Senior Network Administrator

About the role

The Department of Education's Information Technology Service Branch (ITSB) is offering several fixed-term positions as Senior Network Administrators, open until 30 June 2028. The role provides authoritative technical expertise, maintenance and strategic administration of the core network infrastructure, ensuring optimal performance, resilience and secure connectivity across the department. It operates under broad direction at SFIA Level 5 (Ensure, advise) and requires high autonomy to lead complex problem resolution, initiate infrastructure improvements and advise senior stakeholders on risk management and network lifecycle.

Key responsibilities

• Diagnose and resolve escalated network incidents and investigate recurring issues to find root causes and apply fixes
• Administer switches, routers, firewalls, wireless access points and associated network services
• Monitor network performance, address bottlenecks and optimise configurations to meet service levels
• Apply patches and firmware upgrades through established change-management processes
• Configure devices and services on-premises and in the cloud, and support expansions, migrations, integrations and upgrades
• Monitor security alerts, maintain access controls, firewalls, encryption and other security measures
• Maintain topology diagrams, configuration records, asset registers and operational documentation, and report on performance and availability
• Guide Level 1 support teams and identify opportunities for automation and improved resilience

Required profile

• 3 to 5 years of experience in network support, network administration or a related discipline
• Strong knowledge of networking protocols including TCP/IP, DNS, DHCP, BGP and OSPF
• Experience with enterprise network technologies, ideally Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, F5 and Zscaler
• Practical experience administering firewalls and applying network security best practices
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, clear communication, attention to detail and a collaborative approach

Required skills

• Familiarity with monitoring and diagnostic tools such as SolarWinds, Wireshark or PRTG
• Advantageous: networking certifications, network automation with Python, Ansible or Terraform, and cloud networking in Azure, AWS, GCP or OCI

Preferred applicants may be asked to complete a police check. Applications close 11:59pm on 19 November 2026.