Staff Network (DevOps) Engineer

At Early Warning, we've powered and protected the U.S. financial system for over thirty years with cutting-edge solutions like Zelle , Paze , and so much more. As a trusted name in payments, we partner with thousands of institutions to increase access to financial services and protect transactions for hundreds of millions of consumers and small businesses.

Positions located in Scottsdale, San Francisco, Chicago, or New York follow a hybrid work model to allow for a more collaborative working environment.

Candidates responding to this posting must independently possess the eligibility to work in the United States, for any employer, at the date of hire. This position is ineligible for employment Visa sponsorship.

The Staff Network Engineer formulates the technical strategy and long-term roadmap that shape the evolution of the enterprise network platform. This individual architects, designs, builds, automates, and documents complex network solutions that support corporate infrastructure, cloud initiatives, cybersecurity posture, and business-critical applications.
As the technical leader for the Network Engineering discipline, this role leads high-impact, cross-functional initiatives, drives innovation in network architecture, and ensures the resilience, scalability, and security of the company's global network environment.

Essential Functions

• Develops an enterprise network architecture strategy that addresses large, open-ended problems using forward-thinking approaches consistent with company technology and security strategy.

• Creates technical strategy for broad or complex requirements that extend beyond the Network Engineering team, solving multi-domain, enterprise-wide infrastructure challenges.

• Leads all aspects of network architecture, design, prototyping, and implementation across on-prem, cloud, and hybrid environments.

• Contributes to the strategic direction of the Network Engineering and broader Infrastructure/Platform functions.

• Identifies, evaluates, and introduces emerging network technologies, automation frameworks, and architectural patterns to modernize operations and improve reliability.

• Defines standards, governance models, and best practices for network design, configuration management, automation, observability, and security.

• Provides advanced technical expertise and leadership in building robust implementation plans for major network initiatives; ensures execution through completion.

• Leads complex migrations, large-scale upgrades, cloud integrations, and architectural transformations.

• Serves as highest-tier escalation owner for major incidents, providing expert troubleshooting and root cause analysis across multi-layered infrastructure.

• Builds strong cross-functional relationships with Cloud Engineering, Platform Engineering, Cybersecurity, SRE, Application Engineering, and Product teams.

• Acts as a trusted advisor to leadership and partner teams regarding network strategy, security posture, and technology direction.

• Represents Network Engineering in enterprise architecture discussions and steering committees.

• Supports the company's commitment to risk management by ensuring network architectures enforce strict confidentiality, integrity, and availability of data.

• Chairs or contributes to firewall governance, segmentation strategy, and security protocol definition.

• Ensures compliance with internal policies, regulatory standards, and industry best practices.

• Mentors senior and junior engineers, providing guidance on techniques, tooling, design patterns, and operational excellence.

• Establishes training standards and contributes to the professional development of the broader engineering organization.

Essential Functions for Load Balancing / F5 Specialists

• Architects multi-layer L1-L7 traffic management strategies using F5 modules (LTM, ASM, APM, DNS) in hybrid cloud and on-prem environments.

• Leads the creation of enterprise automation solutions using AS3, BigIQ, Ansible, and Git-based pipelines.

• Designs standards for iRule development, advanced MTLS and certificate management, and global F5 lifecycle management.

• Performs expert packet-level diagnostics and optimization using TCPDump, Wireshark, and advanced analytics.

Minimum Qualifications

Education & Experience

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Information Systems, or related field; or equivalent professional experience.

• 8+ years of progressive industry experience, including significant architecture-level responsibility in network engineering.

• Deep expertise in enterprise LAN/WAN, routing protocols (BGP, OSPF, EIGRP), SDN, VPN, wireless, network security, and data center networking.

• Expert-level experience with firewalls (Cisco, Palo Alto), load balancers (F5), and cloud networking (AWS preferred).

• Experience designing and supporting hybrid (on-prem + AWS) network architectures.

• Strong background in infrastructure automation, CI/CD practices, and network-as-code methodologies.

• Proficiency with scripting/programming languages (Python, Bash, or similar).

• Strong understanding of IaC concepts and tooling (Terraform, AWS CloudFormation when applicable).

• Excellent communication skills with the ability to influence technical and nontechnical stakeholders.

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with a focus on systemic, cross-team impacts.

• Ability to make critical technical tradeoff decisions with enterprise-wide implications.

• Must pass background and drug screening.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or related field.

• Advanced industry certifications such as CCNP/CCIE, PCNSE, JNCIP/JNCIE.

• AWS Certified Solutions Architect or equivalent cloud networking certifications.

• Certified Kubernetes Administrator (for cloud-networking-focused staff roles).

• Terraform Authoring and Operations Professional certification.

• Experience in FinTech or other highly regulated industries.

• F5 301b+ or advanced BigIQ automation training.

Physical Requirements

Early Warning works together in a highly collaborative office environment.Working conditions consist of a normal office environment. Work is primarily sedentary and requires extensive use of a computer and involves sitting for periods of approximately four hours. Work may require occasional standing, walking, kneeling, and reaching. Must be able to lift 10 pounds occasionally and/or negligible amount of force frequently. Requires visual acuity and dexterity to view, prepare, and manipulate documents and office equipment including personal computers. Requires the ability to communicate with internal and/or external customers.

Employee must be able to perform essential functions and physical requirements of position with or without reasonable accommodation.

The base pay scale for this position in:
Phoenix, AZ/ Chicago, IL in USD per year is: $131,000 - $160,000.
New York, NY/ San Francisco, CA in USD per year is: $157,000 - $192,000.
Additionally, candidates are eligible for a discretionary incentive plan and benefits.

This pay scale is subject to change and is not necessarily reflective of actual compensation that may be earned, nor a promise of any specific pay for any specific candidate, which is always dependent on legitimate factors considered at the time of job offer. Early Warning Services takes into consideration a variety of factors when determining a competitive salary offer, including, but not limited to, the job scope, market rates and geographic location of a position, candidate's education, experience, training, and specialized skills or certification(s) in relation to the job requirements and compared with internal equity (peers). The business actively supports and reviews wage equity to ensure that pay decisions are not based on gender, race, national origin, or any other protected classes.

Some of the Ways We Prioritize Your Health and Happiness

• Healthcare Coverage -Competitive medical (PPO/HDHP), dental, and vision plans as well as company contributions to your Health Savings Account (HSA) or pre-tax savings through flexible spending accounts (FSA) for commuting, health & dependent care expenses.
• 401(k) Retirement Plan -Featuring a 100% Company Safe Harbor Match on your first 6% deferral immediately upon eligibility.
• Paid Time Off - Unlimited Time Off for Exempt (salaried) employees, as well as generous PTO for Non-Exempt (hourly) employees, plus 11 paid company holidays and a paid volunteer day.
• 12 weeks of Paid Parental Leave
• Maven Family Planning - provides support through your Parenting journey including egg freezing, fertility, adoption, surrogacy, pregnancy, postpartum, early pediatrics, and returning to work.

And SO much more! We continue to enhance our program, so be sure to check our Benefits page here for the latest. Our team can share more during the interview process!

Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

Early Warning Services, LLC ("Early Warning") considers for employment, hires, retains and promotes qualified candidates on the basis of ability, potential, and valid qualifications without regard to race, religious creed, religion, color, sex, sexual orientation, genetic information, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, protected veteran or disability status or any factor prohibited by law, and as such affirms in policy and practice to support and promote equal employment opportunity and affirmative action, in accordance with all applicable federal, state, and municipal laws. The company also prohibits discrimination on other bases such as medical condition, marital status or any other factor that is irrelevant to the performance of our employees.