District Network Lead: Cisco Firepower & K-12 Connectivity

Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools; Kansas City (KS); On-site; USD 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools is seeking a Network Manager to lead and hands-on manage the district's network infrastructure at North Central Office. You will oversee LAN/WAN, firewalls, switches, wireless, and incident response to ensure reliable access for staff and students.

The role requires a bachelor degree, CCNA, 3+ years in large environments, and strong collaboration. Salary and benefits are established by the Board of Education; 261 days work year.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science (or a closely related field) is required.
• 3+ years of progressive experience supporting networks and infrastructure in a large environment (K-12 public school experience strongly preferred).
• Demonstrated proficiency with enterprise networking concepts and operations, including Cisco switching/routing, VLANs, firewalls (Cisco Firepower), network troubleshooting, and VOIP.
• Must be organized, detail-oriented, and able to multitask and problem-solve.

Responsibilities

• Manages and supports district LAN/WAN connectivity across multiple campuses to ensure reliable access for staff and students.
• Configures, maintains, and troubleshoots Cisco Firepower next-generation firewalls (NGFW), including policy management, VPN, logging/visibility, and security rule optimization.
• Configures, maintains, and troubleshoots Cisco and Arista network switches, including VLANs, routing/switching, and network segmentation.
• Supports and optimizes Cisco and Arista access points and wireless connectivity to ensure consistent instructional and operational uptime.
• Leads proactive monitoring, incident response coordination, and remediation activities for network availability and security events.
• Coordinates with systems and endpoint teams on dependencies for identity/services (Active Directory, DNS, DHCP) that impact network authentication and access.
• Provides Tier-3 escalation support for complex network, VOIP, classroom AV, and site outage issues; ensures documentation and ticket resolution metrics are maintained.
• Plans and executes network changes and maintenance windows; maintains diagrams, standards, configurations, and operational documentation.
• Supervises three (3) direct reports, including assigning work, coaching, training, and ensuring timely resolution of network-related tickets and projects.
• Collaborates with vendors and service providers as needed to support ISP/WAN services, hardware lifecycle, and network improvements.
• Assists with various district events and large-scale operational initiatives, as assigned by the supervisor, assistant director, or the director.

Skills

Networking concepts

Team collaboration

Problem solving

Education

CCNA

Bachelor's degree in CS or related

Tools

Cisco Firepower

Cisco switches

Arista switches

Job description

Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools is seeking a Network Manager to lead and hands-on manage the district's network infrastructure at North Central Office. You will oversee LAN/WAN, firewalls, switches, wireless, and incident response to ensure reliable access for staff and students.

The role requires a bachelor degree, CCNA, 3+ years in large environments, and strong collaboration. Salary and benefits are established by the Board of Education; 261 days work year.