Principal Network Engineer

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Job Title: Principal Network Engineer

Location: Onsite – McKinney, TX (with flexibility)

Compensation: $140,000 – $170,000 (based on experience)

Employment Type: Full-Time

Overview

We are seeking a Principal Network Engineer to lead the design, implementation, and management of secure, scalable, and high-performing networking solutions across multiple data centers and cloud environments. This senior-level role will play a key part in building reliable and efficient network infrastructure to support a broad range of business-critical systems.

The ideal candidate has a strong background in Linux networking, infrastructure automation, and hybrid cloud architectures. This position is based onsite in McKinney, TX, with some flexibility.

Purpose & Mission

The infrastructure engineering team is responsible for delivering a reliable, secure, performant, and cost-effective networking foundation. The Principal Network Engineer ensures that networking operations meet high standards for uptime, security, and scalability across diverse environments.

Core Responsibilities

• Evaluate, onboard, and manage data centers and ISP providers.
• Design, implement, and maintain high-availability network architecture across on-prem and cloud environments.
• Lead network configuration, patching, performance tuning, and upgrade activities.
• Conduct capacity planning and ensure optimal hardware utilization.

Automation & Infrastructure as Code

• Use tools such as Terraform, Pulumi, and Ansible to manage networking infrastructure as code.
• Automate provisioning and configuration processes to ensure consistency and repeatability.

Monitoring & Observability

• Deploy and maintain observability tools (e.g., Prometheus, Grafana, Datadog) for network performance and uptime.
• Set up robust alerting to support proactive troubleshooting and resolution.

Operational Excellence

• Manage configuration, patching, and updates across network hardware and systems.
• Apply security best practices across network layers, including firewall rules, segmentation, and encryption.

Technical Expertise

• Advanced knowledge of Linux internals, especially for networking stability and performance.
• Deep understanding of network layers, routing, protocols, VPNs, and cloud interconnects.
• Experience designing and managing hybrid network infrastructure across data centers and cloud platforms.
• Proficiency with container platforms (Kubernetes, ECS, Docker, Helm).
• Expertise in infrastructure-as-code tools and config management systems (Terraform, Ansible, Open Tofu, Puppet, Chef).
• Strong observability and monitoring tool experience (Cloud Watch, Datadog, New Relic, Prometheus, etc.).
• Skilled in analyzing packet captures and troubleshooting network hardware and software.
• Coaches and mentors peers, leads from behind.
• Balances short- and long-term priorities effectively.
• Writes clear, concise technical documentation.
• Fosters cross-functional collaboration through empathy and strong communication.
• Makes thoughtful, data-driven decisions and advocates for best practices.

Bonus Qualifications

• Familiarity with Linux performance tuning tools (e.g., eBPF, Brendan Gregg’s toolkit).
• Enthusiastic about post-incident reviews and continuous improvement.
• Knowledge of modern CI/CD pipelines and version control platforms.

• Seniority level
  
  Mid-Senior level

• Employment type
  
  Full-time

• Job function
  
  Information Technology
• Industries Computer and Network Security and Information Services

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Medical insurance

Vision insurance

401(k)

Disability insurance

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