusted and best-performing rental housing company in America - one that continues to get better as it grows. And we're looking for people who want to help us do it.

As an owner, developer, and manager of more than 180,000 apartment homes in major markets across the US, we have the scale to offer something most companies can't. At Vivmark, team members move up and across functions, markets, and disciplines, building lasting careers. We invest in team members' growth, development, and capabilities that make them and us better, and we hold ourselves to the highest standard as an employer.

The best people want to work here. We hope you're one of them.

Position Overview

The IT Network Engineer designs, secures, implements, and maintains a reliable, highly available hybrid network across Vivmark Residential’s datacenters, corporate offices, residential properties, and public cloud environments. This role requires extensive expertise in enterprise routing and switching across Cisco (including Meraki), Juniper, and Arista platforms, along with working knowledge of Palo Alto firewalls, application delivery technologies (F5 Distributed Cloud and Cloudflare), cloud networking (Azure and AWS), and DDI (DNS, DHCP, and IP address management).

The IT Network Engineer incorporates security into network designs and operational decisions, partnering closely with Security Operations to implement network segmentation, traffic inspection, encryption, and access controls. This role also leads assigned infrastructure initiatives, manages load balancing and edge technologies, supports enterprise-wide infrastructure operations, and collaborates with technical counterparts across the merged organization. The engineer anticipates emerging technology trends, including SASE and zero trust networking, and recommends solutions that support current and future business requirements.

Salary: $111,000–$136,000 per year. In addition to base salary, this position is eligible for a discretionary annual bonus of 10.5%. The successful candidate’s starting pay will be determined based on job-related skills, experience, and qualifications.

Work Schedule: This position requires onsite attendance Monday through Thursday, with remote work permitted on Fridays.

Essential Functions Network Design and Operations

• Designs, configures, and maintains enterprise routing and switching infrastructure across datacenters, corporate offices, and residential properties using Cisco (including Meraki), Arista, and Juniper platforms.
• Manages internal and external routing protocols, including BGP, iBGP, OSPF, and EIGRP, to support multihomed internet connectivity, VRF-based segmentation, and datacenter interconnects.
• Administers wired and wireless networks across corporate offices and residential properties using Juniper Mist, Cisco wireless LAN controllers (WLCs), and Meraki, supporting platform transitions as needed.
• Maintains 802.1X wireless authentication in partnership with the Identity team.
• Administers DNS, DHCP, and IP address management (IPAM) services through Infoblox and supports external DNS services.
• Maintains network monitoring, alerting, and capacity reporting using SolarWinds Orion or equivalent tools, identifying trends and addressing potential issues proactively.

Application Delivery and Edge Services

• Manages internal and internet-facing application delivery, including load balancing through F5 Distributed Cloud (Customer Edge) and application protection and traffic management through Cloudflare, including DNS, WAF, TLS, and tunnels.
• Manages TLS configurations and certificate lifecycles for load-balanced and proxied services in coordination with the Identity team.
• Troubleshoots application delivery issues across edge services, perimeter firewalls, load balancers, and server environments.

Cloud and Hybrid Networking

• Designs, implements, and supports hybrid connectivity between on-premises infrastructure and public cloud environments, including Azure ExpressRoute, VPN gateways, hub-and-spoke virtual networks, Private Link, AWS Direct Connect, and Transit Gateway.
• Configures and maintains BGP routing policies and network segmentation to support secure, reliable hybrid connectivity.
• Supports cloud network security configurations, including network security groups, virtual firewalls, private endpoints, and hybrid DNS resolution.
• Uses automation and infrastructure-as-code tools, including Ansible, Terraform, Python, and PowerShell, to deploy, audit, maintain, and back up network configurations.

Network Security and Cybersecurity Awareness

• Applies current cybersecurity threat intelligence to network design and operations and partners with Security Operations to implement network segmentation, Palo Alto firewall policies through Panorama, TLS inspection, VPN security, and zero trust access controls.
• Hardens network devices and maintains current firmware and software, supporting vulnerability remediation, patching, and technology lifecycle planning.
• Supports security incident response through traffic analysis, log reviews, packet captures, and network-level containment activities.
• Secures the network management plane through appropriate authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA), multifactor authentication (MFA), configuration backups, and change controls.
• Supports security audits and compliance requests related to network controls.

Projects and Continuous Improvement

• Plans, coordinates, and manages the implementation of hardware, software, and infrastructure components assigned to the role.
• Participates in IT projects focused on improving, upgrading, and optimizing infrastructure, including evaluating technologies that address business needs and improve cost efficiency.
• Manages assigned projects through completion, providing accurate and timely status updates and reporting on progress, risks, and outcomes.
• Collaborates with project teams and Infrastructure Group members to align project scope, deliverables, and implementation plans with organizational objectives.
• Researches emerging technologies, evaluates potential solutions, and recommends infrastructure improvements that meet business and technical requirements.
• Oversees infrastructure maintenance and ensures compatibility with applicable regulations, contractual obligations, and licensing agreements.
• Develops and maintains network documentation, including diagrams, procedures, runbooks, and installation and operational records.
• Contributes to the development and maintenance of technical standards, procedures, and infrastructure guidelines.
• Participates in network disaster recovery planning, design, and testing activities.

Collaboration and Technical Support

• Provides third-level technical support to IT personnel and end users, resolving complex network and infrastructure issues as needed.
• Collaborates with network engineering counterparts across the merged organization to support integration, coexistence, consolidation, technical alignment, and knowledge transfer.
• Coordinates technical activities across team members, mentors colleagues, and promotes cross-technology knowledge sharing within the Enterprise Infrastructure Operations team.
• Serves as a technical liaison between Vivmark Residential and external vendors, service providers, and network carriers as needed.
• Analyzes technical issues, identifies root causes, and recommends effective solutions.
• Monitors enterprise-wide network performance, proactively identifies potential issues, and implements solutions to maintain a stable and reliable operating environment.
• Represents Vivmark Residential professionally and maintains a courteous, service-oriented approach when interacting with residents, coworkers, vendors, and the general public.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

The Company may revise this job description from time to time as business needs require. This description is not intended to be an exhaustive listing of all job functions or to limit the Company’s right to assign other responsibilities. This job description does not constitute a written or implied contract of employment.

Job Qualification Requirements Education and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related discipline; equivalent relevant experience may be considered.
• Minimum of seven years of related experience in enterprise IT environments, with a primary focus on network engineering, infrastructure planning, implementation, and management.
• Cisco CCNA certification or equivalent demonstrated knowledge required; CCNP Enterprise certification preferred.
• Minimum of one year of project management experience, including coordinating cross-functional initiatives, making project-related decisions, monitoring progress, and reporting results.

Technical Knowledge and Skills

• Expert knowledge of enterprise routing and switching, including BGP, OSPF or EIGRP, VRFs, VLANs, and high-availability design, using Cisco platforms (NX-OS, IOS-XE, traditional WLCs, and Meraki) and at least one additional vendor, such as Arista or Juniper.
• Strong cybersecurity awareness and a security-first approach to network design and change management, including working knowledge of firewalls (Palo Alto preferred), segmentation, TLS inspection, VPN, DDoS mitigation, zero trust, and SASE concepts.
• Working knowledge of load balancing and application delivery, including TLS and PKI concepts; hands-on experience with F5 Distributed Cloud or BIG-IP and Cloudflare strongly preferred.
• Working knowledge of Azure cloud networking required and AWS cloud networking preferred, including virtual networks, private connectivity, ExpressRoute, Direct Connect, VPN, hybrid DNS, and routing.
• Experience with DDI technologies, preferably Infoblox; wireless networking technologies, including Cisco WLC and Meraki, with Juniper Mist preferred; and network monitoring tools.
• Experience with scripting and automation tools, including Python, PowerShell, Ansible, or Terraform.
• Ability to independently translate ambiguous business and technical requirements into documented, implemented, and supportable network designs.
• Strong technical knowledge of network architecture, topologies, advanced troubleshooting, performance management, and capacity planning.
• Ability to anticipate infrastructure needs two to four years in advance and evaluate emerging technologies in alignment with evolving business requirements.
• Ability to conduct feasibility studies, estimate project costs, timelines, and resource requirements, and perform cost-benefit analyses.

Communication and Professional Competencies

• Strong communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to work effectively with end users, technical teams, vendors, and multiple levels of management.
• Ability to explain complex technical issues and recommended solutions clearly to technical and nontechnical audiences.
• Strong analytical skills, sound judgment, and effective problem-solving abilities.
• Strong organizational skills, attention to detail, and consistent follow-through.
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate across teams, manage competing priorities, and deliver results in a cross-functional environment.

Other Requirements

• Maintains a professional appearance consistent with Vivmark Residential’s business environment and applicable Grooming Standards and Dress Code Guidelines. Employees assigned a property uniform are expected to wear it as required.
• Maintains flexibility to provide after-hours and weekend support for scheduled maintenance windows and incident response, including participation in an on-call rotation.
• Available to travel to Chicago-area datacenters and other company locations as needed.

 PHYSICAL AND VISUAL ACTIVITIES:

 Ability to hear and speak well enough to converse verbally over the phone and in-person (expressing or exchanging ideas by means of the spoken or written word). Ability to interpret, evaluate and communicate detailed written or verbal instructions to others accurately and easily.   Able to see well enough to use the computer effectively and read written communications.  Ability to lift, push, pull or carry up to 15 pounds for the dissemination of documents, supplies, materials, etc. to various locations throughout the office/facility. May be required to climb stairs depending on the property structure.

The above describes the physical and visual activities that are commonly associated with the performance of the essential functions of this job.  “Commonly associated” is not intended to mean always or only.  Reasonable accommodation will be provided as required by law to enable otherwise qualified employees with a known disability to perform the essential functions of the job.