Telecommunications or Network Administrators and Analysts (Various levels)
Reference number: RF-17151
About CSE
The Communications Security Establishment (CSE) is Canada’s agency responsible for foreign signals intelligence, cyber operations and cyber security. Learn more about our mission, and what it means to work in a security and intelligence field.
CSE is committed to fostering a culture of equity, diversity and inclusion. This isn’t just an ideal, it’s crucial to our mission. Find out about our workplace culture, including our diversity and inclusion initiatives.
Become part of our team and you’ll understand why CSE is the most important organization you’ve never heard of (YouTube).
Job summary
We’re looking for people from a wide range of backgrounds, who enjoy working in an inclusive environment and value different perspectives.
As part of our Network Operational Support team, you will collaborate with your colleagues to address complex network and telecommunications challenges in Ottawa, in Canada, and in international locations. You will design, implement, support, and manage CSE’s enterprise network and telecommunications services, including firewalls, local and wide area networks, optical infrastructure, cloud, data center, wireless and software defined networking. You will also help design, implement and integrate new solutions and capabilities into CSE’s existing infrastructure.
In the application form, you will be required to specify which role(s) you would like to be considered for:
- Core networking
- Telecommunications / Optical networking
- User access networking
You will find more details about these roles in the “Experience” section below.
Salary
To find out more about our salary scale, vacation allowances and benefits (health, dental and pension plans, etc.) visit the Compensation page on our website.
Area of selection
Open to Canadian citizens.
Location
Ottawa, Ontario. CSE has two accessible facilities. Flexible work arrangements, including telework for a portion of the work week, may be possible.
Conditions of employment
A valid Enhanced Top Secret (ETS) security clearance is a condition of employment that must be met before an offer can be made.
More information about our hiring and security processes can be found on our website.
Essential qualifications
In order to be considered, your cover letter must clearly explain how you meet the following education and experience requirements.
Education
You must have either one of the following:
- A university degree in a field related to the position, such as (but not limited to) Computer Science, Computer/Electrical/Software Engineering, Network Computing, or Network Telecommunications; or a college diploma in a field related to the position.
- An acceptable combination of education (professional certification) in a field related to the position (as above), and a minimum 2 years of networking experience.
Note: The educational program must be recognized in Canada, and you must be able to provide proof of education credentials. Students graduating within the next twelve months are eligible to apply.
Experience
In the application form, you will be required to indicate which role(s) you would like to be considered for (Core Networking, Telecommunications / Optical Networking, User Access Networking). You must meet three or more experience requirements listed within the role(s) you’ll select:
Core networking
- Experience in the design, implementation, and support of enterprise routing or switching, or firewall environments
- Experience with switching and routing principles and protocols such as OSPF, BGP, EIGRP, VLAN, STP, VRF, VXLAN
- Experience in network security technologies including IPSec, MACsec, VPN, ACL, and NAT
- Experience managing core network services such as DHCP, DNS, IP address management, segmentation, and access control
- Experience with the administration of firewalls and enforcement of network security and access control policies
- Experience with load balancers and enterprise network virtualization concepts
- Experience with network automation or scripting tools
Telecommunications / Optical networking
- Experience working with optical transport networks and fiber infrastructure in service provider or large enterprise environments
- Experience with DWDM, CWDM, ROADM technologies, and optical amplifiers
- Experience provisioning wavelengths and performing optical path engineering
- Experience with MPLS and transport-layer security technologies (IPSec, MACsec)
- Experience in the analysis of fiber characteristics, optical power levels, and dispersion
- Experience with validating optical signal integrity and perform path validation
- Experience in automation, with emphasis on physical and optical-layer expertise
User access networking
- Experience in the design and operation of controller-based and software-defined networks
- Experience with SDN concepts, intent-based networking, overlays (VXLAN), and API-driven networking
- Experience with network automation using Python, Ansible, PowerShell, or similar tools
- Experience integrating security protocols with network access solutions (802.1X, EAP, FAST, EAP-TLS)
- Experience in wireless networking, WLAN deployment, and troubleshooting
- Knowledge of 802.11 standards and enterprise wireless security (WPA3, 802.1X, RADIUS)
- Experience in the support of automated, scalable, and policy-based network environments
Official language requirements
English essential or bilingual imperative: BBB
- English essential means that the position is unilingual English.
- Bilingual means that knowledge of both official languages (English and French) is required for the position.
- Imperative means that you must possess the knowledge of both official languages before a job offer can be made.
- The profile (e.g. CBC/CBC) represent the proficiency level you must demonstrate in each of the language skills (reading, writing and oral interaction) for the bilingual position. For bilingual positions, second language evaluations will be offered to candidates who don’t have valid language test results issued by the Government of Canada.
Find out more about the language requirements of positions.
Competencies
The following technical, behavioural and leadership competencies will be assessed at a later date. You do not need to include information about them in your application.
Technical competencies
- IT user support help desk
- Knowledge of IT
- Telecommunications (data and voice) networks
Behavioural competencies
- Cognitive thinking skills
- Working in a Team
Leadership competencies
- Achieving results
- Change and innovation (assessed for UNMA-08 and UNMA-09 levels only)
- Collaboration
Functional
- Business analysis
Assets
Assets are “nice-to-have” expertise and skills we’re interested in. Your application will not be rejected if you do not meet or possess these qualifications. However, if you do have them, they may be used to identify which team you could best complement.
Asset education
An industry certification relevant to the networking stream such as:
- CCNP enterprise
- CCNA
- JNCIA/JNCIS
- Security+
- CWNA
- CFOT / Optical certifications
- Azure network engineer or AWS advanced networking
- CompTIA security+
Note: The educational program must be recognized in Canada and you must be able to provide proof of education credentials. Students graduating within the next twelve months are eligible to apply.
Operational requirements
Overtime and standby duty may be required. Frequent travel is required for some roles.
How to apply
You may submit your candidacy online by selecting “Apply” at the top or bottom of this page.
If you cannot apply online or have a disability preventing you from applying online, please inform us by email at careers-carrieres@cse-cst.gc.ca prior to the closing date of this hiring process.
Important information
We ask you to not discuss your application with others (including on social media) besides your partner, or close family members - who should also be reminded about the need to be discreet.
Assessments of candidates are conducted in the official language of their choice.
To address CSE’s current representation gaps, priority may be given to persons who self-declare as belonging to one, or more, designated employment equity groups: women; Indigenous peoples, including First Nations who are status, or registered and non-status, or non-registered, Inuit and Métis; persons with disabilities, including people with a mental health condition and neurodivergent people; and persons from racial or ethnic groups.
Please note the Employment Equity Act, which is under review, uses the terminology Aboriginal peoples and visible minorities.
CSE offers an assessment process that will accommodate any reasonable measures you require to be assessed in a fair and equitable manner. Those measures are available to all candidates during our processes. Information you provide will be addressed confidentially.
The level of competence demonstrated in the various assessments will be used to determine your qualifications for the UNMA-07, UNMA-08 or UNMA-09 level.
All communications with CSE relating to this process, including email messages and telephone conversations, may be used in the assessment of qualifications.
The intent of this process is to fill vacant positions at CSE. The process may also be used to establish a pool of qualified candidates which could be used to staff similar or identical positions with various tenures.
Due to the nature of CSE’s mandate certain roles may expose employees to content that is difficult to process. Mental health is a priority at CSE and if any personnel feel they require assistance to preserve their mental wellbeing, they have access to services, tools and other resources to help them in both their personal and professional lives.
Please note that in an effort to maintain balance between employee development and business needs, candidates who are hired at CSE must remain in their substantive position for a minimum of twelve (12) months subject to operational requirements.
We thank you for your interest in CSE. However, only those selected for further consideration will be contacted.
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