The Network Administrator is responsible for designing, managing, and optimizing the School’s comprehensive wired and wireless network infrastructure across the entire campus. Reporting to the Assistant Director of Technology, the Network Administrator is responsible for the network design and management, security and compliance, and reporting of critical systems in support of school-wide objectives in order to deliver reliable, secure, and scalable infrastructure.
The Kinkaid School is a co-educational, nonsectarian day school enrolling over 1,400 students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade. The student body is divided into the Lower School (PreK - 4th Grade), the Middle School (5th grade - 8th grade) and the Upper School (9th grade - 12th grade). Located on a sixty-five-acre campus in the heart of Houston, Texas, the Kinkaid offers a thriving intellectual community in the midst of a vibrant, urban, and diverse culture.
ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
- Collaborate with the Assistant Director of Technology and the Director of Technology to develop infrastructure strategies aligned with the School’s educational initiatives and implement robust network security protocols, including firewalls, instruction detection systems, VPNs, VLAN configurations, and monitoring tools
- Plan, configure, and maintain all network infrastructure, including switches, routers, firewalls, wireless access points, and associated networking hardware
- Monitor network performance, identify bottlenecks, and implement improvements to ensure efficient and reliable connectivity
- Develop, refine, and test disaster recovery plans for critical network and server systems and implement redundancy and failover measures to ensure high availability and minimal downtime
- Regularly review and simulate emergency scenarios, updating recovery plans based on test outcomes and assist in educating and informing the broader IT team and school leadership about the disaster recovery plan and any implications for operational continuity in the event of a major incident
- Perform regular vulnerability assessments and security audits to maintain network integrity and data protection compliance
- Troubleshoot and swiftly resolve network connectivity issues across the school campuses and serve as a high-tier support resource for complex network or system-related issues escalated by the helpdesk team
- Ensure network firmware and configurations are regularly updated and coordinate maintenance activities to minimize user disruption
- Stay current on emerging security threats and promptly implement necessary security patches and updates
- Evaluate and recommend new technologies or upgrades that improve network efficiency, reliability, and scalability
- Coordinate with external vendors and contractors for infrastructure projects, ensuring standards and project goals are met
- Collaborate with other IT staff, educators, and administrators to ensure seamless integration and operation of educational technology tools and platforms and communicate technical information clearly and effectively to both technical and non-technical stakeholders
- Develop network diagrams, architecture charts, and administrative manuals and maintain up-to-date documentation of network and system configurations and IP addressing to enable operational continuity and troubleshooting
- Prepare regular reports detailing infrastructure status, network performance metrics, and significant incidents
- Provide updates and summaries of infrastructure projects or issues to the Assistant Director of Technology and or Director of Technology, ensuring transparency and informed decision-making within the department
