Job Title: Network DevOps engineer
Location: Palo Alto CA
Duration: 6+ Months
Network Engineer, Corporate & Datacenter (Contract)
Global Infrastructure and Platform Services (GIPS) Palo Alto (Onsite) Mid-Level
About the Role
Client is looking for a Network Engineer to design, deploy, and operate the corporate and datacenter network infrastructure that underpins our global workforce and production environments.
You will own the full lifecycle of campus and datacenter networks from access switching and wireless LAN to spine-leaf fabrics and next-generation firewall policy while driving the reliability, security, and scalability of client's on-premises infrastructure.
This role sits within Global Infrastructure and Platform Services (GIPS) at our Palo Alto headquarters. You will work closely with Security, IT, and Cloud Engineering teams and are encouraged to leverage AI tools to accelerate troubleshooting, documentation, and automation.
Key Responsibilities
Corporate & Campus Networking
Design and maintain the corporate LAN, including access/distribution/core switching, VLANs, STP, and QoS for the Palo Alto HQ and remote offices.
Manage and optimize the wireless LAN infrastructure (controller-based and cloud-managed), including site surveys, RF planning, SSID design, and client troubleshooting.
Administer 802.1X network access control, certificate-based authentication, and guest network segmentation.
Datacenter Networking
Operate and evolve the datacenter network, including spine-leaf architecture, BGP, VxLAN/EVPN overlays, and high-availability designs.
Ensure network stability and performance across on-premises datacenter infrastructure by proactively monitoring capacity and latency baselines.
Partner with Server, Storage, and Platform Engineering teams on rack-and-stack connectivity, new service deployments, and capacity expansions.
Security & Firewall (Palo Alto Networks)
Manage Palo Alto Networks NGFW platforms (PA-Series, Panorama, SCM), including security policy, App-ID, URL filtering, Threat Prevention, and WildFire integration.
Administer GlobalProtect VPN and Prisma Access for remote access and enforce zero-trust network segmentation between zones.
Conduct firewall rule reviews, clean up unused policies, and support periodic security audits.
Reliability & Automation
Monitor network health using observability tooling (SNMP, streaming telemetry, NetFlow/sFlow) and drive resolution of incidents and root-cause analyses.
Develop and maintain automation scripts and configuration management workflows (Python, Ansible, Terraform) to reduce operational toil and improve consistency.
Use AI-assisted tools to accelerate log analysis, runbook generation, and network documentation.
Required Qualifications
4-6 years of hands-on enterprise network engineering experience.
Proficiency with Palo Alto Networks NGFWs and Panorama, including security policy management, zone-based segmentation, and GlobalProtect VPN.
Solid understanding of routing and switching fundamentals: BGP, OSPF, STP/RSTP, VLANs, LACP, and L2/L3 design.
Experience designing and supporting enterprise wireless networks (Cisco Meraki, Aruba, or equivalent), including familiarity with 802.11ax/Wi-Fi 6 and RF optimization.
Working knowledge of datacenter networking concepts such as spine-leaf architecture, VxLAN/EVPN, and high-availability failover.
Strong troubleshooting methodology with the ability to work through complex, multi-layer production issues.
Effective written and verbal communication skills with the ability to produce clear runbooks and incident postmortems.
Preferred Qualifications
Relevant certifications such as PCNSE, CCNP Enterprise, CWNA/CWSP, or equivalent.
Experience with network automation using Python, Ansible, or Terraform.
Familiarity with public cloud networking (AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud Platform) and hybrid connectivity solutions such as Direct Connect, ExpressRoute, and VPN.
Exposure to load balancers including F5, AVI/NSX ALB, or NGINX and application delivery in datacenter environments.
Experience with 802.1X / NAC platforms such as Cisco ISE, Aruba ClearPass, or equivalent.
Comfort using AI tools (e.g., Claude, Copilot) for network operations, documentation, and automation tasks.
