Network Operations Engineer

Responsibilities:

• Write and engineer network device configuration scripts with associated change documentation to meet project goals and deadlines.
• Implement network changes during appropriate change windows (after hours).
• Review and provide feedback on change documentation/engineering work from other engineers.
• Establish processes to test applications and devices before deployment, ensuring optimal performance.
• Serve as second-tier support for the network operations team when needed.
• Participate in on-call support escalation rotation.
• Translate business needs into actionable deliverables.
• Manage small to medium internal data network projects.
• Create detailed network designs that meet customer requirements, including both physical and logical components.
• Provide technical guidance and advice on data, voice, and mobile network capabilities.

Qualifications:

• 6 years of enterprise data network/IT industry experience, with at least 4 years working with enterprise-scale data network technologies.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Telecommunications, Electrical Engineering, or equivalent experience.
• Industry certifications such as CCNP/CCIE are preferred.
• Experience with protocol analyzers and test equipment is a plus.
• Familiarity with network tools such as CA Spectrum and Wireshark.
• Expert knowledge of Cisco routers, Cisco L2/L3 switches, load balancing, QoS, VPN, NAT, VoIP, IPSec, Multicast, DNS services, MPLS networks, network protocols (Ethernet, TCP/IP, SNMP, VLAN Trunking), and routing protocols (BGP, OSPF).
• Strong understanding of spanning-tree protocols (PVST, MSTP, RSTP).
• Experience with Velocloud/Viptela SDWAN, Aruba, Meraki, Nexus, Palo Alto Firewalls, and Zscaler is a plus.
• Basic understanding of public cloud networking, with Microsoft Azure experience being a plus.
• Firewall troubleshooting skills.
• Experience with vulnerability management.
• Basic Wi-Fi design and troubleshooting knowledge.
• Strong experience in switch upgrades and refresh activities.
• Proven ability to manage multiple vendors in a partially outsourced IT environment.
• Previous software development experience is a plus, particularly for automation initiatives.

Preferred Skills:

• Ability to work in a fast-paced environment.
• Excellent communication, interpersonal, and problem-solving skills.
• Flexibility in handling stressful situations and adapting to changing environments.
• Strong problem management skills related to network issues.
• Attention to detail and ability to organize and prioritize workload.
• Strong presentation and analytical skills.
• Self-motivated and capable of efficiently completing tasks without specific direction or close supervision.
• Ability to lead projects with minimal guidance.
• Experience leading both technical and non-technical discussions.
• Act as an escalation point for network integration issues.
• Liaise between IT teams, vendors, and business stakeholders.
• Collaborate with IT teams to maintain ongoing standards and application performance over the network.
• Proactively recommend solutions to optimize cost-effectiveness and competitiveness.
• Ability to build and maintain relationships at all levels of the organization, both internally and externally.
• Commitment to system functionality and user satisfaction in dynamic environments.
• Ability to develop and present business cases and ROI justifications for hardware/software investments.
• Basic understanding of compliance requirements.