Overview
The Network Tech Lead will serve as the technical lead and operational steward of enterprise-wide network services across 75+ office locations, including HQ and remote sites. Reporting to the Manager of Network Operations, this individual will be responsible for overseeing day-to-day network operations, ensuring high availability and performance of all network infrastructure (LAN/WAN/WiFi/AV), and leading the team in alignment with modern standards, automation, observability, and infrastructure maturity goals. This role requires strong hands-on expertise, team mentoring capabilities, operational rigor, and experience across both on-prem and cloud networking environments (Azure/AWS).
Responsibilities
Key Responsibilities:
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- Provide day-to-day leadership and mentoring for the Network Operations team, including senior and junior engineers.
- Serve as the primary escalation point for complex networking issues and lead root cause analysis for major incidents.
- Drive the adoption of SOPs and enforce process consistency, quality reviews, and audit trails in line with the organization's operational maturity goals (Levels 1-5).
- Collaborate with the Network Architect to convert design and strategy into actionable implementation and monitoring plans.
- Own network observability and proactive alerting across all devices-leveraging tools like Cisco Meraki, ThousandEyes, and ServiceNow for automated incident creation.
- Ensure consistent monitoring of WiFi, AV systems, and conference rooms; respond to and remediate issues proactively before business impact.
- Coordinate site-wide upgrades of legacy Cisco Catalyst gear to Meraki-compliant appliances to improve observability and supportability.
- Conduct regular WiFi site surveys and follow through with remediation plans in collaboration with site stakeholders.
- Lead the rollout of network automation scripts for common tasks such as configuration backups, firmware checks, and change validations.
- Champion the integration of alerting platforms with ServiceNow for seamless incident management workflows.
- Support planning and readiness activities for the Global NOC initiative, ensuring full playbook coverage and training paths for L1/L2 teams.
- Collaborate closely with Cybersecurity to ensure VPNs, endpoint compliance, and secure networking principles are followed.
- Provide training, peer reviews, and promote a continuous learning culture within the NetOps team.
- Participate in vendor evaluations and coordinate with procurement and Cumberland for Cisco contract renewals and equipment acquisition.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs):
- % Network uptime across all office locations (target: ≥99.95%)
- Time to resolution for high/critical severity network incidents (target: < 1 hour)
Qualifications
Education:
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, or related field (required)
- Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP) or equivalent (required)
- Azure Network Engineer Associate or AWS Advanced Networking (preferred)
- ITIL v4 Foundation Certification (preferred)
Experience:
- 7+ years of hands-on experience in enterprise network operations
- 3+ years in a team leadership or technical lead capacity
- Experience with Cisco Meraki, Catalyst switches, firewalls, routers, and access points
- Experience with ThousandEyes, ServiceNow integrations, and enterprise monitoring tools
- Experience in hybrid cloud networking (Azure Virtual Networks, NSGs, VPN Gateway, AWS VPC)
- Demonstrated success in mentoring engineers and improving team performance
- Strong familiarity with AV & conference room infrastructure and network requirements
Technical Skills:
- Routing & Switching (BGP, OSPF, VLANs, STP)
- Cisco Meraki Dashboard & APIs
- ThousandEyes deployment and monitoring configuration
- Network Automation using Python, PowerShell, or Ansible
- VPNs, SD-WAN, Firewall rules, Load Balancers
- WiFi Site Survey tools (Ekahau or similar)
- Network monitoring platforms (SolarWinds, PRTG, etc.)
- Azure/AWS networking services (VNet, ExpressRoute, Virtual WAN, Transit Gateway)
Soft Skills & Attributes:
- Strong technical and operational leadership
- Ability to influence without authority across peer teams
- Proven communication skills to interact with engineers, managers, and senior leadership
- Detail-oriented with a focus on quality, process, and continuous improvement
- Ability to multitask and prioritize in a dynamic, fast-paced environment
- Passion for mentoring and coaching others
Need to Have:
- Proven experience with Cisco Meraki and ThousandEyes
- Demonstrated success in technical leadership and mentoring
- Strong knowledge of enterprise networking best practices and standards
- Experience building and maintaining automation for network tasks
- Hands-on experience with cloud networking (Azure or AWS)
- Strong collaboration skills and cross-functional team experience
Nice to Have:
- Experience with global NOC setup or Tier 1/2 playbooks
- Familiarity with AV/conference room infrastructure support
- Cisco DNA Center or SD-WAN experience
- ITIL process maturity or process improvement initiatives
- Experience working with ServiceNow for automated alert-to-incident integrations
- Experience participating in vendor contract negotiations and hardware lifecycle planning