At Northwestern Mutual, we are strong, innovative and growing. We invest in our people. We care and make a positive difference.
What's the role?
The Lead Network Engineer leads within the Core Network Services department with the expectation to guide and mentor team members. This includes leading all aspects of the work performed by senior and junior engineers, mentoring their technical informative activities, freely sharing tactics, techniques and procedures.
Responsibilities:

• Accountable for anticipating network needs of the team and department and applying a depth and breadth of knowledge to proactively address these critical problems in a variety of ways including building custom solutions and leading engagements.
• Enable the analysis, design and implementation of network solutions for new and existing environments
• Provide technical leadership for network projects including leading the design and rollout of the next generation network and transition into a cloud first mentality.
• Act as a technical advisor and domain specialist to internal partners.
• Maintain a deep knowledge of network capabilities and applicable vendor product offerings to be informative among our team
• Understand technical issues and risks affecting the business and be able to communicate them to management and other business leaders.

Requirements:

• Experience with network engineering best practices to include analyzing, designing, developing, deploying, and supporting network solutions, and/or infrastructure implementation/upgrades.
• Expertise in one or more of the following technologies and/or platforms: Arista, Juniper, Aruba, Cisco, Palo Alto, Spine/Leaf designs, BGP/OSPF routing protocols, routing/switching, Software Defined Networks, LAN / WAN configurations, Application Delivery controllers, Data center switching and converged networks, MPLS/ VPLS, VXLAN, MLAG, HA and resiliency architectures.
• Experience leading a small team of highly successful engineers.
• Strong sense of ownership and the ability to work with a limited set of requirements.
• Strong customer support skills working with varying degrees of technical aptitude.
• Ability to explain technical solutions to technical teams and non-technical teams.

Ideal Qualifications:

• 10+ years' experience as a Lead Network Engineer, designing and managing highly available network infrastructure.
• Knowledge in layer two and layer three routing and switching
• Knowledge/understanding of configuring and deploying network switches and routers including adding VLANs and routing protocols (including TCP/IP, BGP, and Multicast)
• Experience with design, provisioning, and troubleshooting of WAN and LAN connectivity technologies (i.e. MPLS, LACP)
• Experience with MPLS a must.

Knowledge/familiarity with the following required:

• Priority Queuing, Class of Service (CoS), and Quality of Service (QoS)
• Network monitoring solutions
• WAN/Optical technologies a plus

Knowledge/familiarity with the following a plus:

• Managing DNS/DHCP/IPAM
• Knowledge/familiarity with SDN/Network automation
• Basic knowledge/familiarity with coding/scripting/automation (Python, Ansible)
• CCNP / CCIE / JNCIE Certification

Benefits:

• Tuition reimbursement, commuter plans, and paid time off
• Highly competitive compensation that include base salary plus bonus
• Medical/Dental/Vision plans, 401(k), pension program, and more!

#li-post
This job is not covered by the existing Collective Bargaining Agreement.
Required Certifications:
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We are an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, age or status as a protected veteran, or any other characteristic protected by law.