Network Operations Engineer Jobs
Network Operations Engineer jobs are open across telecommunications, cloud infrastructure, enterprise IT, and managed services, from entry-level NOC technicians to senior and principal engineers, with specializations in routing and switching, network security, and cloud networking. Find a role that fits from the openings below and apply directly.
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Showing 5 of 217+ Network Operations Engineer jobs
Bring your IT career and technical expertise to help support the California Research and Education Network (CalREN), a high-bandwidth, fiber-optic network that serves over 20 million users. CENIC is a nonprofit governed by its member K-12 schools, libraries, community colleges, universities, and other public-serving institutions. Its mission is to advance education and research by providing a world-class network essential for innovation, collaboration, and economic growth.
We are looking for Network Engineers at various levels: mid-career, senior, technical expert, and leadership roles! Please see our career center for other positions available.
POSITION SUMMARY:
The Senior Network Operations Engineer is the senior-most technical role within CENIC's Network Operations Center (NOC), with a strong background in 24x7 NOC environments and experience with service provider networks. This role serves as the primary escalation point for Network Operations Engineers, handling complex, ambiguous, and long-running incidents that fall outside standard triage workflows, and provides technical oversight of shift-level incident handling in the absence of a Lead. The Senior Network Operations Engineer also drives strategic projects to improve NOC tooling, workflows, and operational maturity, serving as the technical owner for key systems and initiatives. This role has no supervisory responsibility, but is expected to function as a technical authority and mentor for Network Operations Engineers and Administrators across shifts.
SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITY: None
ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:
- Serve as the primary escalation point for Network Operations Engineers, providing technical guidance and hands-on troubleshooting support for issues that exceed standard triage scope
- Lead the resolution of complex, ambiguous, or long-running incidents that fall outside normal incident management workflows, coordinating cross-team input as needed and driving issues to closure
- Own and execute strategic projects that improve NOC tooling, workflows, and operational efficiency, including serving as technical owner for key monitoring and operational systems, such as Zabbix, Jira, and CONC
- Step into standard shift triage duties as needed to cover staffing shortfalls, performing the full scope of triage engineer responsibilities during those periods
- Provide triage oversight during shifts when a supervisor is unavailable, ensuring incidents are being handled correctly, escalations are appropriately routed, and documentation standards are maintained
- Identify recurring or systemic issues surfaced through escalations and incident handling, and propose process or tooling improvements to reduce repeat occurrences
- Document complex incident resolutions and escalation outcomes thoroughly, contributing to the NOC's knowledge base and post-incident review process
- Mentor and provide technical guidance to NOC staff, supporting skills development and consistent application of operational best practices
Keep current with emerging trends and technologies relevant to service provider and research/education networking, applying relevant developments to NOC tooling and processes
KEY SUCCESS FACTORS:
- Expert-level technical knowledge of NOC operations and large-scale IP and optical network troubleshooting
- Sound judgment and composure when handling ambiguous, complex, or long-running incidents without established playbooks
- Strong sense of ownership and follow-through on strategic projects, from initial scoping through implementation and adoption
- Excellent oral and written communication skills, including the ability to communicate clearly with Operations staff, Leads, and leadership
- Well-organized and able to manage multiple concurrent priorities across escalations, incidents, and project work
- Strong troubleshooting and analytical skills, with the ability to diagnose issues that have resisted standard triage approaches
- Collaborative mindset and effectiveness working across shifts, teams, and with minimal direct oversight
Strong commitment to mentorship and the professional development of less experienced Operations staff
REQUIRED EDUCATION AND/OR EXPERIENCE:
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related discipline with 6 years or more of experience, or a combination of education and experience
- 5+ years of experience in network operations in a 24x7, service provider, or large-scale production network environment
- Demonstrated experience in troubleshooting complex, multi-layer network incidents, including issues spanning IP, MPLS, and optical/transport layers
- Strong background with BGP, OSPF, or IS-IS, and IP Routing at a CCNP/JNCIP level
- Experience with DWDM optical line systems and DCI deployments
Experience with incident management processes, including ticketing systems, escalation procedures, and documentation standards in a NOC or similar environment
PREFERRED EDUCATION AND/OR EXPERIENCE:
- Prior experience owning or administering NOC tooling such as monitoring platforms, ticketing systems, or configuration/inventory systems
- Experience with MPLS (Segment Routing, LDP, RSVP-TE), L2VPN, and IPVPN services (EVPN or similar), and traffic engineering in a large-scale production environment
- Experience mentoring or informally leading technical staff in a NOC setting
- Familiarity with network automation tools such as Ansible, NSO, Git, Python, and other automation processes
Experience in a research and education network environment or a comparable large-scale, mission-critical network
WORK ENVIRONMENT:
WORK HOURS:
WORK AUTHORIZATION:
Documented Proof of identity and legal eligibility to work in the United States.
Applicants must be authorized to work for any employer in the U.S. We are unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of an employment Visa at this time.
CENIC does not offer STEM OPT training opportunities and cannot complete Form I-983.
WHY WORK AT CENIC?
Company Culture: Small teams and a collaborative environment provide the opportunity to make a significant impact in a small organization.
Community Engagement: We work with research and education institutions in the largest state economy in the United States. Your work has meaning.
Generous Health Benefit Package: We value our employees' wellness. We offer a variety of medical, dental, and vision benefits. We have you covered with life, short-term, and long-term insurance. We also offer pet insurance at a discount.
Paid Time Off: We offer liberal vacation and sick leave, plus 15 paid holidays.
Investment in Your Future: CENIC contributes to your 403(b) even if you don't. We also offer matching contributions. Pre-tax and Roth options are also available.
CENIC is an equal opportunity employer – Vets/disabled
Bring your IT career and technical expertise to help support the California Research and Education Network (CalREN), a high-bandwidth, fiber-optic network that serves over 20 million users. CENIC is a nonprofit governed by its member K-12 schools, libraries, community colleges, universities, and other public-serving institutions. Its mission is to advance education and research by providing a world-class network essential for innovation, collaboration, and economic growth.
We are looking for Network Engineers at various levels: mid-career, senior, technical expert, and leadership roles! Please see our career center for other positions available.
POSITION SUMMARY:
The Senior Network Operations Engineer is the senior-most technical role within CENIC's Network Operations Center (NOC), with a strong background in 24x7 NOC environments and experience with service provider networks. This role serves as the primary escalation point for Network Operations Engineers, handling complex, ambiguous, and long-running incidents that fall outside standard triage workflows, and provides technical oversight of shift-level incident handling in the absence of a Lead. The Senior Network Operations Engineer also drives strategic projects to improve NOC tooling, workflows, and operational maturity, serving as the technical owner for key systems and initiatives. This role has no supervisory responsibility, but is expected to function as a technical authority and mentor for Network Operations Engineers and Administrators across shifts.
SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITY: None
ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:
- Serve as the primary escalation point for Network Operations Engineers, providing technical guidance and hands-on troubleshooting support for issues that exceed standard triage scope
- Lead the resolution of complex, ambiguous, or long-running incidents that fall outside normal incident management workflows, coordinating cross-team input as needed and driving issues to closure
- Own and execute strategic projects that improve NOC tooling, workflows, and operational efficiency, including serving as technical owner for key monitoring and operational systems, such as Zabbix, Jira, and CONC
- Step into standard shift triage duties as needed to cover staffing shortfalls, performing the full scope of triage engineer responsibilities during those periods
- Provide triage oversight during shifts when a supervisor is unavailable, ensuring incidents are being handled correctly, escalations are appropriately routed, and documentation standards are maintained
- Identify recurring or systemic issues surfaced through escalations and incident handling, and propose process or tooling improvements to reduce repeat occurrences
- Document complex incident resolutions and escalation outcomes thoroughly, contributing to the NOC's knowledge base and post-incident review process
- Mentor and provide technical guidance to NOC staff, supporting skills development and consistent application of operational best practices
Keep current with emerging trends and technologies relevant to service provider and research/education networking, applying relevant developments to NOC tooling and processes
KEY SUCCESS FACTORS:
- Expert-level technical knowledge of NOC operations and large-scale IP and optical network troubleshooting
- Sound judgment and composure when handling ambiguous, complex, or long-running incidents without established playbooks
- Strong sense of ownership and follow-through on strategic projects, from initial scoping through implementation and adoption
- Excellent oral and written communication skills, including the ability to communicate clearly with Operations staff, Leads, and leadership
- Well-organized and able to manage multiple concurrent priorities across escalations, incidents, and project work
- Strong troubleshooting and analytical skills, with the ability to diagnose issues that have resisted standard triage approaches
- Collaborative mindset and effectiveness working across shifts, teams, and with minimal direct oversight
Strong commitment to mentorship and the professional development of less experienced Operations staff
REQUIRED EDUCATION AND/OR EXPERIENCE:
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related discipline with 6 years or more of experience, or a combination of education and experience
- 5+ years of experience in network operations in a 24x7, service provider, or large-scale production network environment
- Demonstrated experience in troubleshooting complex, multi-layer network incidents, including issues spanning IP, MPLS, and optical/transport layers
- Strong background with BGP, OSPF, or IS-IS, and IP Routing at a CCNP/JNCIP level
- Experience with DWDM optical line systems and DCI deployments
Experience with incident management processes, including ticketing systems, escalation procedures, and documentation standards in a NOC or similar environment
PREFERRED EDUCATION AND/OR EXPERIENCE:
- Prior experience owning or administering NOC tooling such as monitoring platforms, ticketing systems, or configuration/inventory systems
- Experience with MPLS (Segment Routing, LDP, RSVP-TE), L2VPN, and IPVPN services (EVPN or similar), and traffic engineering in a large-scale production environment
- Experience mentoring or informally leading technical staff in a NOC setting
- Familiarity with network automation tools such as Ansible, NSO, Git, Python, and other automation processes
Experience in a research and education network environment or a comparable large-scale, mission-critical network
WORK ENVIRONMENT:
WORK HOURS:
WORK AUTHORIZATION:
Documented Proof of identity and legal eligibility to work in the United States.
Applicants must be authorized to work for any employer in the U.S. We are unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of an employment Visa at this time.
CENIC does not offer STEM OPT training opportunities and cannot complete Form I-983.
WHY WORK AT CENIC?
Company Culture: Small teams and a collaborative environment provide the opportunity to make a significant impact in a small organization.
Community Engagement: We work with research and education institutions in the largest state economy in the United States. Your work has meaning.
Generous Health Benefit Package: We value our employees' wellness. We offer a variety of medical, dental, and vision benefits. We have you covered with life, short-term, and long-term insurance. We also offer pet insurance at a discount.
Paid Time Off: We offer liberal vacation and sick leave, plus 15 paid holidays.
Investment in Your Future: CENIC contributes to your 403(b) even if you don't. We also offer matching contributions. Pre-tax and Roth options are also available.
CENIC is an equal opportunity employer – Vets/disabled
Network Operations Engineer Jobs by Experience Level
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Find JobsNetwork Operations Engineer Job Market
Who's Hiring
Top Industries Hiring
- Technology & Software18
- Healthcare & Medical Services4
- Retail3
- Education3
- Investment & Asset Management3
What Employers Look For
The qualifications that appear most often in network operations engineer jobs.
- Hands-on experience configuring and troubleshooting routers, switches, and firewalls from major vendors such as Cisco, Juniper, or Palo Alto
- Proficiency with network monitoring and management tools such as SolarWinds, PRTG, or Nagios
- Strong understanding of TCP/IP, BGP, OSPF, MPLS, VLANs, and other core routing and switching protocols
- Experience with network security principles including firewall policy management, VPN configuration, and access control lists
- Relevant industry certification such as CCNA, CCNP, CompTIA Network+, or an equivalent vendor-neutral or vendor-specific credential
- Ability to respond to and resolve network incidents under time pressure, including participation in on-call or shift-based coverage
Tips for Your Network Operations Engineer Job Search
Tailor your resume to the stack
List the specific vendors and platforms you've worked with, Cisco IOS, Juniper Junos, Palo Alto, Arista, and the protocols you've configured hands-on. Recruiters and applicant tracking systems filter for these exact terms, not generic phrases like 'networking experience.'
Certify before you apply at scale
A current CCNA, CompTIA Network+, or Juniper JNCIA signals baseline competency and clears automated filters. If you're targeting cloud-heavy roles, pairing a networking cert with an AWS or Azure networking specialty credential strengthens your position before you submit.
Filter openings by on-call expectations
Network operations roles vary sharply on shift work and on-call rotation. Read each posting carefully for 24/7 NOC language versus standard business hours. Applying to roles that match your availability prevents wasted interviews late in the process.
Apply early to roles that fit
Migrate Mate lists network operations engineer openings from across the United States in one place, so you can find roles that match and apply directly to each listing.
Prepare a lab or home network story
Hiring managers for network operations roles routinely ask how you've built or maintained a home lab. Having a concrete example of a topology you configured, a problem you diagnosed, or a protocol you tested on your own time demonstrates initiative beyond your day-job scope.
Negotiate scope, not just compensation
Before accepting an offer, confirm which network segments you'll own, whether you'll have change-approval authority, and what the escalation path looks like. These factors shape your day-to-day growth and your resume's depth two years from now.
Network Operations Engineer Jobs: Frequently Asked Questions
Which companies are hiring the most network operations engineers?
The companies hiring the most network operations engineers right now include Google, General Dynamics Information Technology, and Meta, with the largest share of openings in Texas, California, and New York, based on current listings on Migrate Mate as of August 2026. Telecommunications carriers, managed service providers, and large cloud infrastructure teams consistently account for the highest volume of postings.
How many network operations engineer jobs are remote?
About 49% of network operations engineer openings are fully remote or hybrid as of August 2026, though the share varies significantly by specialty. Cloud networking, network automation, and NOC analyst roles tend to offer the most remote flexibility, while hands-on data center and campus network positions typically require on-site presence.
How do you become a network operations engineer?
Start by building a foundation in TCP/IP networking and earning an entry-level certification such as CompTIA Network+ or CCNA. From there, gain hands-on experience in a helpdesk, NOC, or systems administrator role where you work directly with network hardware and monitoring tools. Advancing to a dedicated network operations engineer title typically requires demonstrated troubleshooting experience, deeper protocol knowledge, and often a vendor-specific certification at the professional level.
Can you get hired as a network operations engineer with little experience?
Yes, entry-level network operations engineer and NOC technician roles are specifically designed for candidates earlier in their careers. Employers in these roles prioritize a current certification, a demonstrable home lab or academic project, and the ability to follow runbooks and escalate correctly. Targeting 24/7 NOC positions at managed service providers is one of the most reliable paths into the field without years of prior experience.
What does the network operations engineer interview process look like?
Most hiring processes for network operations engineers include an initial recruiter screen, a technical phone or video interview covering subnetting, routing protocols, and troubleshooting scenarios, and sometimes a practical lab exercise or whiteboard session where you diagram or debug a network topology. Final rounds often involve meeting the team and discussing on-call responsibilities, change management procedures, and how you've handled outages or escalations in past roles.
Where can I find and apply to network operations engineer jobs?
You can find and apply to network operations engineer jobs on Migrate Mate, which lists current openings from across the United States. Find roles that match your experience and specialization, then apply directly to each listing from the same page.
See All 217+ Network Operations Engineer Jobs
Find roles that match your experience and apply in just a few clicks.
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