Healthcare Engineer- Network

Full Job Description

The Network Engineer serves as the authoritative technical expert responsible for the architecture, engineering, cybersecurity, and sustained operation of special purpose networked systems that are mission critical to patient care, life safety, and regulatory compliance within a complex medical center environment.

The position plans, designs, implements, integrates, and maintains high-availability server and network infrastructures supporting clinical, environmental, and compliance systems Applicants pending the completion of educational or certification/licensure requirements may be referred and tentatively selected but may not be hired until all requirements are met.

Basic Requirements: United States Citizenship: Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy.

Education: Bachelor's degree or higher in Engineering or Architecture.

To be acceptable, the curriculum must be from a school with at least one curriculum accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, Engineering Accreditation Commission (excludes engineering technology) or National Council of Architectural Registration Boards curriculum.

Examples of acceptable engineering and architectural degrees include, but are not limited to: Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Architecture and Architectural Engineering.

Titles may vary from educational institutions and change over time; -OR- Evidence of passing the Fundamentals of Engineering Examination with a bachelor's degree.

Evidence can be in the form of an Engineering in Training certificate issued from any State, the District of Columbia, Guam or Puerto Rico, or test results from the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES) identifying a passing score; -OR- Evidence of current professional registration or licensure as a Professional Engineer or Architect.

Evidence of current professional registration or licensure can be from any State, the District of Columbia, Guam or Puerto Rico.

May qualify based on being covered by the Grandfathering Provision as described in the VA Qualification Standard for this occupation (only applicable to current VHA employees who are in this occupation and meet the criteria).

Grade Determinations: Experience. One year of experience equivalent to the next lower grade. Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (KSAs).

In addition to meeting the experience requirements for this grade level, the candidate must fully demonstrate the following KSAs: Knowledge of mechanical, electrical, structural, civil and other engineering/architectural principles, practices and their applications in the healthcare environment.

Knowledge of healthcare industry standards and related regulatory agency and organization (including, but not limited to The Joint Commission (TJC), Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA), etc.) regulations, requirements, guides, policies, procedures, directives, standards and general medical program requirements as they relate to healthcare engineering.

Knowledge of construction standards, methods, practices and techniques, materials and equipment to determine compliance with engineering regulations and standards.

Skill in researching and analyzing information, conditions, human factors and projections to make sound engineering and business recommendations and decisions to proactively identify problems and develop innovative solutions within the context of applicable rules, regulations and procedures.

Ability to plan and execute complex, multi-faceted projects and inspections while prioritizing resources against approved scopes of work, contract documents and budgets.

Ability to organize and lead multi-disciplinary task forces with members from different departments and divisions, as well as design and construction firms.

Assignment: Employees work under general supervision with wide latitude to exercise independent judgment.

Drawing upon extended professional and technical experience, employees demonstrate an intimate understanding of complex subject matter.

They serve as institutional resources, working extensively with clinical stakeholders, supporting clinical services by leading market research, technology assessments, integration planning, and implementation of both current and emerging medical technologies.

The employee shares responsibility for managing the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), network security issues for medical systems, and the information communicated across these systems.

Network Engineers at the GS-12 grade level further support the clinical mission by contributing to the continuing education program for clinical staff, helping ensure safe and efficient healthcare delivery.

Network Engineers at the GS-12 grade level support the institution by assisting with capital asset and infrastructure planning, to help ensure successful strategic planning.

Within the Facilities Management Service the employee provides leadership that ensures high quality and responsive customer service is an integral component of engineering service delivery.

They are highly effective communicators, capable of serving as subject matter experts directly supporting the life cycle management of clinical technology, to include ongoing service, system administration, training, and quality assurance.

At this level, employees may assist in clinical research projects in the engineering field.

Basis for Selection: Selections for positions will be based on the objective evaluation of the candidates' total qualifications for the position.

"Qualifications" means the combination of experience, training, education, skills, knowledge, abilities, personal characteristics, and merit factors deemed to be pertinent to successful performance.

Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/. The full performance level of this vacancy is 12.

Physical Requirements: The work is primarily sedentary, although daily physical effort shall be required, e.g., walking, standing, climbing ladders and steps, crouching, crawling, kneeling, and carrying items such as ladders, construction drawings/specifications, manuals, equipment cases, and driving or traveling by motor vehicle.

Work Environment: The work environment involves risks or discomforts that require safety precautions typical of such places as boiler rooms, chiller rooms, mechanical spaces, sub-basements, construction sites, etc.

Typical office work areas are adequately lighted, cooled/heated, and ventilated. The incumbent must also work outdoors in all types of weather.

There may be occasional exposure to moderate risks, discomforts or hazardous waste. Major Duties:

Duties of the Healthcare Engineer- Network include but are not limited to: Designs high-availability and fault-tolerant architectures ensuring continuous monitoring and alerting to protect medications, biologics, vaccines, and patient-critical assets.

Integrates special purpose servers with enterprise network services (Active Directory, DNS, DHCP, VLANs, firewall rules, NAC, and secure remote access) in compliance with VA and federal cybersecurity standards.

Performs advanced troubleshooting of complex, multi-layer system failures involving network hardware, virtual environments, databases, sensors, and application interfaces.

Serves as the technical lead for TempTrak system infrastructure, ensuring reliable connectivity between sensors, gateways, application servers, and alerting mechanisms.

Configures and maintains secure network pathways to support real-time monitoring, alert escalation, historical data retention, and regulatory reporting.

Coordinates system upgrades, patches, firmware updates, and server lifecycle management to minimize downtime and maintain continuous compliance with Joint Commission, FDA, CDC, and VHA requirements.

Provides expert consultation to Pharmacy, Laboratory, Facilities, Logistics, Biomedical Engineering, and Patient Safety stakeholders regarding system capabilities, limitations, and risk mitigation strategies.

Implements and maintains Defense-in-Depth strategies for special purpose servers, including segmentation, access controls, encryption, logging, and monitoring.

Ensures systems comply with VA cybersecurity policies, NIST, FISMA, and Authority to Operate (ATO) requirements.

Participates in vulnerability management, incident response, and remediation activities specific to clinical monitoring platforms.

Develops and maintains documentation, diagrams, and SOPs required for audits, inspections, and accreditation surveys.

Designs and supports enterprise network solutions that integrate special purpose systems without degrading performance or security of the broader hospital network.

Leads network changes impacting clinical infrastructure, including firewall changes, routing updates, switch configurations, and wireless connectivity required for monitoring devices.

Collaborates with regional and national OIT teams to align local implementations with enterprise architecture standards.

Acts as the subject matter expert (SME) for special purpose systems during construction, renovation, equipment replacement, and system expansion projects.

Leads or supports multidisciplinary teams during system outages, environmental excursions, or emergent risk scenarios. Provides mentoring and technical guidance to lower-graded engineers and IT staff.

Communicates complex technical information to clinical and executive leadership in a clear, actionable manner.

Works collaboratively with Facilities Management Service and Office of Information and Technology staff to accomplish work.

Operates with considerable independence, exercising judgment and authority in resolving highly complex technical issues where failure could result in patient safety risks, regulatory violations, financial loss, or mission degradation.

Performs other duties as assigned by supervisor.

Work Schedule: Monday through Friday; 8:00am- 4:30pm Telework: ADHOC; to be determined and discussed during interview process Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: 31316-F