Senior Network Engineer

Role: Senior Network Engineer

Location: Portland Metro (Hybrid - onsite 1-2 days/week)

Compensation: $165,000 base bonus

Type: Direct Hire

Ledgent Technology is hiring a Senior Network Engineer on behalf of a local client. We're looking for a highly hands-on engineer with strong technical depth, troubleshooting ability, and ownership mindset in a production enterprise/data center environment.

The Role

This is the primary Network Engineer in the Portland area, responsible for designing, building, supporting, and optimizing network infrastructure across corporate, data center, and multi-site environments.

This is not a ticket-driven role-it requires someone who can go deep technically, troubleshoot complex issues, and take full ownership while driving improvements and scalability.

Key Responsibilities

• Design, implement, and support enterprise LAN/WAN and data center networks
• Configure and troubleshoot routers, switches, firewalls, and SD-WAN solutions
• Own Palo Alto firewall environment (policies, NAT, VPN/IPSEC, troubleshooting)
• Troubleshoot complex issues using a structured, layered approach (OSI model)
• Configure and support IPSEC tunnels (Phase 1/2, IKE, troubleshooting)
• Manage and optimize routing protocols (OSPF, BGP)
• Monitor performance and implement scalable, long-term solutions
• Partner with ISPs and vendors for circuit installs and issue resolution
• Lead root cause analysis for network incidents and outages
• Maintain documentation, standards, and network architecture
• Support on-call rotation (~every 6 weeks)

Technology Environment

Core (Required):

• Palo Alto firewalls (physical/virtual; Panorama a plus)
• Cisco networking (routing & switching)
• Experience with Juniper and/or Arista

Key Focus Areas:

• IPSEC VPNs (IKE, Phase 1 vs Phase 2, troubleshooting)
• Routing (OSPF, BGP)
• Core networking fundamentals (OSI 1-3, VLANs, subnetting, routing tables)
• Firewall policy, NAT, and traffic flow troubleshooting

Nice to Have:

• Palo Alto Prisma / SD-WAN
• Cisco Catalyst or Nexus
• Multi-site or distributed networks
• Data center networking

Required Qualifications

• 6-8 years of network engineering experience (enterprise and/or data center)
• Strong hands-on experience with Palo Alto firewalls
• Solid routing and switching background (Cisco, Juniper, Arista, etc.)
• Proven ability to own and operate network environments independently
• Strong, methodical troubleshooting skills (step-by-step approach)
• Experience supporting production environments with on-call rotation
• Ability to design, deploy, and continuously improve network systems
• Scripting/automation (Python, Bash, etc.) is a plus

What Success Looks Like

• Comfortable troubleshooting issues end-to-end (not just escalating)
• Acts as a go-to technical resource in a lean environment
• Communicates clearly with both technical and non-technical teams

This Role Is a Great Fit If You…

• Prefer hands-on engineering over maintenance or ticket work
• Have been a key or go-to engineer on a small/lean team
• Enjoy solving complex network problems and optimizing performance
• Are comfortable working independently and owning outcomes
• Like working across both operations and engineering initiatives

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, national origin, age, ancestry, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, marital status, disability, medical condition, genetic information, pregnancy, or military or veteran status. We consider all qualified applicants, including those with criminal histories, in a manner consistent with state and local laws, including the California Fair Chance Act, City of Los Angeles' Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance, and Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance.