Network Engineer Jobs in Johnston, IA (NOW HIRING)

The Network Engineer 3 serves as a senior technical contributor responsible for the design, implementation, optimization, and long-term sustainability of Berkshire Hathaway Energy's enterprise network infrastructure. This role provides advanced engineering expertise across routed, switched, wireless, and network access technologies while leading complex initiatives, driving automation maturity, and influencing network architecture standards.
The position plays a key role in advancing network reliability, scalability, security, and operational efficiency across corporate, data center, and field environments. The Network Engineer 3 operates with minimal supervision, acts as a technical escalation point, and provides mentorship and technical guidance to less-experienced engineers.
Responsibilities
Design, implement, and optimize enterprise network solutions supporting high availability, performance, and security across WAN, LAN, wireless, and data center environments.
Lead complex network initiatives, including large-scale deployments, technology refreshes, architectural enhancements, and major upgrades.
Serve as a technical authority for routing, switching, network segmentation, and access design, ensuring alignment with business, security, and operational requirements.
Define, develop, and enforce network architecture standards, design patterns, and best practices.
Architect and advance network automation frameworks using Python, YAML, Ansible, and related tools to support infrastructure-as-code, reduce manual effort, and improve consistency and resiliency.
Evaluate emerging networking technologies and participate in proof-of-concepts, technical assessments, and vendor selection activities.
Provide escalation support for complex or high-impact network incidents, leading root cause analysis and corrective action planning.
Monitor network performance trends and proactively identify risks, capacity constraints, and improvement opportunities.
Partner closely with security, systems, OT, and application teams to design and support secure, compliant, and highly integrated enterprise connectivity solutions.
Produce and maintain detailed architecture documentation, network designs, standards, and operational procedures.
Mentor and provide technical guidance to Network Engineer 1 and 2 staff, promoting skill development and consistent engineering practices.
Coordinate with vendors and service providers on advanced support engagements, escalations, and strategic planning.
Participate in on-call rotations and oversee complex after-hours maintenance activities as required.
Perform additional duties and engineering responsibilities as assigned.
Qualifications
Bachelor's degree in information systems, computer science or related technical field or equivalent work experience. (Typically four years of additional related, progressive work experience would be needed for candidates applying for this position who do not possess a bachelor's degree.)
A minimum of five years additional directly related technical experience is required.
Demonstrated experience designing, implementing, and supporting enterprise WAN routing solutions, including proficiency with prevalent routing protocols such as BGP, OSPF, EIGRP, and static routing, along with traffic engineering, redundancy, and resiliency design considerations.
Advanced knowledge of enterprise LAN switching, including VLAN and trunking design, Spanning Tree Protocol (RSTP/MST), link aggregation (LACP), switch stacking or chassis-based architectures, QoS, and high-availability access and distribution layer design.
Strong experience designing, deploying, and optimizing enterprise wireless networks, including RF design, capacity planning, and performance troubleshooting.
Advanced experience with Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE), including policy design, troubleshooting complex authentication and authorization issues, and integration with enterprise identity systems.
Proven expertise in network automation and infrastructure-as-code practices using Python, YAML, Ansible, and related tooling, including designing automation frameworks, integrating with CI/CD workflows, and driving adoption of automation standards across network engineering teams.
Experience supporting and engineering data center switching environments, including hands-on experience with Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI), covering fabric design, endpoint groups (EPGs), contracts, policies, and integration with traditional network and virtualization platforms.
Proven ability to lead complex technical initiatives, work independently, and make sound engineering decisions in high-availability environments.
Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to clearly document designs, influence technical direction, and collaborate across teams.
Demonstrated analytical, troubleshooting, and problem-solving skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities and initiatives concurrently.
About Us
MidAmerican Energy Company, a Midwest utility, provides regulated electric and natural gas service to more than 1.6 million customers in Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota. The company owns and operates a portfolio of power-generating assets, approximately 61% of which is wind generation.
About the Team
MidAmerican Energy Company is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion or religious creed, age, national origin, ancestry, citizenship status (except as required by law), gender (including gender identity and expression), sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, genetic information, physical or mental disability, veteran or military status, familial or parental status, marital status or any other category protected by applicable local, state or U.S. federal law. Employees must be able to perform the essential functions of the position, with or without an accommodation.