IT Network Consultant

Role Overview

We are looking for an experienced IT Network Engineer to support day-to-day network operations and assist with ongoing infrastructure upgrades across multiple manufacturing sites. This role is primarily operational (60%), including troubleshooting, break/fix work, and supporting production-critical network issues. The remaining 40% will focus on project work such as firewall upgrades, SD-WAN modernization, and plant network refresh initiatives. The ideal candidate has deep hands-on experience with routing and switching (Cisco preferred), Palo Alto Networks firewalls, and ideally some background supporting manufacturing/OT environments.

Key Responsibilities

Operational Support (≈ 60%)

• Handle day-to-day break/fix tickets for LAN/WAN, wireless, and firewall systems.
• Troubleshoot routing, switching, and security issues across plant and enterprise networks.
• Resolve network issues impacting production lines, sensors, OT devices, plant-floor apps, and IoT/Industry 4.0 platforms.
• Monitor network health and help drive stability, performance, and resilience improvements.
• Participate in on-call rotation for critical network incidents.

Project Work (≈ 40%)

• Support Palo Alto firewall upgrades, policy refinement, and migration tasks.
• Assist with SD-WAN transformation projects (Prisma SASE/Prisma SD-WAN or VeloCloud).
• Contribute to network modernization: switch refresh, cabling, redesign, VLAN segmentation.
• Implement approved changes following established change management processes.
• Collaborate with cross-functional IT, OT, and vendor teams to ensure smooth deployments.
• Strong hands-on experience with Cisco routing and switching (Catalyst/NexISR/ASR).

Required Skills & Experience

• Solid understanding of OSPF, BGP, STP, VLANs, trunking, EtherChannel, ACLs, QoS.
• Palo Alto Networks firewall experience including policy management, zones, NAT, App-ID, and GlobalProtect.
• Experience supporting networks in a manufacturing environment (preferred but not required).

· Solid understanding of:

o WAN/MPLS/SD-WAN architectures

o Layer 2 and Layer 3 enterprise design

o VPN (IPsec, SSL)

o High availability (HA) concepts

• Familiarity with wireless networking (Cisco, Aruba, or equivalent).
• Strong documentation practices (Visio, diagrams, configs, runbooks).

Preferred Skills (Nice to Have)

• Cisco ISE experience (authentication, authorization, policy sets, TACACS+).
• Prisma SD-WAN (formerly CloudGenix) deployment or administration experience.
• VeloCloud SD-WAN experience (profiles, business policies, overlays).
• Manufacturing OT networking exposure (EtherNet/IP, industrial VLANs, segmented PCN/PMS environments).
• Experience with DNS/DHCP/IPAM (Infoblox or similar).
• Experience with network monitoring tools (PRTG, SolarWinds, Meraki Dashboard, etc.).
• Certifications: CCNA/CCNP, PCNSE, or equivalent hands-on knowledge.

Soft Skills

• Strong communication and teamwork abilities.
• Ability to operate effectively in fast-paced manufacturing/plant environments.
• Organized, proactive, and capable of managing multiple priorities.
• Self-starter with strong problem-solving skills.