VOIP Lead

Empower AI is AI for government. Empower AI gives federal agency leaders the tools to elevate the potential of their workforce with a direct path for meaningful transformation. Headquartered in Reston, Va., Empower AI leverages three decades of experience solving complex challenges in Health, Defense, and Civilian missions. Our proven Empower AI Platform® provides a practical, sustainable path for clients to achieve transformation that is true to who they are, what they do, how they work, with the resources they have. The result is a government workforce that is exponentially more creative and productive. For more information, visit www.Empower.ai.

Empower AI is proud to be recognized as a 2024 Military Friendly Employer by Viqtory, the publisher of G.I. Jobs. This designation reflects the company’s commitment to hiring and supporting active-duty and veteran employees.

Empower AI is seeking a Senior VoIP Engineer to own the architecture, engineering, and sustainment of enterprise Voice over IP infrastructure for a Department of War agency across NIPRNet, SIPRNet, and JWICS enclaves. The engineer manages Cisco Unified Communications Manager clusters, Unity Connection voicemail, Expressway and session border controllers, voice gateways, dial plans, and softphone (Jabber) services; serves as the Tier III/IV authority for the most complex voice incidents and PL1/PL2 outages; leads voice installation and modernization projects and site surveys; and ensures the voice infrastructure achieves and maintains STIG compliance and Authorization to Operate. The role mentors VoIP technicians and supports the Customer Communications Support Manager. This is a salaried, FLSA-exempt position in which you will independently analyze situations, determine the appropriate course of action, and exercise discretion and independent judgment on matters of significance to the program and its customers.

THIS IS AN REMOTE ROLE IN WITH UP TO 25% OF TRAVEL INVOLVED.

JOB DUTIES:

• Own the design, engineering, and lifecycle of the enterprise VoIP architecture: CUCM clusters, Unity Connection, IM&P, Expressway/SBCs, voice gateways and trunks (DISN/DSN, SIP), dial plans, class of service, E911, and softphone (Jabber) services across enclaves.
• Serve as the Tier III/IV escalation authority for complex voice incidents and PL1/PL2 outages, analyzing call detail records, traces, SIP/MGCP signaling, and QoS to root cause, engineering permanent fixes, and liaising with Cisco and carriers.
• Lead voice site surveys, capacity planning, installation and migration projects, and Project Installation Plans; execute changes in Saturday maintenance windows through formal Change Management with rollback plans.
• Own STIG/SRG compliance, firmware and patch baselines, ACAS remediation, and RMF/ATO evidence in eMASS for voice systems, and provide VoIP availability data for the Customer Support Metrics Dashboard.
• Own the design, engineering, and lifecycle of the enterprise unified communications architecture including CUCM clusters, Unity Connection, Expressway/SBCs, voice gateways, dial plans, VTC bridges and management, and integrations with collaboration platforms across multiple security enclaves.
• Serve as the Tier III/IV escalation authority for the most complex voice and video incidents and PL1/PL2 critical incidents, leading root cause analysis, engineering permanent solutions, and coordinating with OEMs and carriers (e.g., DISN/DSN service providers) as the Government's technical liaison.
• Lead technical site surveys, capacity planning, and engineering designs for new locations, expansions, and technology refreshes, and author Project Installation Plans, bills of materials, ROMs, and findings reports for Government approval.
• Direct the installation, configuration, migration, and acceptance testing of major communications projects, managing schedule, technical risk, and coordination with network, security, facilities, and technician teams.

REQUIREMENTS:

• Bachelor's degree and a minimum of 7 years of related experience (a Master's degree with 3 years of related experience, or an additional 4 years of related experience in lieu of a degree, may be substituted).
• Must be a U.S. Citizen.
• Must have an Active Top Secret Clearance (favorably adjudicated T5/T5R) to start; this is a Privileged User position.
• Must be within investigation scope and/or currently enrolled in Continuous Evaluation / Continuous Vetting.
• Must possess and maintain a current DoD 8570/8140 IAT Level III baseline certification (e.g., CASP+ CE, CISSP or Associate, CCNP Security, GCED, or GCIH).
• Demonstrated ability to work independently, analyze problems, determine the appropriate course of action, and exercise discretion and independent judgment with limited day-to-day supervision.
• Minimum of 10 years of experience engineering enterprise unified communications (VoIP, VTC, collaboration) infrastructure, including lead or architect-level responsibility.
• Expert-level knowledge of Cisco Unified Communications architecture (CUCM, Unity Connection, Expressway, IM&P, gateways, SBCs), dial plan design, and voice/video protocols (SIP, H.323, MGCP, RTP/SRTP).
• Strong understanding of IP networking and Quality of Service implementation within DoW networks (e.g., JWICS, SIPRNet, NIPRNet).
• Proven experience with enterprise video conferencing systems (e.g., Poly, Cisco) and contact center technologies.
• Experience leading RMF/ATO activities for communications systems, including STIG compliance, ACAS remediation, POA&Ms, and eMASS documentation.
• Experience leading installation, migration, or modernization projects and executing changes through formal Change Management in scheduled maintenance windows.
• Ability to participate in after-hours emergency on-call response and Saturday maintenance windows.
• Excellent technical writing, briefing, and stakeholder communication skills.

DESIRED SKILLS:

• Cisco CCNP Collaboration or CCIE Collaboration; CISSP or CASP+ CE.
• Experience supporting Department of War (DoW) or Intelligence Community secure communications, including secure VTC, DISN/DSN, and DMCC-S.
• Experience integrating Cisco UC with Microsoft Teams Phone, Webex, Zoom for Government, or Adobe Connect.
• Experience with Cisco UCCX/Webex Contact Center supporting a high-volume enterprise service desk.
• ITIL 4 Foundation and experience aligning communications operations to ISO/IEC 20000-1.
• Experience with digital twin, lab, or pre-production validation of communications changes.
• PMP or equivalent project management certification.

• Sitting for long periods
• Standing for long periods
• Ambulate throughout an office
• Ambulate between several buildings
• Stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl as required
• Repeatedly lift and carry weight up to 30 pounds
• Travel by land or air transportation 25 %

All hiring and promotion decisions at Empower AI are based on merit to bring the best talent available to contribute to our firm’s overall success. It is the policy of Empower AI not to discriminate against any applicant for employment, or employee because of age, color, sex, disability, national origin, race, religion, or veteran status. Empower AI is a VEVRAA Federal Contractor.

If hired for this position, the base salary range would be within the range provided. The base salary range represents the anticipated low and high end of the salary range for this position. Actual salaries may vary based on various factors including but not limited to work location, skills, experience, gov con contractual requirements, and performance. The range listed is just one component of Empower AI's total compensation package for employees.