Infrastructure Engineer - 18 Month Contract

About AARNet

Australia’s Academic and Research Network (AARNet), founded in 1989, has played a pivotal role in shaping Australia’s digital landscape as the pioneers of the country’s Internet. Our mission extends beyond mere connectivity; we are the architects, builders, and operators of a world-class network infrastructure that fuels critical research and learning. At AARNet, innovation thrives within a vibrant community.

Connecting a Million Minds: Our extensive reach interconnects over one million users—from researchers and faculty to staff and students—across institutions throughout Australia. Whether it’s high-energy physics, climate science, genomics, radio astronomy, or the arts, we serve as the backbone supporting education and research across diverse disciplines.

National and International Collaboration: Nationally, AARNet links Australian universities, the CSIRO, and other organizations with a research and education mission. But our impact extends beyond borders. Internationally, we bridge the Australian Research and Education (R & E) community to the world, continuously developing capabilities and forging partnerships for seamless data access and transfer.

Supporting Innovation: While our core mission revolves around network infrastructure, we also offer a suite of supporting applications enabling collaborative research and education.

Our Culture: At AARNet, we’re a dynamic team of innovators, doers, and courageous thinkers. We don’t settle for the status quo; instead, we anticipate the future needs of our customers and build solutions today. If you share our imagination, foresight, and drive to shape the future, consider joining us on this exciting journey.

The Role

The Infrastructure Delivery Engineer will work in the Technical Operations team supporting the Network Infrastructure team to deliver the next generation of fibre services to Australia’s academic and research sector.

You are keen to deepen your understanding of the technical aspects of our fibre network and optical/IP facilities. The role will collaborate with skilled engineers and field technicians to design, deploy and manage our growing optical network. Our team is hands on and enjoys solving technical problems to push the limits of the technology. Previous experience with active equipment in a fibre network and technical analytical thinking will be key to support the successful delivery of critical network infrastructure. Previous experience in an optical operations or engineering role would be advantageous. Technical experts will support you to build on your existing knowledge and provide training where required.

Technical operations team strives to deliver quality network solutions across DWDM, submarine, ethernet and routed technologies that meet our customer’s requirements and push the limits of the technology. These projects are Australia-wide and range in size, complexity and location. The variety will draw on your commitment to observe, learn and apply new knowledge on a daily basis.

This role is a 18 month maximum term agreement.

Responsibilities

• Support optical and facilities engineering activities for AARNet’s network including the design, delivery and deployment of new DWDM optical and IP switching services and facilities as well as upgrades and network replacement.
• In collaboration with technical experts, conduct technical analysis and design tasks to support the delivery, commissioning, operation and maintenance of AARNet’s physical facilities such as CEVs/telco huts, data centres, and street cabinets.
• Support the ongoing maintenance activities and upgrades of network equipment, this will include some after-hours work. Assisting with and coordinating activities for the rollout of new technologies across Technical Operations and more broadly in AARNet.
• Maintaining internal data systems including fibre optical network and facilities engineering data to a high level of precision and accuracy and produce technical documentation as required.
• Work with internal and contractor field Network Engineers and technicians to achieve tangible outcomes.
• Assist with the Design and Documentation for Power systems, Solar, Generators Design commissioning and maintenance.
• Other administration activities for the Facilities Engineering, Field and contractor teams as required.

Expertise, experience & qualifications

• Australian citizen
• Previous telco or similar infrastructure experience.
• Previous DWDM and IP switching experience.
• Familiarity with data centres, exchanges, Controlleed Environment Vault (CEV) or similar environments, and their operational considerations.
• Familiarity with common telecommunications operational processes.
• Excellent computer skills and are comfortable using a broad range of office software applications including Word, Excel, and other applications.
• Solid logical, numerical and spatial reasoning skills
• Confident working independently.