Network Engineer

Role Overview:
The Network Engineer ensures the organisation’s network infrastructure operates at optimum throughput with maximum uptime, reliability, security and protection. Focused on strategic planning, technical roadmaps and standards-based delivery, the role provides cost-effective network solutions, oversees incident resolution and disaster recovery, and drives continuous improvement across on prem and cloud environments. The incumbent is familiar with enterprise networking, SDN, monitoring tools and network best practices, and is able to align technical teams and stakeholders to priorities.

Key Responsibilities:

1) Strategy, standards and planning

• Provide inputs for network and IT operations strategy and technical roadmaps.
• Design cost-effective network systems and services that meet product requirements and align to standards/best practices.
• Develop SLAs/OLAs, KPIs and dashboards for network services; monitor and drive compliance.
• Provide technical inputs for procurement of network equipment and ensure procurement compliance.
• Plan and coordinate network growth, upgrades and Software Defined Network (SDN) validation within the IT ecosystem.

2) Manage and optimise network operations

• Oversee day to day operation, installation, upgrade and maintenance of LAN/WAN, internet, wireless, remote access and IP telephony.
• Execute test plans (integration, performance, coverage, capacity) and certify components for production.
• Manage capacity, performance tuning, scalability and cost optimisation for network services.
• Implement and operate monitoring/observability and network management tooling; drive automation of repetitive runbook tasks and workflow for recurring network issues.
• Perform technical evaluations and proof of concepts for new network technologies and recommend changes/enhancements.

3) Incident resolution, security and business continuity

• Lead network fault troubleshooting, RCA and resolution; prioritise and resolve security incidents and escalate when necessary.
• Develop, test and maintain disaster recovery and business continuity plans for network infrastructure; oversee DR drills and verification.
• Plan and coordinate network security measures; review configurations and procedures for compliance with information security policies, legal and regulatory requirements.
• Investigate network attack risks and recommend remedial actions; maintain multi tier firewall, NAC, WAF, ACL, NAT, proxy and related protections.

4) Integration, support and lifecycle management

• Oversee integration of network solutions with applications and platforms; support legacy systems while enabling transition/decommissioning.
• Review software releases, upgrades and fixes; identify and execute necessary actions.
• Develop and verify recovery solutions in test environments and execute in production when required.

5) Vendor and partner management

• Provide technical evaluation input for vendor selection; manage relationships with infrastructure and cloud providers.
• Assess vendor performance against service delivery metrics and contract requirements.

6) People, reporting and operational governance

• Contribute to resource planning, work allocations and operational budgeting related to network activities.
• Maintain operational documentation, runbooks and technical records; provide coaching and guidance to support teams.
• Support after hours standby duties and ad hoc travel to remote sites as required.

Requirements:

• Diploma in IT/Computer Science or equivalent; relevant certifications required — minimally CCNA; CCNP preferred.
• At least 3 years’ relevant experience in network infrastructure, operations, implementation and support (on prem and cloud).
• Strong working knowledge of: routing & switching, STP, VLAN, multicast, TCP/IP & OSI models, VPN, APN, AAA architectures, SDN, network virtualization, IP telephony.
• Hands on experience with device management, multi tier firewall policies, NAC, WAF, syslog, proxy servers, ACL, NAT, black/whitelisting, packet sniffers and network management systems.
• Experience with cloud networking (AWS/Azure), backup/DR practices and monitoring tools.
• Pleasant, resourceful, independent team player with strong problem solving, documentation and stakeholder communication skills.
• May be required to travel regionally for project support, stakeholder meetings, and knowledge transfer.