Senior Network Operations Lead – Enterprise Networking & Security

Senior Network Operations Lead – Enterprise Networking & Security

Grand Rapids, MI (Hybrid)

18+ Months Contract

Step into a senior network operations leadership role supporting a complex enterprise network environment across security, routing, switching, wireless, SD-WAN, data center, cloud networking, and load balancing.

This role is ideal for a hands-on NOC Lead or Senior Network Engineer who can work in a hybrid onsite/remote capacity with the team in Grand Rapids, MI (3 days onsite and 2 days remote). Bring your strong troubleshooting skills, architect-level network expertise, and ability to lead incident response, mentor L1/L2 engineers, improve operational processes, and collaborate with engineering teams to enhance long-term network reliability.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead day-to-day NOC operations and provide technical guidance to L1/L2 engineers.
• Serve as the senior escalation point for complex network issues.
• Oversee responses to network alerts, hardware failures, performance issues, and service interruptions.
• Lead and coordinate P1/P2 bridge calls, including troubleshooting direction and stakeholder communication.
• Perform root cause analysis for recurring network issues and recommend preventive measures.
• Improve monitoring, incident response, documentation, and escalation procedures.
• Develop and maintain SOPs, runbooks, incident reports, and operational standards.
• Collaborate with network engineering, infrastructure, security, cloud, and application teams.
• Support continuous improvement initiatives focused on network reliability, visibility, and operational readiness.

Required Technical Skills

Strong hands-on experience with several of the following technologies:

• Palo Alto Firewalls
• Juniper SRX Firewalls
• Juniper Mist Wireless and Wireless Authentication
• Juniper and/or Cisco Access Layer Switching
• SD-WAN
• Layer 3 Routing, especially BGP
• Data Center Switching
• ACI / VXLAN Fabrics (preferred)
• Cloud Networking, preferably Azure or GCP
• Load Balancing, preferably F5
• VPNs, Access Points, Monitoring Tools, and Network Troubleshooting

Required Qualifications

• Extensive experience in network operations, network engineering, or NOC leadership.
• Proven experience leading or mentoring L1/L2 NOC engineers.
• Strong troubleshooting expertise across routing, switching, wireless, firewalls, VPNs, and network performance issues.
• Experience leading incident response and coordinating technical teams during high-priority outages.
• Ability to clearly document issues, create SOPs, and improve operational processes.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to work onsite in a hybrid model (3 days onsite per week).

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Information Technology, or a related field.
• Certifications such as CCNA, CCNP, JNCIA, JNCIS, Palo Alto, CISSP, or equivalent.
• Experience supporting enterprise-scale network environments.
• Experience with data center networking, SD-WAN, cloud networking, and network security operations.