Network Operations Engineer

Job Title: Network Operations Engineer

Job Type: Contract to hire (3-6 mon)

Location: McKinney, TX fully onsite for the first 3-6 months until up to speed, then hybrid
Job Description:

Day-to-day/The Project:

• Environment:
• Hybrid cloud-first infrastructure (Azure-heavy), with limited on-prem (ERP/very small data center)
• 850+ sites and rapidly growing (M&A activity underway, but role won t support acquisition initiatives)
• Key Responsibilities:
• Day-to-day operations and troubleshooting (not design/engineering) - this is a heavy operations role.
• Break/fix, issue resolution, basic configuration support
• Escalation support from Helpdesk and Simplify
• Support cross-functional escalations and maintain cloud networking stability
• TOP REQUIRED SKILLS:
• 3 6 years of networking experience
• Strong troubleshooting mindset, self-motivated, and proactive
• Hands-on experience with cloud networking (Azure)
• Comfortable in fast-growing, people-focused culture
• Must be resourceful; current capacity challenge on team
• Tools/Tech stack -- we want a candidate with diverse experience: (don t have to have this exact stack, similar technology will work)
• Azure Networking (required)
• Aruba Silver Peak SD-WAN any SD-WAN is fine
• Zscaler and Azure Web Application Firewalls any flavor is fine, but need some sort of WAF
• Aruba ClearPass for NAC other tools for NAC is fine
• Routing/Switching (basic)
• Palo Alto Firewalls any firewalls are fine
• Preferred Skills:
• Terraform (big plus)

Responsibilities:

• Analyze business trends and technical data to identify infrastructure improvement opportunities and recommend new initiatives.
• Serve as a primary liaison with vendors, overseeing support tickets, resource planning, and documentation.
• Evaluate and recommend technology products and platforms that align with business and IT goals.
• Design infrastructure, network, database, and security architecture that best fits product needs.
• Support, implement, and maintain system tools for infrastructure monitoring, alerting, and support.
• Lead and participate in multiple infrastructure projects simultaneously, providing planning and management support.
• Configure, debug, and support infrastructure systems.
• Lead the deployment of technology across both corporate and field locations.
• Stand up and optimize physical and virtual infrastructure in response to evolving business requirements.
• Create specifications and standards for infrastructure solutions; manage procurement of hardware and software.
• Participate in architecture reviews and design sessions for infrastructure and security.
• Monitor system performance using custom applications and tooling, fine-tune systems for optimal performance.
• Conduct root cause analysis and post-mortem evaluations for incidents and outages.
• Maintain and upgrade existing systems to ensure continued operational efficiency.
• Develop and maintain technical documentation and support materials.
• Provide proactive support and incident response for application and infrastructure issues.
• Design and manage Azure Virtual Networks, Network Security Groups, ExpressRoute, and VPN Gateways.
• Deploy and maintain cloud infrastructure using Terraform and Azure DevOps CI/CD pipelines.
• Monitor and troubleshoot network performance using tools like Network Watcher, Traffic Analytics, and Aruba Orchestrator.
• Configure and manage Palo Alto firewalls (security policies, NAT rules, GlobalProtect VPN, threat prevention) using Strata Cloud Manager.
• Support segmentation, firewall rule reviews, and Zero Trust architecture initiatives.
• Analyze threat logs, conduct packet captures, and assist with security incident response.
• Manage Zscaler Internet Access (ZIA) and Zscaler Private Access (ZPA) to ensure secure cloud and app access.
• Administer ZIA policies for URL filtering, SSL inspection, and DLP.
• Configure ZPA for application segmentation, connector deployment, and secure remote access.
• Troubleshoot connectivity issues and optimize routing via Zscaler infrastructure and Client Connector.
• Support and maintain Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN, Aruba campus switches, and WLAN infrastructure using Aruba Central.
• Deploy wireless access points and mobility services for high-density environments.
• Use ClearPass for NAC, guest access, and policy enforcement.
• Monitor and fine-tune the performance of networking systems and infrastructure.

Education and Experience Requirements:

• Bachelor's degree in a related discipline; or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Three+ years experience in Network Operations Engineering in an Azure Networking environment.
• Professional background in at least two of the following: infrastructure engineering, network engineering, database engineering, or security engineering. Familiarity with a third and interest in developing expertise across all areas.
• Hands-on experience monitoring and tuning networks, systems, and databases.
• Experience in SD-WAN technologies required.
• Experience in Azure Networking is required.
• Must be able to troubleshoot end to end problems, break/fix, etc.
• Basic rout/switch knowledge.
• Familiarity with Aruba, Palo Alto firewalls, and Zscaler are preferred, but not required. Other similar tools will be accepted.
• Strong collaboration skills and experience working within cross-functional engineering teams.
• Advanced troubleshooting and remediation skills across infrastructure, networking, databases, and security systems.
• Experience in application/database installation, upgrades, and system maintenance.
• Strong knowledge of networking, system architecture, database design (DBMS), SQL, and client-server models.
• Skilled in system-level debugging, performance analysis, compiled programming, and software updates.
• Experience with system analysis, design, and performance tuning.
• Expertise in system security architecture and disaster recovery planning.
• Proficiency in operating system commands, utilities, and scripting languages.
• Experience with cloud platforms such as Azure and Google Cloud Platform (Google Cloud Platform).