Network Engineer (Cisco & Fortinet)(W2 POSITION, NEED VISA INDEPENDENT CANDIDATE ONLY)

Job Title:- Network Engineer (Cisco & Fortinet)

Location:- Cape Coral, FL (Hybrid & Local)

Duration:- Contract to Hire

Job Description

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES & DUTIES

• Networking Infrastructure
• Configure, manage, and troubleshoot Layer 2/3 switches (Cisco, HP, Dell) and routers.
• Design and support VLANs, trunking, STP/RSTP/MSTP environments.
• Administer WAN/LAN routing with NAT, ACLs, and multi-site configurations.
• Implement and maintain dynamic routing protocols including:

o BGP: Multi-homing, route filtering, route maps, and communities.

o EIGRP: Metric tuning, summarization, authentication.

o OSPF: Area design, LSA types, route redistribution.

• Firewall & Security
• Deploy and manage Fortinet FortiGate Firewalls and associated rule sets.
• Configure and support site-to-site and client-based IPsec VPNs.
• Design and implement high availability (HA) and load balancing solutions.
• Leverage UTM features including IPS, web filtering, antivirus, and application control.
• Utilize FortiManager and FortiAnalyzer for centralized management and analytics.
• Virtualization & Data Center Networking
• Administer VMware vSphere environments, including ESXi host and vCenter management.
• Configure networking within VMware (vSwitches, distributed switches, port groups, VMkernel adapters).
• Manage resource allocation and high availability with DRS, HA, and performance tuning.
• Advanced Troubleshooting & Optimization
• Perform end-to-end troubleshooting across OSI layers 1 7.
• Conduct packet capture and traffic analysis using tools such as Wireshark and FortiAnalyzer.
• Optimize network performance and apply QoS policies as needed.
• Design and support network redundancy and failover strategies (HSRP, VRRP, Fortinet HA).
• Familiarity with SD-WAN technologies (Fortinet SD-WAN preferred).
• Monitoring, Automation & Documentation
• Monitor network health using tools like SolarWinds, WhatsUp Gold, and DataDog.
• Apply basic scripting (Python, Ansible) for network automation and repeatable configurations.
• Maintain clear documentation including network diagrams, configuration standards, and operational procedures (Visio preferred).
• Team Collaboration & Support
• Provide guidance and mentorship to junior network engineers.
• Participate in on-call support rotations and escalate critical issues as needed.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to support infrastructure and business initiatives.
• Manage multiple priorities and projects independently with minimal supervision.

REQUIREMENTS/QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor s degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, or related field (or equivalent experience).
• 5+ years of hands-on network engineering experience in mid-to-large enterprise environments.
• Certifications such as CCNP, Fortinet NSE 4/5, VCP are strongly preferred.
• Proficiency with CLI across Cisco IOS, FortiOS, and VMware ESXi.
• Familiarity with version control systems (e.g., Git) is a plus.