Senior Network detection and Response Engineer

Optum is a global organization that delivers care, aided by technology to help millions of people live healthier lives. The work you do with our team will directly improve health outcomes by connecting people with the care, pharmacy benefits, data and resources they need to feel their best. Here, you will find a culture guided by inclusion, talented peers, comprehensive benefits and career development opportunities.

Come make an impact on the communities we serve as you help us advance health optimization on a global scale. Join us to start Caring. Connecting. Growing together.

The Senior Network Detection & Response Engineer supports the operational health, visibility, and performance of the enterprise NDR platform, combining security operations expertise, strong networking fundamentals, and the ability to build modern monitoring and observability tooling. This engineer serves as a platform owner and builder, delivering a reliable, well-instrumented NDR platform to Security Operations, Incident Response, and Detection Engineering teams.

You’ll enjoy the flexibility to telecommute
* from anywhere within the U.S. as you take on some tough challenges.

• Design, deploy, configure, and maintain enterprise Network Detection & Response (NDR) sensors, appliances, and Zeek-based detection pipelines, ensuring alert and log data delivered to SOC and Incident Response teams is complete, accurate, and timely
• Proactively identify and root-cause network visibility gaps - including incomplete tap/SPAN coverage, asymmetric routing, redundant HA links, and one-sided flows - using Zeek/Suricata log analysis, traffic volume baselines, synthetic traffic validation, and monitoring dashboards
• Partner with Network Engineering, Packet Broker, and application teams to validate tap/SPAN placement, remediate traffic engineering issues, and onboard new network segments into the NDR architecture
• Build and maintain platform observability using Python, REST APIs, and time series databases to monitor sensor health, data ingestion, packet throughput, and drop rates
• Create and modify Zeek scripts, Suricata rules, and associated detection content packs in response to customer and stakeholder requests, collaborating with Detection Engineering on broader rule strategy and coverage
• Define and maintain SLIs/SLOs for platform reliability and data quality, and develop technical documentation, standard operating procedures, and operational guides for NDR administration
• Leverage enterprise-approved AI tools to streamline workflows, automate tasks, and drive continuous improvement

You’ll be rewarded and recognized for your performance in an environment that will challenge you and give you clear direction on what it takes to succeed in your role as well as provide development for other roles you may be interested in.

• High School Diploma/GED
• 4+ years of combined experience in network engineering and/or information security, with a primary focus on network traffic analysis, network security monitoring, or threat detection
• 3+ years of hands-on engineering and administration experience with enterprise NDR technologies (e.g., Corelight, Zeek, Suricata, Extra Hop, Darktrace, or similar tools)
• 3+ years of hands-on experience with network protocols and architecture, including TCP/IP, UDP, VLANs, routing and switching, packet-level traffic analysis, and working directly on enterprise network device CLIs (e.g., Cisco, Arista, Juniper)
• 1+ years of hands-on experience administering and troubleshooting Linux systems from the command line
• Participate in an on-call rotation supporting platform availability and incident response escalations

• Bachelor's degree
• Experience with tap/SPAN…