Company Description:
Peak Web Consulting built and/or runs the networks of many of the largest Web 2.0 companies today. We architect multiple national 10Gig backbones as well as smaller, single-GigE, content-service networks. We manage connectivity between datacenters around the world, but when appropriate we provide services that match business case needs over long-term planning. We implement national transit and peering policies for our customers as well as designing and implementing the local area networks in each data center.
Our customers typically outline their goals, e.g., the number of servers or data centers supported or a volume of bandwidth projected to be used. The customer is then turned over to our engineers who have the project management skills to “own” a customer solution, providing (with the assistance of technical peers and support staff) any or all needs for the customer, often throughout the entire process. This includes business development, design, task deliverables, implementation, documentation, hand-off, and continued support. We have the freedom to learn many different aspects of technical, business, and communication skills.
Peak Hosting’s customers make commitments for work so engineers do not have the typical “feast or famine” consulting experience, even if the cost to Peak Hosting’s business is slower growth than some “get-rich-quickly” professional services organizations. Peak Hosting engineers become a part of the family for our customers and are around to see each project through to completion. Peak Hosting also strongly encourages cross-pollination between customers so engineers work on multiple networks sharing lessons, expertise, and knowledge on a variety of architectures that meet different business requirements.
At Peak Hosting, talented engineers are trained to become world-class consultants. Engineers solve technical problems; consultants solve business problems. Consultants are hired to achieve business goals, not just configure network gear. Consulting goes far beyond technical prowess. It requires effective communication along the customer’s entire management chain, from the individual contributor to the CEO. A consultant builds consensus and sets expectations, planning not only how to do things right, but accounting for what can go wrong.
What makes Peak Hosting different than other companies?
- Quality of life: Peak Hosting engineers have more flexibility to work from home or from the customer site
- Peak Hosting engineers are compensated for hard work – the more you work, the more you get paid!
- Peak Hosting engineers work as a collaborative team with other smart engineers sharing knowledge, experience, and design ideas to help each other learn new skills and grow.
- Peak Hosting’s customers entrust their network to our engineers who oversee many or all pieces of it, from policy to vendor selection to design.
- The opportunity to work with new technologies and large-scale networks goes far beyond what any single network could provide, because our engineers work on so many different networks, each with their own unique challenges, requirements, and business goals.
- At Peak Hosting, engineers can get back to what they love and what they do best – engineering!
The following is a list of technical skills and abilities that a Peak Hosting Network Engineer should possess:
Strong and effective troubleshooting skills at all layers of the OSI model (including “Layer 8!”)
- layer 1 (copper cabling troubles / fiber signal strength)
- layer 2 (spanning tree, VLAN tagging, MAC address tracing)
- layer 3 (routing troubleshooting, IP, EGP vs. IGP redistribution, BGP attributes, prefix length issues, MPLS experience a plus)
- layer 4 (firewall troubles, BGP session set-up)
- layer 5 thru 7 (server load balancing, firewalling, DNS, application issues masquerading as network troubles)
Job Description:
Successful individuals in this role will be network engineers with a strong background in Layer 2 and Layer 3 technologies, who must work well and communicate effectively with others, are self-starting, creative, and able to think through a project from start to finish. Peak Hosting network engineers are expected to take total ownership of our customers’ networks; from initial development, architecture, design, and documentation through deployment and maintenance.
Peak Hosting engineers have a great deal of autonomy, and are expected to be able to manage their time effectively. This position requires an individual who is able to work successfully in a virtual environment, and who does not require direct supervision. Candidates should be able to work with a remote team, and to take constructive feedback and input from other engineers. Some travel may be required.
As a consulting company, a good portion of the engineers’ time will be customer facing. No engineer at Peak Hosting has any “sales” responsibilities, however every engineer is always “selling themselves” by building confidence, trust, and credibility with our customers. It is important that all Peak Hosting engineers work well with others, communicate effectively and efficiently, and not let ego interfere with their interactions.
Vendor Experience:
Foundry, Cisco, Juniper, Force10, Citrix Netscaler, F5 BigIP, A10 Networks, Linux.
Layer 1 and Signaling Experience:
Dark and lit fiber transport with short, long, and extended reach optics
Understanding of transport technologies (e.g., CWDM/DWDM) and vendors
10Gig Ethernet and all other Ethernet-based solutions
Layer 2 Experience:
Spanning-Tree, including 802.1d, 802.1w, and RPVST+/VSTP
Trunking (Ether-channel) / LACP
802.1q VLAN tagging
Layer 3 Experience:
OSPFv2 routing including route redistribution
BGP
- Multi-homing
- Load balancing traffic and engineering for automatic failover
- Routing policy to manipulate BGP attributes to hit 95th percentile billing
- Isolation of routing policies between multiple datacenters including community attributes schemes
- Route reflectors and confederations
Flow analysis experience a plus
IPv6 and OSPFv3 a plus
Layer 4 through 7 Experience:
Server load balancing theory and models
Firewall and access list filtering
iptables a plus
Architecture and Design:
Design work for content networks scalable to 100 Gigs or more
Routing policy for auto-failover, transit policy segregation, and 95th percentile billing optimization
Understanding of peering policies vs. transit policies
Understanding the current state of the Internet’s network major players and quality between vendors
National backbone architecture or design a plus
The following is a list of non-technical skills and abilities that a Peak Hosting Network Engineer should possess:
Best Practices and Work Ethic:
Understanding of short-term business needs vs. long-term technical needs
Ability to accept constructive criticism via strict peer review
Excellent written and communication skills
Willingness and ability to teach and train others (both internally and customer-specific)
Meticulous and careful in their work – No cowboys!
Patience to adhere to best practices including maintenance windows and change control procedures
Self motivated to take ownership of projects without much supervision
Ability to time-slice between multiple networks and multiple customer requirements
Customer-facing with excellent social skills
Travel requirements to be negotiated
Documentation:
Microsoft Visio design/diagramming skills for all planned and as-built network changes
Working with ticketing systems (both internal and customer-specific) to track tasks and projects
Documentation of sensitive customer data in wiki
Ability to adhere to strict customer NDAs
Priority tracking, ordering, and sharing
Frequent billing entry, contract, and invoice review
Salesforce or other CRM experience a plus
Must have excellent attention to detail!
How To Apply:
Please send resume and cover letter to
PLEASE: No 3rd party consulting firms, contractors, non-local candidates, and/or candidates not authorized to work in the US without sponsorship.
