UC Engineer

The University of Southern California’s Information Technology Services (ITS) is seeking an accomplished Unified Communications (UC) Engineer with an exceptional commitment to service excellence to join its team. As the UC Engineer, you will be an integral member of the Unified Communication & Collaboration team and will be responsible for supporting the design, engineering, and implementation of unified communications and cloud-based collaboration technologies across USC.

The qualified candidate will have a strong understanding of Unified Communications (UC) products, services, and networking, with a willingness to continuously learn emerging technologies. The ideal candidate has excellent time management, technical, and communication skills, and is end-user focused and driven by customer satisfaction. This position works closely with IT Operations, Systems, Security, and Network teams to implement, monitor, and maintain production infrastructure.

You will collaborate with diverse and talented team members to help solve multidimensional technology problems, improve customer experience, and generate value for campus stakeholders across a broad base of departments and constituencies.

This role supports a modern unified communications ecosystem, including cloud telephony, contact center platforms, and collaboration technologies such as Zoom. The position plays an important role in ensuring reliable, scalable communications services that support the university’s academic and administrative mission.

The Work You Will Do

In this role, the UC Engineer provides engineering and technical support for unified communications infrastructure and services, ensuring systems are operating at peak efficiency with little or no downtime. Assists in designing, configuring, troubleshooting and maintaining university telephony equipment across multiple platforms. Provides technical and training assistance to other ITS teams, as necessary, ensuring that industry best practices are applied with regard to the use of technology, procedures and

methodology. Demonstrates ITS values in action.

Key Responsibilities:

• Ensures the unified communications infrastructure operates at peak efficiency, troubleshooting university telephony equipment across multiple platforms. Actively and empathetically listens to and engages with customers, working to understand and identify service problems and root causes. Continually and appropriately designs, configures, delivers and maintains new unified communication services to customers.

• Consults with university departments and stakeholders to determine suitability and capability of communications devices, in compliance with standard operating procedures (SOP) and all relevant policies and regulations. Works with vendors and external stakeholders to find and implement relevant, effective technologies and applications. Manages communications with stakeholders, technical staff, leadership and vendors (e.g., bug reports, contract negotiations, oral presentations), as required.

• Creates and maintains documentation, collaborating with team members to establish project plans, schedules, and priorities, and contribute to ITS’ knowledge base. Participates in the development, implementation, and maintenance of SOP and relevant training for unified communications administration, operation, and disaster recovery.

• Leverages telephony expertise to support the unified communications team’s vision, analyzing data and recommending and developing improvements by maintaining currency with emerging technologies and industry trends. Builds and maintains network of professionals, attending relevant events (e.g., organization meetings, conferences, trainings, trade shows) as appropriate.

• Aids the cultivation of transparent environment and a culture of belonging, sharing information broadly, and actively embodies ITS values and behaviors (e.g., accountability, ethics, best-in-class customer service). Builds and maintains collaborative relationships with various groups of customers and leaders to ensure consistent, reliable service is delivered to a range of stakeholders. Works with ITS leaders to develop and manage holistic strategies for delivering service.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree. Combined experience/education as substitute for minimum education.

• 2 years of related work experience.

• Direct, hands-on experience with network transport, design, planning and implementation.

• Knowledge of voice applications and unified communications (UC) service networks, including network applications (e.g., Unified Communications Manager, voice switches, media gateways, routers, load balancers, firewalls).

• Experience with PBX, voicemail, call center management, and carrier services (e.g., Avaya Communications Manager, Second Nature, Frontier Centrex Manager).

• Experience supporting large-scale telephony implementations and upgrades, and delivering reliable, quality service within a higher education environment.

• Knowledge of data networking and IT fundamentals, and experience with service management tools, asset management and billing tools (e.g., ServiceNow, Pinnacle, Calero).

• Knowledge of video conferencing, telepresence, and web conference solutions.

• Ability to assess problems and prioritize accordingly, based on importance and urgency.

• Strong collaboration, communication and technical documentation skills, with experience presenting ideas and solutions in non-technical, business-friendly terms.

• Ability to develop positive working relationships and strong rapport with team members.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience supporting cloud-based unified communications or contact center platforms (UCaaS/CCaaS) such as Five9, Zoom Contact Center, or similar technologies.

• Experience supporting Zoom collaboration technologies, including Zoom Phone.

• Experience using REST APIs, scripting, or automation tools to support unified communications or contact center platforms.

• Experience participating in telephony or contact center platform migrations or cloud transformations.

• Experience in IT, higher education, or other relevant fields.

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Information Systems, or related field.

• 4 years of related work experience.

In addition, the successful candidate must also demonstrate, through ideas, words and actions, a strong commitment to of integrity, excellence, community, well-being, open communication, and accountability.

Salary and Benefits:

The annual base salary range for this position is $127,864.08 - $134,600.04. When extending an offer of employment, the University of Southern California considers factors such as (but not limited to) the scope and responsibilities of the position, the candidate’s work experience, education/training, key skills, internal peer alignment, federal, state, and local laws, contractual stipulations, grant funding, as well as external market and organizational considerations.

To support the well-being of our faculty and staff, USC provides benefits-eligible employees with a broad range of perks to help protect their and their dependents’ health, wealth, and future. These benefits are available as part of the overall compensation and total rewards package. You can learn more about USC’s comprehensive benefits .

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS
The candidate for the position of UC Engineer must meet the following qualifications:
• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field such as computer science, computer information systems, etc., or an equivalent combination of education, training, and experience.
• Minimum of two years of experience in information technology or higher education.
• Experience supporting large-scale telephony implementations and upgrades and delivering reliable, quality service within a higher education environment.
• Direct, hands-on experience with network transport, design, planning, and implementation.
• Knowledge of voice applications and unified communications (UC) service networks, including network appliances (e.g., unified communications managers, voice switches, media gateways, routers, load balancers, firewalls).
• Experience with service management, asset management, and billing tools (e.g., ServiceNow, Pinnacle).
• Knowledge of video conferencing, telepresence, and web conference solutions.
• Strong collaboration, communication, and technical documentation skills.
• Experience with PBX, voicemail, call center management, and carrier services (e.g., Avaya Communications Manager, 2nd Nature, Avaya Aura Messaging, Frontier Centrex Manager, AT&T Centrex Manager).
• Ability to assess the criticality of problems and prioritize actions based on importance and urgency.
• Ability to develop positive working relationships and a strong rapport with team members.
• Experience presenting ideas and solutions in non-technical, business-friendly terms.