Head of Network Engineering
About the Role
The company is building a next-generation service provider network designed to support large-scale infrastructure growth, operational scalability and long-term architectural evolution.
We are looking for a Head of Network Engineering to define the technical direction, architectural standards and engineering strategy of the company's service provider infrastructure.
This role is responsible for the architectural leadership across: IP/MPLS backbone infrastructure, Metro Ethernet and aggregation networks, Optical transport infrastructure (OTN / DWDM), Network security infrastructure, Data center interconnectivity and backbone integration.
The Head of Network Engineering ensures that all network domains evolve under a coherent architecture focused on: Scalability, Resiliency, Operational simplicity, Deterministic behavior, Infrastructure standardization.
This is not a reactive operations role. It is a systems-level engineering leadership role focused on designing infrastructure capable of scaling sustainably as the network grows in size, traffic and operational complexity.
The ideal candidate is someone with deep service provider engineering experience, capable of operating at CCIE/JNCIE-level depth while also defining organizational technical direction and engineering standards.
This role requires strong automation and operational scalability mindset. We are looking for leaders who understand that large-scale service provider environments cannot scale through manual operations alone.
Within this domain, the Head of Network Engineering:
Defines the long-term architecture roadmap for the service provider network ecosystem
Establishes technical standards and engineering principles across routing, transport, aggregation and security domains
Ensures architectural consistency between backbone, access, transport and infrastructure security environments
Defines scalability and resiliency strategies for infrastructure growth
Guides technical decisions related to routing architecture, transport evolution and infrastructure expansion
Drives engineering standardization across multi-vendor environments
Promotes automation-first operational models to improve scalability, consistency and deployment velocity
Collaborates closely with Automation, Operations, Expansion and Infrastructure teams
Supports the evolution of provisioning, validation and infrastructure lifecycle methodologies
Drives documentation, engineering discipline and operational reproducibility across the organization
Mentors and develops senior engineering talent across multiple technical domains
This role is not focused on operating isolated technologies. It is focused on designing scalable and operationally sustainable service provider infrastructure systems.
About You
You are someone comfortable operating across complex service provider environments where routing scale, resiliency, convergence and operational scalability are critical.
You think beyond isolated technologies and understand how architectural decisions impact long-term operational sustainability, deployment velocity and business growth.
You are expected to operate with high autonomy and influence technical direction across multiple engineering domains.
You should demonstrate strong expertise across:
Service Provider Routing and Backbone Architecture
BGP architecture and routing policy design
IS-IS and OSPF in large-scale backbone environments
MPLS and traffic engineering
Route reflectors and control-plane scaling
Interconnection and peering architectures
Access and Aggregation Networks
Metro Ethernet environments
Layer 2 and Layer 3 integration
Subscriber edge and aggregation architectures
Redundancy and deterministic forwarding models
Optical Transport Infrastructure
DWDM and OTN architectures
Transport resiliency and capacity scaling
Backbone transport integration
Infrastructure Security
Infrastructure firewall architectures
Segmentation and policy enforcement
Administrative access and AAA systems
Secure infrastructure design principles
Automation and Operational Scalability
Infrastructure automation mindset
Python, APIs or infrastructure automation frameworks
Standardization and deployment reproducibility
Automation-first operational models
Infrastructure lifecycle operationalization
Infrastructure Reliability and Scalability
Large-scale multi-vendor network environments
Deterministic infrastructure design
Operational simplification and maintainability
Troubleshooting complex multi-domain infrastructure issues
This role requires deep service provider expertise combined with strong systems thinking and operational engineering discipline.
Required Qualifications
Strong experience designing and evolving large-scale service provider infrastructure environments
CCIE/JNCIE-level expertise or equivalent real-world architectural depth
Deep understanding of IP/MPLS backbone architectures and routing ecosystems
Strong understanding of transport, aggregation and infrastructure networking domains
Experience defining infrastructure standards and architectural principles
Strong automation mindset focused on scaling network operations and infrastructure consistency
Experience operating large-scale multi-vendor environments
Strong troubleshooting and infrastructure problem-solving capabilities
Experience guiding technical decisions across engineering organizations
Strong documentation, standardization and operational rigor
Ability to operate in fast-moving infrastructure growth environments
Preferred Qualifications
Experience with automation frameworks and infrastructure APIs
Experience scaling operational models in large service provider networks
Familiarity with CI/CD or infrastructure lifecycle automation practices
Experience with optical transport scaling strategies
Exposure to infrastructure security and segmentation architectures
Experience supporting multi-site or multi-data-center service provider environments
Familiarity with telemetry, observability or infrastructure monitoring systems
Experience leading engineering standardization initiatives across organizations
What We Value
Deep service provider engineering mindset
Strong ownership and architectural accountability
Pragmatic engineering and operational realism
Builders who value operational scalability through automation
Systems thinkers capable of connecting architecture with operational execution
Engineering rigor, documentation discipline and standardization
Curiosity and continuous learning
Leaders who understand that operational simplicity is an architectural responsibility