Lead IT Network Engineer | Infrastructure and Cloud Team

At Garmin we create products that are designed indoors for outdoor activities. We do this to enable our customers to make the most of their time spent pursuing their passions.

We leverage the full potential of both public and private cloud environments to drive innovation. These platforms empower us to efficiently manage technology, staffing, and costs as we evolve our product offerings.

We are looking for a Lead IT Network Engineer who will be responsible for leading the ongoing operation, stability, and continuous improvement of our enterprise and data center network environments, including wireless, campus switching, network access control, and data center networking. This role ensures high availability, performance, and security across all network domains through strong operational ownership and continuous improvement.

We believe that collaboration leads to the best ideas, and we rely heavily on team interaction. As a role based in Cluj-Napoca, this position will require 5 days in the office each week. 

Responsibilities:

• Provides significant contributions to defining team roadmap and priorities.
• Develops reliable solutions to complex problems which require the regular use of ingenuity and creativity.
• Serves as a mentor and provides guidance to less experienced IT Administrators.
• Researches new technologies and proposes cost effective solutions.
• Leads major incident troubleshooting involving multiple disciplines.
• Provides innovation within area of expertise.
• Facilitates team discussions and meetings.
• Applies extensive technical expertise and analysis to initiatives.
• Contributes input to broader technology solutions outside of discipline.
• Serves as a leader of change.
• Coordinates department level non-project changes.

• Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Management Information Systems, Business, or related field AND a minimum of 9 years of relevant experience OR an equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Proven expertise in enterprise networking, with a strong emphasis on large-scale wireless environments and deep experience in data center networking design, operations, and troubleshooting.
• Hands-on experience with enterprise wireless technologies, including Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers (WLC), access points, RF design, and wireless performance optimization.
• Strong experience with campus networking technologies, including Cisco Catalyst (IOS-XE) switching and enterprise routing platforms (ISR/ASR).
• Strong experience with data center networking technologies, including Cisco Nexus (NX-OS), and modern architectures such as leaf-spine, VXLAN/EVPN, and Cisco ACI.
• Experience operating and troubleshooting data center environments, including fabric-based networking, high availability architectures, upgrades, migrations, and maintenance activities.
• Experience with network access control and policy enforcement solutions such as Cisco ISE, including authentication, authorization, and segmentation.
• Solid understanding of routing and switching protocols, including BGP, OSPF, EIGRP, VLANs, STP, and port-channeling across campus and data center environments.
• Proven experience in operations-focused environments, including real-time troubleshooting, incident response, root cause analysis, and service restoration.
• Experience using network monitoring and troubleshooting tools such as SNMP, NetFlow, Syslog, and platform-specific analytics solutions.
• Knowledge of network security concepts, including segmentation, ACLs, VPNs (IPSec), and secure wireless design (802.1X, WPA2/WPA3).
• Experience evaluating and implementing new networking technologies, including centralized management and automation platforms such as Cisco DNA Center.
• Willingness to participate in an on-call rotation supporting enterprise and data center network operations.
• Demonstrated strong verbal, written, and interpersonal communication skills, including the ability to effectively document and organize work.
• Ability to work effectively in a fast-paced environment while balancing proactive improvements with reactive operational support.

Benefits to enhance your experience: 

• 24 days off each year plus extra vacation days based on years at Garmin and compensation for legal holidays.
• Health package subscription and yearly budget for glasses.
• Monthly budget for sports and wellbeing activities.
• Local and global career development programs (training, mentorship, technical and leadership development, and more).
• Access to e-learning platforms and support for technical conferences attendance.
• Loyalty bonus within the company, plus other special bonuses (for holidays and personal life events).
• Meal tickets. 

Yours exclusively when part of our team: 

• Significant discount for Garmin products.
• Employee stock purchase plan.
• Contribution to the retirement plan (Pillar 3).
• Garmin products available for testing and borrowing.
• A comprehensive event series championing wellbeing, sports, and community tailored to foster holistic health (featuring sports events, classes, hackathons, parties, and more).
• Other benefits which we invite you to discover along the recruitment process. 

Garmin Cluj is an equal opportunity employer. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, national origin, sex, age, or disability.