Network Engineer, Corporate & Datacenter -Locals only

Job title: Network Engineer, Corporate & Datacenter

Location: Hybrid @ Palo Alto, CA

Duration: 6+ months contract

*** Must be a local resource & willing to attend in-person interview ***

Required Qualifications

• 4–6 years of hands-on enterprise network engineering experience.
• Proficiency with Palo Alto Networks NGFWs and Panorama; experience with security policy management, zone-based segmentation, and GlobalProtect VPN.
• Solid understanding of routing and switching fundamentals: BGP, OSPF, STP/RSTP, VLANs, LACP, and L2/L3 design.
• Experience designing and supporting enterprise wireless networks (Cisco Meraki, Aruba, or equivalent); familiarity with 802.11ax/Wi-Fi 6 and RF optimization.
• Working knowledge of datacenter networking concepts: spine-leaf, VxLAN/EVPN, and high- availability failover.
• Strong troubleshooting methodology—comfortable working through complex multi-layer problems in production environments.
• Effective written and verbal communication; able to produce clear runbooks and incident postmortems.

Preferred Qualifications

• Relevant certifications: PCNSE (Palo Alto Networks), CCNP Enterprise, CWNA/CWSP, or equivalent.
• Experience with network automation using Python, Ansible, or Terraform.
• Familiarity with public cloud networking (AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud Platform) as it intersects with on-premises connectivity (Direct Connect, ExpressRoute, VPN).
• Exposure to load balancers (F5, AVI/NSX ALB, NGINX) and application delivery in datacenter environments.
• Experience with 802.1X / NAC platforms (Cisco ISE, Aruba ClearPass, or equivalent).
• Comfort using AI tools (e.g., Claude, Copilot) for network operations, documentation, and automation tasks is a plus and actively encouraged.