Network Engineer

The client is seeking a Sr Network Engineer to support the wired and wireless network infrastructure. 200+ buildings spanning multiple campuses and sister institutions across East Tennessee. This is a contract to hire focused on datacenter routing and seasoned network engineering work.

This role will work directly alongside the current network engineer who currently carries the full load of the environment alone. The incoming engineer will take on meaningful ownership quickly, providing relief and allowing the team to function more sustainably. The team is actively growing toward 25 people and undergoing a full network architecture rebuild - a rare opportunity for an engineer who enjoys building from the ground up.

Daily responsibilities include designing, deploying, and maintaining enterprise network infrastructure (routers, switches, firewalls, VPCs, wireless);
Tier 2/3 troubleshooting; monitoring network telemetry; managing project life cycles from discovery through closure; maintaining technical documentation; and participating in an on-call rotation (perm only, contractors are not on-call). The environment includes Cisco, Aruba, Arista (actively shifting the majority of hardware from Cisco to Arista), Fortinet firewalls, and Juniper/Junos.

Network engineering bgp command line lan/wan datacenter routing protocols enterprise cisco juniper junos lan wan routing switching firewalls tcp ip, evpn vxlan arista aruba fortinet wireless azure solarwinds wireshark linux cloud automation scripting ansible terraform

• Datacenter & Advanced Routing Protocols:
  Must have hands-on experience with high-level routing protocols, specifically BGP. EVPN and VXLAN are preferred.
• Hardware/Software:
  Cisco, Arista, and/or Juniper/Junos CLI Proficiency. Does not have to be a specific one but Arista, Juniper/Junos preferred. Candidate must be comfortable working entirely in the command line. Practical litmus test: can they explain how to change an interface from access to trunk mode?
• Wired/Wireless Enterprise Networking:
  Must have solid LAN/WAN fundamentals and a working understanding of routing protocols. Wireless experience is preferred but not required if routing protocols are strong.
• Enterprise Infrastructure
  
  Experience:
  
  4+ years in network administration/engineering; ideally someone who has worked in large-scale campus or enterprise environments and is comfortable owning complex, multi-site infrastructure.
• High Autonomy & Self-Direction:
  Frank assigns tasks and expects them to run. No hand-holding. Candidate must be proactive, give feedback, and show no feet-dragging. This is a culture-fit must-have.

Associate's degree or equivalent; 4+ years direct network engineering experience; intermediate knowledge of WAN/LAN, DNS/DHCP, Layer 2/3, TCP/IP, Wi-Fi, firewalls, ACLs; strong verbal and written communication;
Microsoft Azure networking services knowledge; must be authorized to work in the U.S. without sponsorship now or in the future.

CCNA, CCNP, ACMA, ACMP, AZ-500, AZ-900, Security+

Automation tools (Ansible, Terraform, Git Lab); network monitoring tools (Solar Winds, Wireshark, Ekahau, Nmap, netflow, packet capture); hybrid cloud experience;
Linux and Free RADIUS basics; cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, Oracle Cloud).

Comfortable getting deep in configs. Will work closely with a senior engineer who has high standards. Must be able to receive direction and run with it independently.

Intermediate Level

This is a Contract to Hire position based out of Knoxville, TN.

The pay range for this position is $44.00 - $50.00/hr.

Individual…