Manager​/Tech Lead, Network Engineering

About this role: We're looking for a hands‑on Manager / Senior Technical Lead to take end‑to‑end ownership of our global corporate network and network security posture — from the switch port to the SASE edge. You'll own everything that connects our people to our systems: in‑office wired and wireless connectivity, secure remote access, inter‑office and third‑party connectivity, and the governance of mobile and endpoint assets on the network.

You'll also lead a strategic initiative: migrating our remote access model from Tailscale to Zscaler, enabling Zscaler Private Access (ZPA) to front our most sensitive internal applications. This is a builder's role. You'll inherit a modern, well‑invested stack (Palo Alto firewalls, Meraki switching/AP, Infoblox DDI, dual‑ISP resilience per site) and be expected to mature it into a globally consistent, secure, and observable network as we open new offices and grow headcount.

• Take ownership of network architecture and operations across all Applied Intuition offices globally, including standards for wired/wireless LAN, WAN, and site design.
• Manage dual‑ISP redundancy, failover, and site connectivity for each office location.
• Own our Palo Alto firewall estate (policy, segmentation, NAT, threat prevention) and Meraki switching/wireless environment (MX/MS/MR) across all sites.
• Administer and evolve our Infoblox DDI environment (DNS, DHCP, IPAM) as the source of truth for network addressing globally.

• Lead the migration from Tailscale to Zscaler, standing up ZIA for secure internet access and ZPA to broker access to sensitive internal applications without exposing them on a flat network.
• Design the target‑state Zero Trust access model: user/device posture, app segmentation, and policy — replacing broad VPN‑style access with least‑privilege, app‑specific access.
• Manage the cutover plan, user migration, and legacy VPN decommissioning with minimal disruption to the business.

• Design and maintain secure, performant connectivity between offices and to key third‑party endpoints (data centers, cloud environments, partner networks).
• Build repeatable, documented playbooks for opening new office locations (network standing up new sites quickly and consistently as the company grows).

• Act as the technical authority and escalation point for all things network — you'll operate as both an individual contributor and a lead who can eventually build out a team as scope grows.
• Partner with the Head of Security and IT leaderships to set the multi‑year network and network‑security roadmap, and vendor strategy.
• Own vendor relationships (Palo Alto, Cisco Meraki, Zscaler, Infoblox) including licensing, renewals, and support escalations.
• Establish monitoring, alerting, and documentation standards so the network is observable and operable beyond "tribal knowledge."

• 7+ years in network engineering/architecture roles, including experience owning network security for a multi‑site organization — ideally at a high‑growth technology company that scaled offices and headcount quickly.
• Hands‑on expertise with Palo Alto Networks firewalls (policy, Panorama, threat prevention) and Cisco Meraki (MX/MS/MR) in production, multi‑site environments.
• Direct experience with Infoblox or comparable DDI/IPAM platforms.
• Experience designing or migrating to a SASE/ZTN.
• Direct Zscaler (ZIA/ZPA) experience is a strong plus; experience with a comparable platform (Cloudflare, Netskope, Palo Alto Prisma Access) is also relevant.
• Working knowledge of modern lightweight VPN/mesh tooling (Tailscale, Wire Guard) is a plus, particularly if you've been part of a migration off of one.
• Strong grasp of core networking fundamentals: routing/switching, VLANs, SD‑WAN, DNS/DHCP, NAT, 802.1X/NAC.
• Experience governing mobile/BYOD device access on corporate networks (NAC, MDM integration).
• A track record of taking ambiguous, growing infrastructure and turning it into documented, standardized, and automatable operations.
• Comfort operating both strategically (roadmap, vendor strategy, budget) and hands‑on (you will still be in the weeds, especially early).