Traverse City Light & Power (TCLP) is a municipally owned electric and telecom utility serving approximately 13,000 electric and 900 fiber customers. With a team of 55 dedicated employees, we are committed to delivering reliable, innovative, and community-focused services to the residents and businesses of Traverse City.

Position Overview

TCLP is seeking a skilled and motivated Senior Network Engineer to join our IT Department. This role is responsible for the design, configuration, performance, reliability, and security of the utility’s enterprise-wide network infrastructure, including electric operations, IT systems, and the fiber-to-the-premise (FTTP) broadband network.

The Senior Network Engineer will serve as the primary technical authority for all utility network environments, encompassing carrier-grade broadband systems, operational technology (OT) networks, and enterprise IT infrastructure. The Senior Network Engineer ensures network stability, provisioning accuracy, traffic performance, resiliency, and compliance with enterprise architecture and cybersecurity standards established by the CTO.

The role operates within an integrated municipal utility model where broadband, electric, and networks share infrastructure, capital planning, governance, and performance accountability. The position collaborates across Fiber Business and Electric Operations to ensure network operations support customer service delivery, operational reliability, regulatory obligations, revenue objectives and long-term strategic objectives.

This position participates in an on-call rotation to address after-hours network and broadband operational needs.

Key Responsibilities

• Design, administer, and support enterprise and broadband network infrastructure, including LAN/WAN, wireless, FTTP, routing, switching, firewalls, and virtualization platforms.
• Ensure secure, segmented, and resilient network architectures across IT, OT, and broadband environments, supporting high availability, redundancy, and disaster recovery.
• Monitor and optimize network performance, reliability, and capacity, including troubleshooting outages and service degradation impacting operations and customers.
• Support broadband network operations, including FTTP infrastructure, traffic management, QoS, firmware lifecycle management, and capacity planning.
• Integrate network systems with enterprise platforms such as identity management, provisioning, billing, CIS, and monitoring tools.
• Maintain network documentation, standards, configurations, and performance baselines while supporting cybersecurity controls, audits, and incident response.
• Collaborate cross‑functionally with Fiber Business, Electric Operations, IT, and leadership on service delivery, capital planning, and infrastructure lifecycle decisions.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Network Engineering, Telecommunications, Information Systems, or related field. A combination of education and relevant experience may be considered in lieu of a degree.
• Minimum of five (5) years’ experience in utility, broadband, ISP, or carrier-grade network environments.
• Strong knowledge of FTTP architecture including GPON/XGS-PON systems.
• Experience with core routing, traffic shaping, QoS, and bandwidth management.
• Familiarity with BGP, MPLS, VLAN segmentation, and transport redundancy planning preferred.
• Experience with network monitoring platforms and NOC processes.
• Understanding of cybersecurity principles as applied to ISP and critical infrastructure environments.

Why TCLP?

• Be part of a mission-driven organization that directly impacts the Traverse City community.
• Enjoy a collaborative, supportive work culture with a strong focus on employee well-being.
• Competitive compensation and benefits including health insurance, 100% employer paid dental and vision insurance, 10% employer contribution to a 457 deferred compensation retirement plan, and a defined benefit pension retirement plan.
• Opportunities for professional development and growth.

Salary range dependent on education and experience

Submission deadline: Open until filled.

Employees shall maintain a permanent and bona fide residence in a location that allows for a response time to the Service Center within no more than 60 minutes under normal driving circumstances within 6 months of employment.

TCL&P is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer
A diverse team makes a strong team. As an Equal Employment Opportunity employer, we are strongly committed to creating a dynamic and equitable workforce that mirrors the community and world that we serve. TCL&P encourages people from all backgrounds to apply.

Benefits Summary

Job Description

Supervised By:       Chief Technology Officer (CTO)
Supervises:              As Directed
Status:                      Administrative, Confidential and Technical (ACT)
                                  Exempt

Essential Job Functions:
An employee in this position may be called upon to do any or all of the following essential functions.  These examples do not include all of the duties which the employee may be expected to perform.  To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential function satisfactorily.

Enterprise Network & Infrastructure Administration

• Design, configure, maintain, and monitor enterprise LAN/WAN environments including
• switches, routers, firewalls, and wireless systems.
• Administer and optimize server infrastructure, virtualization platforms, storage systems,
• and enterprise hardware.
• Design and maintain network segmentation, access controls, and secure nterconnections between IT, OT, and broadband environments.
• Support enterprise identity management systems including Azure Active Directory and authentication services.
• Ensure network architecture support high availability, redundancy, disaster recovery,
• and operational resilience.

Broadband Infrastructure & Network Operations

• Configure, maintain, and optimize FTTP infrastructure including OLTs, ONTs, aggregation switches, core routers, and transport links.
• Monitor broadband network performance including bandwidth utilization, latency, jitter, packet loss, and uptime.
• Implement traffic management, QoS policies, and capacity planning measures.
• Administer and maintain VLAN segmentation and secure network configurations consistent with enterprise standards.
• Coordinate firmware lifecycle management and upgrades for broadband network equipment.

Performance & Reliability

• Support network reliability targets and corporate performance metrics across all utility networks.
• Troubleshoot outages, service degradation, and network anomalies affecting operations and customer services.
• Participate in network capacity forecasting, infrastructure expansion, and technology roadmap planning.
• Maintain accurate documentation of network topology, configurations, standards, and performance baselines.

Provisioning & Systems Integration

• Support provisioning systems and ensure accurate service activation and configuration.
• Coordinate integration with enterprise systems including billing, customer information systems (CIS), and monitoring platforms.
• Ensure network security controls comply with enterprise cybersecurity policies, regulatory requirements, and critical infrastructure best practices.
• Participate in vulnerability remediation, incident response, and cybersecurity audits as directed.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Collaborate with Fiber Business leadership regarding service-level performance, expansion priorities, and customer-impact considerations.
• Coordinate with Electric Operations and field resources regarding network equipment installations, inside plant infrastructure, and operational connectivity.
• Support services and the IT team with network solutions that enable business systems, remote work, and operational efficiency
• Participate in capital planning and lifecycle replacement discussions as directed.

Operational Support

• Participate in on-call rotation and respond to after-hours broadband operational needs.
• Support vendor coordination, transport relationships, and technical service providers as directed.

Perform other duties as necessary.

Required Knowledge, Skills, Abilities and Minimum Qualifications:
The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skills, abilities and minimum qualifications necessary to perform the essential functions of the position.  Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the job.

• Educational requirements include a Bachelor’s degree in Network Engineering, Telecommunications, Information Systems, or related field. A combination of education and experience that provides the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to successfully perform the duties of the position may be considered in lieu of a degree.
• Minimum five (5) years of experience in utility, broadband, ISP, or carrier-grade network environments.
• Strong knowledge of FTTP architecture including GPON/XGS-PON systems.
• Experience with core routing, traffic shaping, QoS, and bandwidth management.
• Familiarity with BGP, MPLS, VLAN segmentation, and transport redundancy planning preferred.
• Experience with network monitoring platforms and NOC processes.
• Understanding of cybersecurity principles as applied to ISP and critical infrastructure environments.
• Strong analytical and troubleshooting skills.
• Ability to communicate technical issues clearly to technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Ability to operate within a regulated public utility environment.
• Ability to establish effective working relationships and use good judgment, initiative and resourcefulness when dealing with employees, contractors, other public utility professionals, customers and the public.
• Ethical conduct: Ability to handle matters of confidentiality discreetly on issues requiring varying degrees of sensitivity.
• Organizational and Time Management: Ability to work under deadlines, manage multiple priorities, and adapt to changing work demands.
• Valid State of Michigan vehicle operator’s license.
• Ability to work evenings and weekends as operational needs require.
• In addition to the above‑mentioned requirements, this position requires the ability to read, write, speak, and understand the English language to the extent necessary to safely and effectively perform the essential functions of the job; the ability to follow written and oral instructions; and the ability to perform the essential duties of the position with or without reasonable accommodation. Regular, consistent, and predictable attendance is an essential function of this position.

Physical Demands and Work Environment:
The physical demands and work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of the job.  Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is frequently required to stand, walk, sit, use hands and fingers, talk and hear. The employee must be able to squat, stoop or kneel. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move items of light to moderate weight. The employee is regularly required to communicate in person and by telephone, read regular and small print, sit, use limited mobility in an office setting, use manual dexterity to type and enter data, and use sight to read and prepare documents and reports.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee regularly works both indoors and outdoors and regularly drives a motor vehicle between work sites. The employee may work near moving mechanical equipment and have the potential threat of electric shock. The noise level in the work environment varies from quiet to loud.