Sr. Lead Network Engineer
Hybrid: 3 days/week to work other 2 days from home.
Location: Downtown Chicago, IL
Looking for a seasoned, hands-on Sr. Lead Network Engineer for a contract opportunity supporting a large-scale cloud and data center migration initiative.
This role is ideal for an experienced engineer who has personally executed complex network migrations, worked closely with application, compute, and storage teams, and delivered secure, scalable network solutions across data center and cloud environments.
Must-Have Requirements
- Cisco NDFC – Hands-on experience required.
- Cisco Data Center Networking – Expert-level Nexus, Catalyst, BGP, OSPF, routing and switching. Must have data center experience, not just campus networking.
- SD-WAN – Prisma preferred; Cisco Viptela, VeloCloud, or Silver Peak acceptable.
- Large-Scale Network Migrations – Must have personally executed complex migrations, working with application, compute, and storage teams to move environments. Understands cutovers, dependencies, testing, and rollback.
- Cloud Connectivity – Experience connecting data centers/colocation facilities to Azure, AWS, or GCP.
- Tier 3 Support – Advanced production troubleshooting and resolution of complex network issues.
- Network Design & Implementation – Works alongside architects to translate requirements into designs and personally implement solutions.
- Experience – 10+ years hands-on; CCNP or higher preferred. CCNA considered with approximately 15+ years of strong experience.
Nice to Have
- AZ-700 Azure certification.
- Global deployments across North America, EMEA, and APAC.
- Understanding of Palo Alto firewalls, Infoblox, and F5 load balancers.
- Network automation and scripting knowledge (Python, Ansible, Terraform).
More about this role:
- Need a seasoned, hands-on engineer, NOT someone primarily focused on architecture or management.
- Must have experience supporting application teams through mass network migrations.
- Must be independent, technically strong, and able to collaborate across multiple infrastructure teams.
- Strong communication, time management, and work ethic.
- Looking for specific examples of technical accomplishments, not just keywords on a resume.
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Senior Network Engineer in Greater Chicago Area at Prairie Consulting Services
This position is listed as contract and hybrid. It was posted 3 days ago.