Principal Network Engineer

Fleet Data Centers•Austin, TX

13d•$120,000 - $150,000•Hybrid

About The Position

Fleet is seeking a Principal Network Engineer to lead the architecture, design, and technical strategy for network infrastructure across our hyperscale campuses. This role serves as Fleet's technical authority for fiber infrastructure, structured cabling, carrier connectivity, and Operational Technology (OT) networks including IoT, BMS, and EPMS. Working across Product, Design, Construction, Operations, customers, and external partners, you'll establish engineering standards, guide infrastructure decisions, and support projects from concept through commissioning and operations. This is a highly technical, hands-on engineering role focused on building secure, resilient, and scalable network infrastructure for mission-critical data center environments.

Requirements

10+ years in network engineering, telecommunications, fiber infrastructure, or mission-critical environments
Experience designing and deploying large-scale network infrastructure
Expertise in fiber infrastructure, structured cabling, and carrier connectivity
Experience supporting projects through design, construction, commissioning, and operations
Background serving as a Principal Engineer, Technical Lead, or Subject Matter Expert
Data center, cloud, or other critical infrastructure experience strongly preferred
Fiber optic systems, structured cabling, and network architecture
DWDM, CWDM, optical transport technologies
Routing, switching, and carrier networking
OT networks including IoT, BMS, and EPMS
AutoCAD, Visio, GIS, and infrastructure design tools
Network testing, validation, troubleshooting, and commissioning
Industry standards including ANSI/TIA, IEEE, ITU-T, ISO/IEC, BICSI, NEC, and NFPA

Responsibilities

Design scalable network architectures supporting hyperscale campus operations
Develop standards for fiber infrastructure, structured cabling, OT networks, and carrier connectivity
Design inside-plant (ISP) and outside-plant (OSP) fiber systems with redundancy and future capacity in mind
Serve as Fleet's technical SME for network and fiber infrastructure
Establish engineering standards, documentation, and best practices across the organization
Review engineering packages, vendor designs, and construction documents
Support commissioning, testing, troubleshooting, and operational readiness
Partner with customers to translate connectivity requirements into scalable design standards
Evaluate emerging technologies and recommend improvements to reliability, performance, and scalability
Lead technical evaluations, RFPs, vendor selection, and carrier relationships
Support budgeting, lifecycle cost analysis, procurement, and project execution