Job Title : Lead Network Engineer

Experience : 5 to 8 Years

Location : Onsite Bangalore, India

Employment Type : Full-time

Job Summary :

We are seeking an experienced Lead Network Engineer with 5 to 8 years of strong hands-on experience in on-premises network infrastructure.

This role involves leading day-to-day network operations, ensuring high availability, security, and performance of enterprise data center networks, and mentoring junior engineers.

The ideal candidate will have deep expertise in routing, switching, firewalls, and enterprise network security.

Key Responsibilities :

- Lead the design, implementation, and support of on-premises network infrastructure.

- Manage and maintain enterprise data center networks, including routers, switches, firewalls, load balancers, and VPNs.

- Oversee network monitoring, performance optimization, and capacity planning.

- Act as L3/L4 escalation point for complex network issues and lead root cause analysis (RCA).

- Design and enforce network security controls, including firewalls, ACLs, segmentation, and VPNs.

- Lead network change management activities, including impact analysis and implementation.

- Ensure high availability and disaster recovery readiness of network components.

- Maintain and review network documentation, diagrams, and SOPs.

- Coordinate with vendors, ISPs, and internal stakeholders for upgrades and issue resolution.

- Ensure compliance with enterprise security and regulatory standards (ISO 27001, PCI-DSS, etc.

- Mentor junior network engineers and provide technical guidance.

Required Skills & Qualifications :

- 5 to 8 years of experience in Network Engineering with a strong focus on on-premises environments.

- In-depth knowledge of TCP/IP, DNS, DHCP, VLANs, NAT, STP, and routing protocols (OSPF, BGP).

- Hands-on experience with enterprise networking devices (Cisco, Juniper, Fortinet, Aruba, or equivalent).

- Strong experience with firewalls, VPN (IPSec/SSL), and network security best practices.

- Experience in data center networking and high-availability architectures.

- Proficiency in network troubleshooting and performance optimization.

- Experience with network monitoring and logging tools.

- Strong understanding of ITIL processes (Incident, Change, and Problem Management).

Preferred / Good To Have :

- Experience with load balancers (F5, Citrix, or similar).

- Exposure to network automation or scripting (Python, Ansible, Bash).

- Familiarity with Linux/Unix systems for network diagnostics.

- Relevant certifications such as CCNP, JNCIP, NSE, or equivalent.

- Experience in BFSI, Payments, or other regulated environments.

Leadership & Soft Skills :

- Proven ability to lead and mentor technical teams.

- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.

- Excellent communication and stakeholder management abilities.

- Ability to work under pressure in production environments.

What We Offer :

- Opportunity to lead and manage mission-critical on-premises infrastructure.

- Exposure to enterprise-scale and highly secure network environments.

- Career growth into network architecture or infrastructure leadership roles.

- Competitive compensation and comprehensive benefits.