Network Engineer – WAN / Cisco ASR & ISR

OPTIVEUM

3d•Remote

About The Position

Optiveum is recruiting and contracting for an experienced Network Engineer to join the network operations team of a central IT services provider for one of Germany’s largest banking groups. The client operates core banking infrastructure for hundreds of regional savings banks across Germany, in a large, stable, and highly regulated environment. The work is fully remote from Poland, full-time, five days per week. The engagement is a B2B cooperation agreement directly with Optiveum, running until the end of 2026 with a planned extension through 2027. The stated rate is 160–200 PLN per hour net, depending on experience. The start is ASAP. Fluent English is required; German is a strong plus. The role runs and operates the WAN product end to end, from transferring new infrastructure into operations through changes, releases, and decommissioning. It covers Cisco ASR/ISR and Catalyst technologies, WAN routing and connectivity, incident and problem management, monitoring, security, asset and configuration records, audits, service improvement, automation, and team coaching. Applicants should submit a CV in English. The CV is shared with the client only after the candidate agrees. Candidates already presented to this client within the previous six months, directly or through another agency, cannot be considered again.

Requirements

Solid hands-on experience with Cisco WAN technologies, including ASR and ISR routers, BGP, OSPF, and MPLS.
Cisco CCNA or CCNP Enterprise certification, or equivalent.
Proven experience leading or coaching network engineering teams, including onboarding and coordinating nearshore resources.
Strong communication and conflict-resolution skills.
Experience maintaining operational documentation and knowledge management.
Solid understanding of ITIL processes in a regulated environment, including Incident, Problem, Change, Release, Knowledge, Configuration, Event, Availability, and Capacity Management.
Ability to coordinate handovers between Plan & Build and Run.
Fluent spoken and written English.
An existing one-person company (działalność gospodarcza) registered in Poland.

Nice To Haves

German language skills.
Cisco SD-WAN Specialist certification.
ITIL certification.
Network automation experience with Ansible and Python, and experience with CheckMK.
Experience in banking or financial services.

Responsibilities

Run and operate the WAN product end to end, from transitioning new infrastructure into operations through changes and releases to decommissioning.
Configure, administer, and troubleshoot Cisco ASR/ISR routers and manage BGP, OSPF, and MPLS.
Coordinate WAN line provisioning, carrier handovers, and connections for new sites.
Manage the IOS-XE firmware lifecycle and Cisco Smart Licensing.
Analyze and resolve WAN outages, latency, and QoS issues.
Handle second- and third-level incidents and coordinate problem management, including root cause analysis, known errors, and workarounds.
Support the Lead Network Engineer during major incidents, including bridge calls, data collection, and emergency changes.
Coordinate maintenance windows, firmware upgrades, and lifecycle activities.
Tune event monitoring in CheckMK and report on service availability, including uptime, MTBF, and MTTR, as well as capacity.
Investigate log anomalies flagged in Splunk and maintain standard syslog configurations.
Run vulnerability management, including security patches, CVE tracking, and remediation, in line with ISMS requirements.
Maintain the CMDB, including IP addresses, VLANs, VRFs, and configuration items, and track licences and asset lifecycle.
Support internal and external audits and drive continual service improvement and automation.
Mentor and cross-train team members, including nearshore engineers, and write runbooks, configuration standards, and SOPs.
Coordinate handovers between Plan & Build and Run.