Associate Engineer, SRE IP

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We are Optimum, a leader in the fast-paced world of connectivity, and we're seeking driven and enthusiastic professionals to join our team, empower lives, fuel businesses, and drive innovation. Connectivity is now longer a luxury, but a necessity. A career at Optimum means you'll be enabling progress and enhancing lives by providing reliable, high-speed connectivity solutions that keep the world connected. Our successes, now and in the future, are powered by our amazing product, a commitment to our people and culture, and the connections we make in our communities.

If you are resourceful, collaborative, and passionate about delivering consistent excellence, Optimum is for you!

Job Summary

We are looking for a Network IP Engineer with a "reliability mindset" to join our Core Network team. While this is a "Level 1" position, it is not just a ticket-clearing role; it is a hands-on engineering role focused on the heart of our IP backbone and cloud infrastructure.

You will effectively function as a Network Core Engineer, maintaining and expanding our high-performance infrastructure bridging our physical hardware (primarily Juniper, Cisco, and Arista) and our Google Cloud Platform (GCP) environments. As a Network SRE, you will also help us transition from manual CLI configurations to automated, resilient, and observable network operations across both on-premise and cloud boundaries.

Whether you are a rising junior engineer with strong fundamentals or a seasoned pro looking for a stable, high-impact environment, we want to meet you.

Responsibilities

• Core & Cloud Engineering: Configure, deploy, and troubleshoot infrastructure across our physical IP core (Juniper MX/PTX/QFX, Cisco Catalyst/Nexus, Arista 5000/7000) and our cloud environments (GCP VPCs, Subnets, Cloud Routers, and Cloud Load Balancing).
• Incident Response: Act as the first line of defense for complex network issues. Investigate routing anomalies, packet loss, and latency issues using a blameless root-cause analysis approach across both physical links and cloud perimeters (e.g., Cloud VPN, Dedicated Interconnect).
• Reliability & Automation: Move away from manual changes. Help us build and run Python scripts, Ansible playbooks, and Terraform configurations to automate deployments, validate changes, and audit our hybrid network.
• Observability: Improve our "eyes on the network" by tuning monitoring tools (e.g., Grafana, standard NMS) and utilizing GCP’s native observability (Cloud Monitoring, Cloud Logging, Network Intelligence Center) to detect issues before they impact our customers.
• Maintenance: Plan and execute network maintenance windows (firmware upgrades, hardware replacements, cloud architecture migrations) with a focus on minimizing downtime.

The Stack

• Primary Hardware Vendors: Juniper Networks (Junos OS), Arista Networks (EOS), Cisco (IOS XE and NX-OS)
• Cloud Platform: Google Cloud Platform (VPC, Cloud DNS, Cloud NAT, Cloud Interconnect/VPN, Cloud Armor)
• Protocols: BGP, OSPF/IS-IS, EIGRP, MPLS, LDP/RSVP, EVPN/VXLAN.
• Automation: Python, Ansible, Terraform, Git.

Qualifications

Must-Have Skills:

• Hybrid Networking Fluency: Strong hands-on experience with hardware CLIs (Juniper Junos and/or Arista EOS) alongside a working knowledge of cloud-native networking concepts in GCP (VPC architecture, firewall rules, and cloud routing).
• Networking Fundamentals: Deep understanding of the TCP/IP stack, subnetting, and core routing protocols (specifically BGP and OSPF).
• Troubleshooting Logic: Ability to trace a packet from A to B and identify where it drops, whether that requires standard CLI tools (ping, traceroute, tcpdump/Wireshark) or analyzing VPC Flow Logs.
• Linux/Unix Literacy: Comfortable working in a Linux shell environment.

Nice-to-Have (Bonus Points):

• Cloud Certifications: Google Cloud Professional Cloud Network Engineer or Google Cloud Associate Cloud Engineer (highly preferred).
• Hardware Certifications: JNCIA or JNCIS, Arista ACE-A/ACE-P/ACE-E, or Cisco CCNA/CCNP.
• SRE/DevOps Skills: Basic scripting in Python or experience with Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tools like Ansible and Terraform for network automation.
• Vendor Platforms: Familiarity with Juniper Cloud Management & AIOps (MistAI) and/or Arista EOS and CloudVision.

At Optimum, every action and interaction we take part in, is driven by our three Guiding Principles: Do What’s Right, Drive One Optimum, and Make It Happen. These aren’t just words, they help us build trust, create real community, and embrace new ways of thinking. Our employees are empowered to do the right thing for our customers and co-workers and to recognize and reward these behaviors when we see them. It’s all part of the bigger picture of “Be The Difference” where each employee knows they have the power to enact real change, share new ideas, and understand that learning never stop.

If you have the drive to succeed and are ready to embark on a thrilling career, seize this opportunity today, and join our winning team. Together, we'll shape the future of connectivity.

All job descriptions and required skills, qualifications and responsibilities for a particular position are subject to modification by the Company from time to time, in the Company’s discretion based on business necessity.

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer committed to recruiting, hiring and promoting qualified people of all backgrounds regardless of gender, race, color, creed, national origin, religion, age, marital status, pregnancy, physical or mental disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, military or veteran status, or any other basis protected by federal, state, or local law.

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Pay is competitive and based on a number of job-related factors, including skills and experience. The starting pay rate/range at time of hire for this position in the posted location is $66,830.00 - $109,793.00 / year. The rate/range provided herein is the anticipated pay at the time of hire and does not reflect future job opportunity.

We appreciate your interest in this opportunity. Applicants must be authorized to work for ANY employer in the U.S. Please note that at this time, we do not provide visa sponsorship for employment.