Senior Technical Consultant - Enterprise Networking, Wireless in Chicago, Illinois at AHEAD

AHEAD builds platforms for digital business. By weaving together advances in cloud infrastructure, automation and analytics, and software delivery, we help enterprises deliver on the promise of digital transformation.

At AHEAD, we prioritize creating a culture of belonging, where all perspectives and voices are represented, valued, respected, and heard. We create spaces to empower everyone to speak up, make change, and drive the culture at AHEAD.

We are an equal opportunity employer, and do not discriminate based on an individual's race, national origin, color, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, religion, age, disability, marital status, or any other protected characteristic under applicable law, whether actual or perceived.

AHEAD is seeking a Senior Technical Consultant to join the Enterprise Networking team. This role is responsible for designing, implementing, and supporting complex enterprise network solutions across routing, switching, BGP-based enterprise and WAN architectures, wireless, and network access control environments. The ideal candidate brings a strong consulting presence, deep technical expertise, and hands-on experience delivering network infrastructure projects for enterprise clients

• Design and implement enterprise network solutions across campus, branch, and datacenter environments
• Lead technical discovery, architecture, design workshops, and deployment activities for client engagements
• Develop high-quality low-level and high-level design documentation, implementation plans, and test plans
• Configure, validate, and troubleshoot routing and switching platforms in complex production environments
• Perform wireless site surveys, predictive designs, and post-deployment validation using Ekahau
• Design and implement enterprise wireless solutions with a focus on coverage, capacity, roaming, and performance
• Deploy and support Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) for network access control, authentication, authorization, and policy enforcement
• Provide technical leadership during implementation, migration, cutover, and optimization activities
• Collaborate with project managers, architects, engineers, and client stakeholders to ensure successful delivery
• Mentor junior consultants and contribute to technical best practices within the enterprise networking team
• Support pre-sales efforts through solution reviews, level-of-effort input, and technical recommendations

• Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Engineering, or related experience
• Minimum 4 years of hands-on experience designing and implementing enterprise network solutions
• CCNP certification required, with strong focus on routing, switching, and BGP
• Strong knowledge of BGP design, implementation, policy control, path selection, and troubleshooting in enterprise environments
• CWNA certification required
• Proven network design experience in enterprise environments
• Hands-on experience with enterprise routing and switching platforms, including Cisco Catalyst and Nexus switches, protocols, and architectures
• Hands-on experience conducting wireless surveys and wireless design using Ekahau
• Experience designing, deploying, and troubleshooting enterprise wireless networks
• Experience with Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) deployments and policy-based access control
• Strong understanding of LAN, WAN, WLAN, TCP/IP, VLANs, STP, HSRP/VRRP, OSPF, BGP, QoS, and DHCP/DNS fundamentals
• Ability to create clear technical documentation, diagrams, implementation plans, and client deliverables
• Strong communication, presentation, and customer-facing consulting skills
• Ability to manage multiple priorities across project-based work

• CWNE certification preferred
• Experience with enterprise network assessments, refreshes, migrations, and greenfield deployments
• Experience with Cisco Catalyst, Arista, Aruba, and Juniper switching and wireless platforms
• Experience with Meraki wireless platforms preferred
• Experience integrating ISE with wired and wireless access environments
• Experience working in a consulting, professional services, or client-facing delivery role
• Additional relevant certifications in enterprise networking or wireless technologies

The successful candidate is a strong enterprise networking consultant who can independently lead design and implementation efforts, communicate effectively with technical and business stakeholders, and deliver reliable solutions that meet client requirements. This person should be equally comfortable in architecture discussions, hands-on deployment work, and post-implementation troubleshooting.

• Ability to travel occasionally within the United States as required for client meetings, site surveys, implementations, and cutover support
• Ability to work both independently and collaboratively in client-facing environments

Through our daily work and internal groups like Moving Women AHEAD and RISE AHEAD, we value and benefit from diversity of people, ideas, experience, and everything in between.

We fuel growth by stacking our office with top-notch technologies in a multi-million-dollar lab, by encouraging cross department training and development, sponsoring certifications and credentials for continued learning.

- Medical, Dental, and Vision Insurance

- 401(k)

- Paid company holidays

- Paid time off

- Paid parental and caregiver leave

- Plus more! See benefits https://www.aheadbenefits.com/ for additional details.