Senior Network Engineer (CCIE – Routing & Switching)

Senior Network Engineer (CCIE Routing & Switching)

Location: Orange County CA (On-site / Local Candidates Preferred)
Type: Full Time Contract (3 - 4 Months)
Schedule: Thursday - Monday (Tuesday & Wednesday off)
Compensation:Up to $90 per hour based on experience

Role Summary

We are seeking a CCIE Route & Switchcaliber Senior Network Engineer for a 3 - 4 month full-time contract to serve as a senior technical authority and individual contributor focused on network design implementation and complex problem resolution.

This role is ideal for an engineer who operates at the expert protocol level leads through technical depth and execution excellence and is trusted to design and deploy highly resilient enterprise and data center networks within a defined engagement period.

This position is deeply hands-on with primary ownership of routing and switching architecture implementation and lifecycle improvements across enterprise data center and hybrid cloud environments in the Orange County California.

Role Overview

The ideal candidate is a design-and-implementation-focused network engineer with mastery of routing and switching fundamentals and advanced architectures.

You will take ownership of large-scale network initiatives end-to-end from requirements gathering and design through implementation validation and operational handoff during a time-bound 34 month engagement.

This role requires CCIE certification (or demonstrably equivalent experience) strong protocol-level knowledge and the ability to translate business and security requirements into clear buildable and supportable network designs.

You will serve as a senior escalation point and technical mentor helping establish engineering standards reference designs and best practices while remaining directly involved in implementation and troubleshooting.

Primary Responsibilities

• Design and implement enterprise data center and disaster recovery network solutions

• Architect deploy and maintain highly available fault-tolerant and scalable routing and switching environments

• Own routing and switching design and implementation including BGP OSPF ECMP segmentation and control-plane protection

• Perform expert-level troubleshooting for complex multi-domain network issues using packet captures and protocol analysis

• Design and implement data center MDF/IDF and access-layer network architectures including segmentation and end-to-end deployment

• Produce and maintain HLDs LLDs and implementation documentation for current and future-state designs

• Execute technology evaluations proofs of concept and lab testing to validate design assumptions and operational impact

• Collaborate with security infrastructure and cloud teams to ensure cohesive and secure network implementations

• Contribute to network monitoring telemetry and self-healing designs to improve stability and mean time to resolution

• Mentor mid- and senior-level engineers on routing switching and troubleshooting best practices

• Ensure implementations align with security and compliance requirements including NIST 800-53 where applicable

Required Experience

• 812 years of hands-on network engineering experience with a strong focus on routing and switching design and implementation

• Proven experience deploying and operating mission-critical enterprise and data center networks

• Demonstrated ability to act as a senior technical escalation point for complex network issues

• Strong background in producing clear implementation-ready network documentation

Preferred Experience

• Experience in financial services or regulated enterprise environments

• Experience supporting or mentoring other network engineers in complex environments

Qualifications

Education

• Bachelors degree in Engineering Computer Science Telecommunications or a related field preferred

Certifications

• CCIE Routing & Switching (preferred) or equivalent expert-level experience

• Azure networking certification or equivalent experience is a plus

Technical Expertise (Must Have)

• Routing: Expert-level design implementation and troubleshooting of BGP and OSPF

• Switching: Advanced experience with Cisco IOS/XE Nexus platforms and Cisco ACI fabrics

• Data Center Networking: Leaf-spine design segmentation and high-availability architectures

• Firewalls: Experience integrating Palo Alto firewalls into enterprise and data center designs

• SD-WAN: Experience implementing and supporting Prisma SD-WAN or similar technologies

• Wireless: Experience deploying and operating Meraki wireless networks

• Disaster Recovery: Network-level DR design implementation and validation

• Identity & Access: Working knowledge of Cisco ISE and network-based access control

• Monitoring & Telemetry: Experience with network monitoring tools and performance visibility

• Packet Analysis: Expert-level packet capture and protocol analysis skills

What Sets This Role Apart

This is not a management role. It is a short-term senior hands-on engineering engagement for a CCIE-level network engineer who wants to remain focused on designing and implementing complex networks rather than managing people or budgets.

You will be trusted to:

• Own complex routing and switching designs from concept to production

• Implement solutions that become long-term architectural standards

• Solve the hardest network problems in the environment