Network Operations Engineer (Tier 1)

Overview

We are seeking a skilled and experienced Network Operations Engineer to join the contractor program in supporting critical customer engagement. This role is ideal for an experienced network operations engineer who takes ownership of complex incidents and ensures stable, well-documented operation of large-scale production networks. The successful candidate will work closely with the customer's Network Operations team to ensure operational excellence and stability of the secure network environment.

Required Credentials

• 3+ years of hands-on experience in network operations or infrastructure support
• Formal education in computer networking, information technology, or equivalent practical experience
  
  

• Proven experience supporting large-scale, 24x7 production network environments, including participation in on-call rotations
• Strong hands-on operational experience with enterprise and service-provider networking infrastructure, including routers, switches, firewalls, VPNs, and load balancers
• Deep troubleshooting expertise across TCP/IP and advanced L2/L3 networking, including LAN, WAN, backbone, and edge networks
• Solid working knowledge of routing, switching, and transport technologies such as BGP, OSPF, IS-IS, MPLS, Spanning Tree, QoS/CoS, IPv4/IPv6, MACSec, and Anycast
• Experience working with multiple network vendors in production environments (e.g., Juniper, Cisco, Arista, Ciena)
• Strong understanding of network security operations, including policy implementation, firewall rule management, and mitigation or coordination during DDoS and network integrity incidents
• Ability to perform root cause analysis for recurring or high-impact incidents and propose operational improvements
• Experience creating, reviewing, and maintaining network documentation, diagrams, and SOPs
• Demonstrated ability to communicate clearly and professionally with customers during incidents, status updates, and post-incident reviews
• Strong written and verbal English communication skills suitable for direct customer interaction
  
  

• Experience developing or maintaining operational automation using scripting languages such as Python, Perl, or shell
• Working knowledge of Linux or Unix-based systems (e.g., Red Hat or FreeBSD) in support of network services
• Familiarity with packet filtering and host-based firewall technologies (e.g., iptables, IPFW)
• Exposure to version control systems and collaborative tooling for operational code or scripts
• Informal mentoring or guidance of junior engineers in a NOC or operations environment
• Limited exposure to cloud networking concepts (not required and not a primary responsibility)
  
  

Below covers the scope of work we anticipate the contractor supporting throughout the project timeline.

Scope And Solution Expectations

• Serve as a Tier 2 escalation point for complex or high-impact network incidents originating from Tier 1
• Perform in-depth troubleshooting and resolution across routing, switching, transport, and security layers within production environments
• Lead incident response activities, including coordination, communication, and technical execution, while maintaining customer confidence
• Conduct root cause analysis for incidents and contribute to corrective and preventive actions
• Review and improve standard operating procedures, runbooks, and monitoring practices
• Identify opportunities for operational efficiency and automation to reduce manual effort and recurring issues
• Ensure network changes and fixes align with approved processes and do not introduce unnecessary risk
• Provide technical guidance and day-to-day support to Tier 1 engineers without formal people management responsibility
• The role focuses on operations, stability, and incident resolution and does not include network architecture design or long-term platform ownership