Lead Sr. NOC Engineer

Position Summary
The Senior-Level NOC Engineer (Tier 3) functions as the highest technical escalation point within the global Network Operations Center. This role provides advanced troubleshooting, architecture-level insight, and deep subject matter expertise across complex, multi-vendor network infrastructures. Tier 3 support engineers lead root-cause analysis, oversee major incidents, influence network design standards, and partner with engineering teams to drive stability, scalability, and operational excellence.

Key Responsibilities
- Advanced Incident & Problem Management
- Acts as the final escalation point for all high-severity incidents, providing advanced packet analysis, protocol decoding, and cross-platform correlation.
- Performs deep-dive RCA, producing engineering-quality post-incident documentation and recommending long-term corrective actions.
- Leads network recovery efforts during outages involving routing instability, security events, hardware failures, or cloud connectivity issues.

Architecture-Level Network Troubleshooting Expertise
- Expert proficiency with Cisco NAC Solutions/Cisco Campus Networking, and Aruba Wireless services with the ability to interpret and troubleshoot complex multi-tier architectures.
- Strong knowledge of Campus Networking automation, API-driven provisioning, and lifecycle management in large-scale environments, including experience with IAC pipelines.
-Governs enterprise campus network architectures, including wired access, wireless LAN (WLAN), and edge connectivity designs.
- Enforces standards for secure user and device onboarding, guest access, BYOD, IoT connectivity, and Captive Portal authentication, across campus environments
- Proactively validates and enforces security architectures and best practices
- Defines and governs Zero Trust access architectures using Zscaler Internet Access (ZIA) and Zscaler Private Access (ZPA), enabling secure user to application connectivity without traditional network based trust models.
- Identifies opportunities for platform monitoring, observability, and alerting.

Tools, Automation & Visibility
- Mastery of packet analysis tools: Bluecat, Solarwinds, APCON, Wireshark, netflow/sflow platforms.
- Develops automation scripts for configuration validation, monitoring, and incident response workflows.
- Evaluates and integrates new operational tools and observability platforms.

Cross-Functional Leadership
- Partners with Network Engineering to validate new designs, perform pre-deployment testing, and influence standards.
- Mentors junior and mid-level NOC engineers, providing technical coaching, lab guidance, and training material.
- Engages directly with vendors for escalated TAC cases, hardware escalations, and architectural reviews.

Qualifications Required
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems or equivalent experience.
- 8+ years of enterprise network operations or engineering experience supporting large-scale environments.
- Expert-level knowledge of Cisco Campus Architecture & NAC
- Extensive experience with Cisco, Juniper, Brocade, Palo Alto, Aruba, and F5 ecosystems.
- Ability to lead major incidents under pressure with clear communication and technical command.

Required Certifications
- Cisco CCNP (or equivalent)

Preferred Certifications
- CCIE (Routing & Switching, Enterprise, or Data Center)
- JNCIP/JNCIE
- PCNSE (Palo Alto)
- F5 Certified Administrator or Engineer
- AWS Advanced Networking

Special Requirements
- Must participate in 24x7 Tier 3 escalation rotation.
- May assist in after-hours change execution and major event coverage.