Network Engineering Lead - Kitchener, ON

GTS; Kitchener; Hybrid; CAD 100,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Daily meal allowance

Equinox corporate membership rate

Snacks

Casual dress code

Hybrid work policy: four days in office

Job summary

GTS is looking for a Network Engineering Lead in Kitchener, Canada. This role involves owning the design and operation of a multi-business production network, focusing on complex troubleshooting and network automation.

You will set technical direction, mentor a senior engineer, and work closely with a data center operations team across various critical tasks. Ideal candidates will have over 10 years of experience in production network infrastructure and deep knowledge of Arista and Cisco technologies.

Qualifications

• 10+ years operating production network infrastructure where uptime and performance are critical.
• Deep hands-on experience with Arista and Cisco switching and routing platforms.
• Strong end-to-end understanding of network layers.
• Experience with modern data-center fabrics.
• Network automation experience and desire to build next-generation tooling.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end network design and evolution.
• Operate a heterogeneous fabric for low-latency trading.
• Advance network automation and drive improvements.
• Manage connectivity to exchanges and market-data providers.
• Design and operate firewalls and segmentation.

Skills

Network design instincts

Hands-on experience with Arista and Cisco

Network automation experience (Python, Ansible)

Understanding of BGP, OSPF

Fast troubleshooting skills

Education

10+ years of production network infrastructure experience

Tools

Arista

Cisco

AWS/Azure networking

Job description

Overview

We're hiring a Network Engineering Lead to own the design, evolution, and day-to-day operation of a multi‑business production network. The environment spans ultra‑low‑latency trading paths, high‑capacity and highly‑redundant data movement, and connectivity to a wide range of external counter‑parties across private and public networks.

This is an Individual Contributor role with tech‑lead authority. You will set technical direction, mentor a senior engineer reporting to you, and stay deeply hands‑on with the gear.

You'll work alongside a fully‑staffed data center operations team that handles on‑site work and tier‑1 incident response. Your focus is design, complex troubleshooting, and the future direction of the network.

Our network is a brownfield production fabric. Your mandate is to elevate it to the next generation—improving latency, capacity, resilience, and automation across the board.

Responsibilities

• Own end‑to‑end network design and evolution—from layer‑1 optics through routing, segmentation, and overlays.
• Operate a heterogeneous fabric that balances ultra‑low‑latency trading paths with redundant, high‑bandwidth data planes and multi‑tenant connectivity.
• Advance network automation, driving a move toward a clean source of truth, CI/CD for configuration, automated validation, and tooling that the team will actually use.
• Manage and expand connectivity to exchanges, brokers, market‑data providers, and other counter‑parties across proximity‑hosted, colocated, and private/public paths.
• Design and operate firewalls and segmentation across multiple security zones.
• Lead complex troubleshooting; high‑tier incidents are escalated to you. Diagnose, root‑cause, and document findings.
• Set technical direction for the network—own the architecture roadmap, run design reviews, drive post‑mortems, and partner on hiring as the team grows.
• Mentor a senior engineer, raising the bar on review quality, change discipline, and engineering practices.
• Share a 24/7 on‑call rotation with your direct report; routine incidents are handled by support staff.

Qualifications

• 10+ years operating production network infrastructure where uptime and performance are critical.
• Strong end‑to‑end understanding of network layers, not just the ones you use most often.
• Deep hands‑on experience with Arista and Cisco switching and routing platforms.
• Fluency with BGP, OSPF, PIM‑SM, IP multicast, VLAN, VXLAN, and IPSec.
• Experience with modern data‑center fabrics—spine‑leaf topologies and EVPN‑VXLAN overlays.
• Proficiency with PTP and hardware timestamping; comfortable reasoning about clock distribution and time accuracy.
• Solid grasp of firewall architecture, configuration, and troubleshooting.
• Strong network design instincts—able to optimize for latency, capacity, redundancy, and articulate trade‑offs.
• Fast, structured troubleshooting under pressure; fluent with packet capture (PCAP), sFlow/telemetry, and capture appliances.
• Network automation experience (Python, Ansible, or equivalent) and a desire to design and build next‑generation tooling, including source‑of‑truth solutions and CI for configuration.
• Working knowledge of the network‑adjacent hardware stack: fiber, transceivers (SFP/QSFP), DWDM, muxes, and layer‑1 switching.

Nice to Have

• Experience operating in a low‑latency trading or financial‑market‑connectivity environment.
• Track record of evolving an existing automation platform.
• Experience integrating AWS or Azure networking into a hybrid environment.
• Exposure to microwave or wireless low‑latency links.
• Industry certifications (CCNP, CCIE, JNCIE, or equivalent) appreciated, not required.

Benefits

• Daily meal allowance
• Equinox corporate membership rate
• Snacks
• Casual dress code
• Hybrid work policy: four days a week in the office; Fridays can be worked from home

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, national origin, or protected veteran status, and will not be discriminated against on the basis of disability.