Sr. Network Engineer

Job DescriptionJob Description

We are looking for a senior, well-rounded enterprise network engineer with strong hands-on experience across campus and data center environments. The ideal candidate has deep Cisco routing/switching knowledge, significant experience with wireless (WLC/AP), enterprise DNS/DHCP/IPAM, MPLS segmentation, firewalls, load balancers, and cloud networking fundamentals. They should be comfortable designing networks for multi-building environments, troubleshooting complex issues end-to-end across network, security, and systems layers, and mentoring junior team members. We want a collaborative, calm, professional engineer with strong documentation habits and the ability to own problems through resolution. Carrier-only or data-center-only engineers are not a fit for this role.

No Sponsorship or GC Holder

Onsite Phoenix Arizona

1. Core Technical Skill Targets

We are looking for a well-rounded enterprise LAN/WAN/WLAN engineer, not a carrier-only or siloed data center engineer.

Candidate must have:

Routing & Switching (Real Hands-On Experience)

• Strong Cisco Catalyst/Nexus background
• Solid OSPF & BGP troubleshooting — not just configuration
• Comfort diagnosing loops, STP issues, port-channel problems, SVI/VLAN issues, DHCP relay, HSRP/VRRP failovers
• Experience supporting multi-building campus networks (not just data centers)

MPLS / Segmentation

• Experience with VRFs, L3VPN, or segmentation concepts
• Ability to understand MPLS-based campus designs and troubleshoot VRF-related issues
  (Not carrier-only backbone MPLS. Needs enterprise segmentation experience.)

Wireless (WLAN)

• Experience with controller-based wireless (Cisco, Aruba, Extreme)
• RF basics: channel planning, power levels, SSID/VLAN mappings
• Ability to troubleshoot AP onboarding and client connectivity

Firewalls & VPN

• Cisco ASA/Firepower or Palo Alto hands-on experience
• Understanding of NAT, ACLs, VPNs, packet flows
• Ability to troubleshoot connectivity issues that span firewall boundaries

DNS/DHCP/IPAM

• : BlueCat; Infoblox is ok
• Minimum: Demonstrated experience managing enterprise DHCP scopes, DNS records, relay issues, and IPAM hygiene
  (Our environment relies heavily on DNS/DHCP—this cannot be a weak area.)

Load Balancers

• Some exposure to F5 or Citrix NetScaler
• Understanding of VIPs, pools, health checks, SSL termination

Cloud Networking (Growing need)

• Basic experience with AWS or Azure networking (VPC/VPN/subnets/peering)
• Understanding of how cloud integrates with on-prem routing/security

2. Experience Type & Breadth

Should prioritize candidates who have:

Enterprise campus + data center experience

(We need engineers who have worked in mixed environments — MDF/IDF, buildings, wired/wireless, DC core — not just one or the other.)

Hands-on troubleshooting at all layers

They must be able to isolate issues across:

• Switching
• Routing
• Wireless
• Firewall
• DNS/DHCP
• Load balancing
• VLANs and trunks
• Packet captures

Experience owning problems end-to-end

Our org is not siloed — engineers must bridge networking, systems, security, and application teams.

Operational maturity

We need people comfortable with:

• On-call
• Production changes
• Peer review
• Documentation
• RCA after outages

Project execution + design experience

Not just “kept the lights on.”
They must be able to design and deliver network solutions for:

• Building remodels
• New construction
• Technology refreshes
• Vendor integrations

3. Soft Skills & Behavioral Profile

The perfect candidate is:

Collaborative & low-ego

• Works well with junior admins
• Shares knowledge instead of hoarding it
• Communicates clearly and calmly

Mentor-minded

• Enjoys teaching and developing junior staff
• Explains technical concepts in understandable terms
• Leads by example in professionalism and quality

Not territorial

• Doesn’t say “that’s not my job”
• Jumps into unfamiliar areas and owns problems to resolution
• Comfortable working across teams (systems, DBA, telecom, InfoSec)

Calm under pressure

• Handles outages without panic
• Communicates status clearly
• Knows how to triage effectively

Detail-oriented and documentation-minded

• Writes clean configs
• Updates diagrams
• Maintains operational runbooks
• Chronic under-documenters are a poor fit

4. Experience to Avoid (Screen Out)

Avoid:

Carrier/backbone-only engineers

They know MPLS, BGP, and long-haul circuits...
...but often have:

• No WLAN
• No firewalls
• No DNS/DHCP
• No data center switching
• No campus architecture experience

ACI-only / datacenter-only engineers

They struggle with:

• Campus refreshes
• Wireless
• VLAN troubleshooting
• DNS/DHCP
• Real-world wiring closet issues

Helpdesk/Systems admins claiming network experience

If networking is only 20% of their job, they won't be ready.

People with lots of buzzwords but little troubleshooting depth

We need someone who can run:

• show commands
• packet captures
• trace a problem across multiple layers

Not just talk at a high level.