Brandon Jank

Network & Infrastructure Architect

brandon@jank.io | LinkedIn | GitHub | Coeur d'Alene, ID

Summary

Network and infrastructure architect with 20+ years designing, building, and operating production environments across public sector, enterprise, and datacenter settings. Deep experience in network architecture, systems administration, IT operations leadership, and physical datacenter engineering — from municipal WAN/LAN modernization and regulated compliance environments to multi-site BGP networks and high-density colocation buildouts. Comfortable from design and documentation through hands-on implementation, troubleshooting, and team leadership.

Experience

Owner / Principal Consultant, Infrastructure & Datacenter Engineering

Mar 2023 – Present

Flappyware LLC · Coeur d'Alene, ID

  • Design and deliver datacenter infrastructure for colocation, HPC, and enterprise clients — spanning power, cooling, network, virtualization, and operational readiness.
  • Engineer 100G/400G spine-leaf topologies with BGP multihoming, VRFs, dual-homed VSX/MLAG cores, and diverse ISP peering across multi-site environments.
  • Plan rack-scale deployments including A/B power distribution, CDU and liquid cooling integration, structured cabling, DCIM documentation, and vendor coordination.
  • Implement IPv6-first architectures: NAT64/DNS64, SLAAC, stateless DHCPv6, and per-VLAN segmentation.
  • Build and operate ZFS/KVM/Docker hyperconverged environments with Grafana, Prometheus, and Alloy monitoring.
  • Recent engagements include megawatt-scale high-density datacenter projects with direct liquid cooling and GPU cluster network fabric design.

Network & Systems Administrator

Dec 2019 – May 2024

City of Coeur d'Alene · Coeur d'Alene, ID

  • Led IT infrastructure modernization across WAN, LAN, and VPN environments supporting municipal services and critical operations.
  • Architected city-wide network upgrades: firewall modernization, Layer 3 core redesign, site-to-site VPN routing, and multi-site redundancy.
  • Hardened infrastructure through intrusion detection, firewall ACL tuning, vulnerability patching, and CJIS-aligned security controls.
  • Supervised IT Technician and Network Specialist staff; developed disaster recovery documentation, ISP failover plans, and service continuity diagrams.
  • Managed servers, endpoints, VoIP, cameras, Microsoft 365 migration, backups, monitoring, and hybrid remote access for a multi-site public-sector environment.

Technology Solutions Partner III

Aug 2015 – Dec 2019

University of Idaho · Moscow, ID

  • Provided Tier 2–3 support and technical leadership for campus IT operations across multiple departments.
  • Led campus-wide endpoint deployment, standard imaging, asset tracking, and service desk processes.
  • Supported networked classrooms, computer labs, and research systems; authored knowledge base articles and internal documentation.
  • Mentored junior IT staff and student employees in troubleshooting, customer service, and policy compliance.

IT Administrator

Jun 2013 – May 2015

Sinolytics · Shanghai, China

  • Designed and managed hybrid IT for a multi-national research firm across China and Europe.
  • Deployed Office 365, SharePoint, secure remote access, BYOD policies, and desktop virtualization.
  • Delivered frontline and back-end support in English and Mandarin contexts.

Senior Consultant, SMB Infrastructure & Remote Systems

Nov 2006 – Dec 2010

NexGen Consulting · Dalton Gardens, ID

  • Consulted for SMB clients across North America and Asia on secure, scalable on-premises and hybrid cloud infrastructure.
  • Designed VPN/RDP remote-access solutions, Exchange and SharePoint deployments, and early Office 365 migrations.
  • Delivered lifecycle planning, documentation, and long-term operational support for multiple client environments.

Telecommunications Technician

Aug 2002 – Jul 2003

University of Idaho · Moscow, ID

  • Installed and maintained Cat5e/Cat6 copper and fusion-splice fiber in campus buildings; terminated patch panels and racks to standards.
  • Assisted campus-wide Wi-Fi infrastructure rollout across academic buildings.

Skills

Networking
BGP, IPv6, NAT64/DNS64, VLANs, VRFs, VSX/MLAG, spine-leaf design, site-to-site VPN, MPLS VPN, firewall policy, routing, Aruba, Arista, pfSense, FRR, structured cabling, fiber planning
Systems
Linux, Windows Server, Hyper-V, Docker, KVM, ZFS, Citrix, Active Directory, automation, Grafana, Prometheus, backups, monitoring, patch management
Cloud & Identity
Microsoft Azure, Microsoft 365, Entra ID, Intune, Exchange, SharePoint, Sentinel, Purview, hybrid identity and endpoint management
Datacenter
Colocation design, rack and power planning, A/B power, liquid cooling/CDU coordination, DCIM, high-density rack design, vendor and tenant onboarding
Security
Firewall hardening, IDS, access controls, vulnerability management, SOC 2, NIST, HIPAA, FERPA, CJIS compliance implementation
Automation
Python, Bash, PHP, JavaScript, TypeScript, Node.js, MySQL, PostgreSQL, GitHub, GitLab, CI/CD