Lead Network Engineer

Rückbauanlage Gundremmingen•Chicago, IL

3d•Onsite

About The Position

The Lead Network Engineer provides advanced technical leadership for the design, implementation, operation, and security of OT network infrastructure across multiple sites and geographies. The role is a senior technical escalation point and leads complex network and security initiatives involving architecture, troubleshooting, modernization, resiliency, and standards development. The engineer works closely with Network Engineering, SCADA, field operations, infrastructure, vendors, and OT Cybersecurity to deliver secure, scalable, and highly available solutions. The position provides technical direction, mentoring, and project leadership to engineers and technicians without formal people-management responsibility. The role independently leads large technical projects, site-wide deployments, and multi-site initiatives, and owns assigned technical activities from planning through implementation, validation, and documentation. It also contributes to enterprise-wide OT standards, governance, and best practices while supporting safety, resilience, and regulatory readiness. This is an office-based role with some travel and visits to other RWECE office and field locations. The employee must be able to sit, walk, or stand for long durations and lift 25 lbs. Applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States; visa sponsorship is not available.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Cybersecurity, or a related discipline, or an equivalent combination of education, technical training, industry certifications, and relevant professional experience.
At least 5 years of experience in network engineering, network security, infrastructure, telecommunications, or related technologies.
Advanced hands-on experience, formal training, or relevant industry certification; certifications may be substituted with equivalent technical knowledge and demonstrated practical experience.
Demonstrated experience designing and supporting complex, distributed network environments.
Experience leading technical projects, major implementations, or complex incident resolution.
Experience mentoring or providing technical direction to engineers and technicians.
Strong enterprise networking or security experience and ability to work in operational environments.
Experience with Cisco routing, switching, wireless, and network services.
Experience with Palo Alto Networks or Fortinet firewalls, including policy, VPN, threat prevention, segmentation, and secure connectivity.
Experience designing high-availability and redundant network architectures.
Familiarity with network monitoring, performance management, and automation platforms.
Working knowledge of cybersecurity frameworks and standards such as NIST, ISA/IEC 62443, NERC CIP, or ISO 27001.
Ability to function independently with minimal oversight and own technical activities from planning through implementation, validation, and documentation.
Strategic thinking, strong operational execution skills, and a demonstrated desire to learn about the company and renewables space.
Commitment to safety, resilience, and regulatory readiness.
Legally authorized to work in the United States; the employer is unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of employment visas.
Ability to sit, walk, or stand for long durations and lift 25 lbs.

Nice To Haves

OT, SCADA, ICS, utility, renewable energy, manufacturing, or industrial experience.
CCNP certification or equivalent experience.

Responsibilities

Design and implement scalable, secure, and resilient OT network infrastructure across multiple sites and geographies.
Lead complex troubleshooting and high-severity incident resolution using advanced analysis, diagnostic tools, and cross-functional coordination.
Develop and maintain network architecture standards, configuration baselines, and security requirements.
Lead network performance tuning, capacity planning, traffic optimization, and proactive upgrades.
Design and validate segmentation, firewall, access-control, secure remote-access, and intrusion-detection solutions with OT Cybersecurity.
Develop high-availability, redundancy, and disaster-recovery solutions for critical OT and SCADA systems.
Lead greenfield deployments, site retrofits, technology refreshes, and modernization initiatives from design through implementation and validation.
Serve as the technical escalation point for complex network, firewall, VPN, SCADA connectivity, and security-related incidents.
Lead root-cause analysis sessions and develop corrective actions to prevent recurring incidents.
Create, review, and maintain SOPs, engineering standards, work instructions, and change-control procedures.
Provide technical guidance, mentoring, and peer review to engineers and technicians.
Review technical designs and implementation plans for compliance with architecture, security, and operational standards.
Support hardware and software lifecycle planning, procurement, and technology selection.
Conduct technical reviews of network configurations and security controls to support NERC CIP and other applicable requirements.
Identify opportunities to improve automation, monitoring, reliability, standardization, and operational efficiency.
Coordinate with vendors and technology partners on complex technical issues, escalations, and solution design.
Lead technical workstreams or site activities and review technical work, providing guidance on design, implementation, and troubleshooting.