Lead Escalation Engineer (San Jose, CA)

Hewlett Packard Enterprise • San Jose, CA

10d • $187,000 - $377,500 • Hybrid

About The Position

Hewlett Packard Enterprise is seeking a Lead Escalation Engineer for its HPE Networking organization. The role leads resolution of complex, high-profile customer escalations involving enterprise wireless, cloud-managed and AI-native networking solutions. The engineer serves as a lead technical escalation point and partners with Technical Assistance Center (TAC), Support, Development Engineering, QA, Product Management and other engineering teams to diagnose difficult problems, restore customer environments, identify root causes and drive permanent solutions.

The position supports HPE Networking’s vision of an AI-native, increasingly autonomous network that uses telemetry, observability, AI and automation to detect, diagnose and resolve problems proactively. The engineer will also help improve troubleshooting through automation, reusable playbooks and AI-assisted diagnostic workflows, while turning customer experience into improvements to product quality, reliability, serviceability and observability.

The position is associated with HPE’s San Jose, California office. The posting describes the role as primarily onsite, but also states that the person will work a hybrid schedule. The expected annual base salary range in California is USD 187,000–377,500; variable incentives may also be offered. Actual offers may vary based on location, experience, education, training and skill level.

Requirements

• At least 8 years of professional experience in Escalation Engineering, Technical Support, Systems Engineering, SQA/Quality Engineering or a related networking role.
• Strong troubleshooting and debugging experience with enterprise WLAN and networking systems.
• Demonstrated ability to systematically troubleshoot complex problems involving multiple technologies and components.
• Strong understanding of Wi-Fi system-level testing, characterization and troubleshooting.
• Ability to operate effectively during high-pressure customer situations and critical production incidents.
• Ability to collaborate across Support, Engineering, QA and Product Management organizations.
• Demonstrated ability to independently drive complex technical investigations with limited supervision.
• Strong customer focus combined with disciplined, data-driven engineering practices.
• Bachelor of Science in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering or a related field with at least 8 years of relevant experience, or a master’s degree with at least 6 years of relevant experience.
• Strong expertise in Layer 2/Layer 3 networking, TCP/IP, IPv4/IPv6, OSPF and enterprise authentication; deep knowledge of Wi-Fi 6/6E and familiarity with Wi-Fi 7.
• Hands-on troubleshooting experience with Wireshark or tcpdump, Linux, virtualization, cloud environments such as AWS/Azure, and cloud-managed, SaaS or distributed systems.
• Experience with Python, REST APIs, JSON, scripting, automation, telemetry and observability for troubleshooting, data collection and operational workflows.
• Working knowledge of Generative AI and AI-assisted engineering tools, including LLM-based troubleshooting, log analysis, knowledge retrieval, case summarization, RAG/agentic workflows, and tools such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or GitHub Copilot.
• Self-starter with a strong sense of ownership, curiosity and motivation to understand difficult technical problems deeply.
• Excellent interpersonal, verbal and written communication skills, with strong logical, analytical and creative problem-solving abilities.
• Disciplined and systematic approach to troubleshooting customer issues; calm and effective in high-pressure customer situations.
• Ability to succeed with minimal supervision and limited resources, and to work through ambiguity and complex problems.
• Strong customer advocacy while maintaining engineering rigor and objectivity; collaborative and able to influence teams across organizational boundaries.
• Passion for automation, AI and continually improving how technical problems are solved.

Nice To Haves

• Networking certifications such as CCNA, CCNP or CWNP are highly desirable.
• Familiarity with Wi-Fi 7.

Responsibilities

• Own and drive complex, high-severity customer escalations from initial triage through recovery, root-cause identification and permanent resolution.
• Lead critical technical investigations and war rooms in collaboration with TAC, Support, Development and QA across wireless, wired, cloud and network services.
• Analyze telemetry, logs, packet captures, crashes and customer topology; reproduce complex issues in the lab and isolate failures across software, hardware, cloud and client environments.
• Drive customer-found defects through engineering, develop clear root-cause analyses and corrective-action plans, and advocate for product quality, reliability, serviceability and observability.
• Build troubleshooting tools, automation, playbooks and AI-assisted diagnostic workflows to improve triage, knowledge discovery, root-cause analysis and resolution efficiency.
• Identify recurring escalation patterns and translate field learnings into proactive quality and automated remediation improvements.
• Mentor engineering teams as Escalation Engineering evolves toward more proactive and AI-assisted operations.
• Provide technical leadership during major incidents and help customers recover quickly.
• Convert complex problems into understood root causes and permanent engineering solutions.
• Improve product design, diagnostics, test coverage, serviceability, telemetry and observability based on recurring issues and real-world customer experience.
• Make troubleshooting knowledge reusable through automation, playbooks and AI-assisted workflows, and improve Support teams’ diagnostic capabilities through mentoring and automation.

Benefits

• The company describes a comprehensive suite of benefits supporting employees’ and their loved ones’ physical, financial and emotional wellbeing; specific benefit plans are not enumerated in the posting.
• Career development programs intended to help employees reach career goals, including becoming subject-matter experts or applying skills in another division.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior