New

Sr Lead Network Engineer

Spectraforce Technologies
United States, Illinois, Chicago
Nov 03, 2026
Title: Sr Lead Network Engineer Location: Chicago, IL Hybrid - onsite 3 days per week Duration: 07 Months The Role: The Sr. Lead Network Engineer is a senior hands-on engineer with deep expertise in data center routing and switching, enterprise WAN and SD-WAN, and hybrid cloud connectivity. This role is primarily focused on engineering execution: personally implementing, migrating, troubleshooting, and supporting production infrastructure while contributing practical input to network designs and architecture decisions. As a key contributor, the Engineer will deliver and support network infrastructure across global private data centers, colocation facilities, cloud connectivity environments, and enterprise sites. The successful candidate can take ownership of complex tasks with minimal direction, collaborate effectively with Architecture, Cloud, Security, Operations, and application teams, and transition completed solutions into stable operational support. Qualifications: * Expertise in Data Center Networking Demonstrated expert-level, hands-on experience implementing and troubleshooting enterprise routing and switching in Cisco Nexus and Catalyst environments. Strong understanding of BGP, OSPF, Layer 2/Layer 3 design, resiliency, segmentation, and production change execution. * Extensive Industry Experience More than 10 years of hands-on experience deploying, migrating, managing, and supporting complex enterprise and data center network solutions across on-premises and colocation environments. CCNP-level knowledge is strongly preferred; relevant Cisco certifications are a plus. * SD-WAN & Enterprise WAN Proficiency Deep experience with enterprise WAN and SD-WAN design, deployment, migrations, routing integration, policy, branch connectivity, path selection, and production troubleshooting. Prisma SD-WAN experience is strongly preferred. * Cisco Data Center Platforms Hands-on experience with Cisco Nexus, Catalyst, and data center fabric management. Cisco NDFC experience is strongly preferred; Catalyst Center experience is a plus. * Cloud Connectivity Experience Practical experience deploying or operating Azure ExpressRoute and/or AWS Direct Connect, including BGP routing, route advertisement, redundancy, and collaboration with cloud platform teams. * Hands-On Implementation Leadership Proven ability to receive an objective or problem statement, assess the environment, develop an implementation approach, execute production work, validate results, and resolve issues with minimal day-to-day direction. * Complex Migration Experience Demonstrated experience planning and executing high-risk network migrations with clear dependency management, testing, change control, rollback planning, and post-implementation validation. * Network Security & Adjacent Services Experience with enterprise firewalls, DNS/DHCP/IPAM, and load-balancing technologies is preferred. Palo Alto and Infoblox experience are particularly valuable. * Automation Awareness & Collaboration Familiarity with modern network automation practices and tools such as Terraform, Ansible, Python, GitHub, GitHub Actions, IaC, and GitOps. Must be willing to learn, embrace automated delivery practices, and collaborate with automation-focused engineers; advanced coding expertise is not required. * Network Observability & Troubleshooting Deep understanding of packet analysis, telemetry, monitoring, and observability tools used to isolate faults, improve performance, and accelerate resolution across hybrid network environments. * Global Collaboration & Communication Strong written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills, with the ability to collaborate across Architecture, Engineering, Operations, Cloud, Security, vendors, and globally distributed teams supporting mission-critical services. * Continuous Improvement & Self-Motivation Self-starter with sound engineering judgment, strong ownership, and a demonstrated ability to learn unfamiliar technologies, operate independently, and continually improve network services and operational practices. Key responsibilities: The Sr. Lead Network Engineer will provide senior-level engineering leadership while remaining directly engaged in implementation and troubleshooting. Responsibilities include: * Data Center Routing & Switching: Implement, migrate, optimize, and troubleshoot Cisco Nexus and Catalyst environments, including complex Layer 2 and Layer 3 designs, BGP, OSPF, redundancy, segmentation, and high-availability patterns. * Data Center Network Management: Deploy and operate data center network fabrics and management platforms, with experience in Cisco NDFC or comparable tooling strongly preferred. * SD-WAN & Enterprise WAN: Design, deploy, migrate, and support enterprise SD-WAN and WAN services. Prisma SD-WAN experience is strongly preferred; relevant experience with other enterprise SD-WAN platforms is valuable. * Cloud Connectivity: Implement and troubleshoot private connectivity between on-premises environments and public cloud platforms, including Azure ExpressRoute and/or AWS Direct Connect. Collaborate closely with Cloud Engineering counterparts on routing, resiliency, and operational support. * Global Network Deployments: Lead hands-on network deployments and complex migrations across private data centers, colocation facilities, cloud connectivity environments, and enterprise locations, including implementation planning, testing, cutover, rollback, and post-change validation. * Tier 3 Technical Support: Serve as a senior escalation point for Network Engineering and Operations, independently diagnosing and resolving complex production issues across data center, WAN, SD-WAN, and cloud-connected environments. * Network Services Collaboration: Work across adjacent technologies such as next-generation firewalls, DNS/DHCP/IPAM, and application delivery or load-balancing platforms. Palo Alto, Infoblox, and F5 load-balancing experience are preferred. * Network Design: Contribute implementation expertise to architecture and design discussions; review proposed solutions for operational readiness, supportability, risk, and execution feasibility. * Automation: Work effectively in an engineering environment that uses automation and Infrastructure as Code. Familiarity or exposure to Terraform, Ansible, Python, GitHub, GitHub Actions, IaC, or GitOps. Understanding of the concepts is desired; creation of automation code is preferred. * Documentation & Knowledge Transfer: Develop and maintain designs and implementation plans, methods of procedure, testing and rollback plans, diagrams, configuration standards, and operational handoff documentation.