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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Unified Communications Engineer

💰 $90,000 - $150,000

ITNetworkingTelecommunicationsCollaboration

🎯 Role Definition

The Unified Communications (UC) Engineer designs, implements, secures and maintains enterprise voice, video and collaboration systems, spanning on-premises and cloud platforms. This role is responsible for SIP trunking, session border controllers (SBC), call control (e.g., Cisco CUCM, Avaya, Microsoft Teams) and collaboration endpoints, while ensuring high quality of experience (QoE) through network design, QoS policies, troubleshooting and automation. The UC Engineer partners with network, security, cloud and application teams to deliver resilient, scalable and compliant unified communications services.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Network Engineer with VoIP experience
  • Systems Engineer supporting collaboration tools
  • Telecom/Voice Technician

Advancement To:

  • Senior Unified Communications Engineer
  • UC Architect / Collaboration Architect
  • Voice/Collaboration Team Lead or Manager

Lateral Moves:

  • Network Architect
  • Security Engineer (SIP/VoIP security focus)
  • Cloud Collaboration Engineer (Teams/UCaaS specialist)

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Design, deploy and optimize enterprise call-control and collaboration architectures (Cisco CUCM, Cisco Unified Communications Manager, Avaya, Microsoft Teams/Direct Routing, Zoom, Webex) to meet business requirements for telephony, video, presence and messaging.
  • Configure, administer and maintain Session Border Controllers (SBCs) including AudioCodes, Oracle/Sangoma/Oracle/Oracle? (SBC vendor agnostic), ensuring secure SIP trunking, NAT traversal and PSTN interconnects for Direct Routing and SIP trunk failover.
  • Implement and manage SIP trunking and PSTN connectivity, including number porting, trunk-channel configuration, emergency calling (E911) and carrier relationships to ensure SLA-backed voice services.
  • Develop and maintain call routing, dial-plan, hunt-group, IVR and auto-attendant configurations across call-control platforms to ensure consistent dialing behavior and business continuity.
  • Architect and implement Microsoft Teams Phone System and Direct Routing, including SBC integration, voice routing policies, Skype for Business migrations and coexistence strategies for hybrid telephony environments.
  • Perform deep-dive troubleshooting of voice and video incidents using packet capture (Wireshark), SIP logs, RTCP/RTP analysis and vendor troubleshooting tools to prioritize and resolve QoE issues.
  • Define and deploy QoS, VLAN, DSCP marking and network segmentation strategies to guarantee voice and video performance across LAN, WAN and wireless infrastructures.
  • Lead platform upgrades, patch management and lifecycle activities for UC servers, appliances and firmware while coordinating change control and rollback plans to minimize downtime.
  • Build and maintain monitoring, alerting and reporting pipelines for UC health, call quality metrics (MOS, packet loss, jitter), hardware utilization and capacity planning using tools such as SolarWinds, PRTG, Call Analytics or vendor-specific dashboards.
  • Implement security controls for UC environments, including SIP/TLS/SRTP encryption, secure provisioning, certificate management, intrusion detection for VoIP, and hardening of endpoints and servers.
  • Integrate UC platforms with identity and directory services (Active Directory, Azure AD), contact center systems, CRM (e.g., Salesforce), and third-party collaboration tools to enable single sign-on and unified presence.
  • Create and maintain comprehensive runbooks, architecture diagrams, operational procedures and disaster recovery plans for UC services to support 24x7 operations and incident response.
  • Automate repetitive UC operational tasks, reporting and provisioning using PowerShell, Python, REST APIs and configuration management tools to improve efficiency and reduce human error.
  • Lead UC-focused project workstreams: requirements gathering, vendor selection, technical design, implementation, cutover planning and post-deployment validation for telephony and conferencing initiatives.
  • Coordinate with network, wireless, security and facilities teams to ensure proper cabling, PoE, VLAN assignments, and power redundancy for telephony and video endpoint deployments.
  • Manage procurement, licensing and vendor relationships for UC hardware, software and cloud services; review SLAs and drive cost optimization and license compliance.
  • Provide second- and third-level technical support and escalation handling for complex voice/video issues, mentoring tier-1 and tier-2 support technicians to improve team capabilities.
  • Conduct regular UC risk assessments and compliance reviews (e.g., data retention, lawful intercept, PCI or HIPAA implications of voice recording) and implement remediation measures.
  • Plan and execute migrations and integrations (e.g., legacy PBX to SIP/Teams/UCaaS), ensuring minimal disruption, thorough testing and stakeholder communication throughout cutovers.
  • Validate and optimize codecs, transcoding paths, video bridges and MCU settings for multi-vendor conferencing interoperability and to reduce bandwidth consumption while maintaining quality.
  • Develop training materials, deliver knowledge transfer sessions and provide end-user support for collaboration clients, desk phones, conference rooms and contact center agents.
  • Evaluate emerging UC technologies and UCaaS offerings, draft business cases and pilot new capabilities (e.g., cloud PBX, AI transcription, meeting room automation) to drive continuous improvement.

Secondary Functions

  • Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory data analysis.
  • Contribute to the organization's data strategy and roadmap.
  • Collaborate with business units to translate data needs into engineering requirements.
  • Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies within the data engineering team.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Deep knowledge of SIP, RTP, RTCP, SRTP and SIP trunking best practices and troubleshooting.
  • Experience configuring and managing Session Border Controllers (SBCs) such as AudioCodes, Ribbon, Oracle/Sangoma, or Cisco.
  • Hands-on administration of call-control platforms (Cisco CUCM, Cisco Unity Connection, Avaya Aura/CM, Microsoft Teams Phone System, Zoom Phone, Webex Calling).
  • Practical experience with Microsoft Teams Direct Routing, Skype for Business migrations and hybrid voice deployments with Azure AD integration.
  • Strong networking fundamentals: TCP/IP, VLANs, QoS/DSCP, routing, WAN optimization and wireless considerations for voice and video.
  • Proficiency with packet capture and analysis tools (Wireshark, tshark) for SIP/RTP troubleshooting and MOS analysis.
  • Scripting and automation skills (PowerShell preferred, Python or REST API experience) for provisioning, reporting and configuration management.
  • Familiarity with monitoring and analytics platforms (SolarWinds, PRTG, Call Analytics, NICE, Cisco CUCM reports) to track call quality and platform health.
  • Knowledge of encryption and security for UC (TLS, SRTP, certificate management, SBC security policies, firewall rules).
  • Endpoint and conference room device experience (Cisco phones/Jabber, Teams certified devices, Poly/Yealink, Zoom Rooms) and USB/hardware troubleshooting.
  • Telecom numbering, E911 configuration, emergency services compliance and carrier interconnect processes.
  • Experience with contact center integration (CTI, CCR, ACD, softphone integration) and CRM connectors (Salesforce, Dynamics).
  • Understanding of UCaaS/cloud voice deployments and migration strategies (Microsoft 365, Zoom, Webex, RingCentral).
  • Familiarity with telephony licensing models, capacity planning and call routing optimization.

Soft Skills

  • Strong verbal and written communication for collaborating with stakeholders, presenting technical designs and producing clear runbooks.
  • Problem-solving mindset and methodical troubleshooting under pressure during incident management.
  • Project management and organizational skills to lead UC rollout projects and coordinate cross-functional teams.
  • Customer service orientation with ability to translate technical concepts for non-technical users and executives.
  • Vendor management and negotiation skills for procuring UC equipment and services and managing SLAs.
  • Mentoring and team development skills to upskill junior engineers and support staff.
  • Attention to detail for change control, documentation, and compliance tasks.
  • Adaptability to evolving collaboration technologies and cloud-first strategies.
  • Strategic thinking to align UC investments with business goals and cost-saving initiatives.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Telecommunications, Network Engineering, Electrical Engineering or equivalent experience.

Preferred Education:

  • Bachelor’s degree plus industry certifications such as Cisco CCNP/CCIE Collaboration, Microsoft Certified: Teams Administrator, CompTIA Network+, or vendor-specific UC certifications.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Computer Science
  • Information Technology
  • Telecommunications / Telecom Engineering
  • Network Engineering
  • Electrical Engineering

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

  • 3 to 8 years of progressively responsible experience in enterprise voice, video and collaboration engineering.

Preferred:

  • 5+ years with hands-on administration of major UC platforms (Cisco CUCM, Microsoft Teams/Direct Routing, Avaya or major UCaaS providers), demonstrated project delivery experience, SBC configuration expertise and scripting/automation experience.
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