Network Engineering Manager

i3D.net; Capelle aan den IJssel; Hybrid; EUR 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Annual bonus

Vacation days

Travel allowance

Pension

Ubisoft game library

Job summary

i3D.net is seeking a Network Engineering Manager to lead a global team from the Rotterdam office. You will guide backbone, datacenter, automation, and monitoring projects, while maintaining high reliability and performance in a world-class network.

You will mentor engineers, drive automation initiatives, and ensure clear documentation and security practices. The role requires strong leadership, technical depth, and collaborative communication across product, support, and infrastructure teams.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in networking, IT, computer science, or related field.
• Significant network engineering experience in ISP/telecom/gaming infrastructure or datacenters.
• Experience leading, mentoring, or managing engineers with a focus on results and people development.
• Strong English communication skills.
• Deep knowledge of BGP, OSPF, IS-IS, EVPN-VXLAN, MPLS, L2/L3 VPNs.
• Familiarity with Juniper environments or similar platforms (Cisco, Arista, Nokia, etc).
• Automation experience with Ansible, Python; familiarity with Netbox or REST APIs.
• Ability to troubleshoot complex network issues from hardware to routing and customer impact.
• Experience balancing project delivery with operational reliability and incident response.
• Able to explain technical topics clearly to engineers and stakeholders.
• Understanding of Linux, storage, virtualization, cloud fundamentals, and datacenter operations.
• Certifications (e.g., JNCIP-SP/DC, CCNP, CCIE) are a plus.
• Hybrid onsite work near Rotterdam; authorization to work in the Netherlands.

Responsibilities

• Lead, coach, and develop a team of network engineers across backbone, datacenter, automation, monitoring, and customer projects.
• Support engineers with growth through mentoring and clear development plans.
• Prioritize and deliver network upgrades, datacenter expansions, automation improvements, and operational initiatives.
• Oversee day-to-day network operations, handling incidents and escalations with ownership.
• Translate technical strategy into practical execution with architects and senior engineers.
• Use tools like Kentik and Grafana to monitor traffic and plan capacity.
• Drive automation in workflows, configuration management, and reliability.
• Keep network documentation, diagrams, standards, and procedures up to date.
• Support security practices including DDoS mitigation and traffic filtering.
• Collaborate with product, support, infra, and architects to align priorities.
• Assist senior engineers during major customer escalations and ensure clear communication.

Skills

Leadership

Mentoring

Team coaching

Delivery and prioritization

Operations management

Technical direction

Documentation

Security practices

Communication

People leadership

Operational ownership

English fluency

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent (Networking/IT/CS)

Tools

Juniper hardware

Ansible

Python

Kentik

Grafana

Netbox

REST APIs

Job description

At i3D.net, we provide world-class global coverage with one of the most interconnected networks in the world. Our solutions focus on low latency, zero packet loss, and unmatched scalability, enabling seamless experiences for millions of users worldwide. With dedicated support, bespoke solutions, and cutting-edge technology, we deliver reliable, cost-efficient infrastructure that empowers game developers and businesses to scale effortlessly. Partnering with major names like Nvidia, DuckDuckGo , and Ubisoft , we are shaping the future of gaming and network technology.

Why your role matters

As a Network Engineering Manager at i3D.net, you’ll lead and support a global network engineering team responsible for building, scaling, and operating one of the world’s most interconnected gaming and infrastructure networks. From our Rotterdam office, you’ll guide engineers working across both service provider backbone and high-performance datacenter environments. You’ll be responsible for creating focus, structure, and technical direction within the team, while staying close enough to the technology to understand priorities, risks, trade-offs, and escalations. The team works with Juniper hardware, automation tools like Ansible and Python, and smart monitoring platforms like Kentik and Grafana to keep traffic flowing smoothly worldwide. You’ll be part of a technical environment that values doing things right — automated, secure, well-documented, and always evolving.

What you’ll be doing

• Leadership: Lead, coach, and develop a team of network engineers working across backbone, datacenter, automation, monitoring, and customer-facing network projects.

• Team Development: Support engineers in their growth through mentoring, regular feedback, knowledge sharing, and clear development plans.

• Delivery: Help the team prioritize and deliver network upgrades, datacenter expansions, automation improvements, and operational initiatives.

• Operations: Oversee day-to-day network operations, making sure incidents, escalations, and customer-impacting issues are handled with ownership and urgency.

• Technical Direction: Work closely with network architects and senior engineers to translate technical strategy into practical execution.

• Monitoring & Capacity: Ensure the team uses tools like Kentik and Grafana to monitor traffic, identify bottlenecks, and support capacity planning.

• Automation: Drive a culture of automation by encouraging improvements in workflows, configuration management, and operational reliability.

• Documentation: Make sure network documentation, diagrams, standards, and operational procedures are kept up to date and are easy for teams to use.

• Security: Support the team in enforcing network security practices, including DDoS mitigation, traffic filtering, and operational risk management.

• Collaboration: Work closely with product teams, customer support, infrastructure, architects, and other engineering teams to align priorities and support customer requirements.

• Customer Support: Support senior engineers during major customer escalations and help ensure clear communication, ownership, and follow-up.

Tech stack

At i3D.net, your team will work with:

• Hardware: Juniper MX, QFX, SRX, EX; legacy includes Mellanox, Cumulus, Brocade.

• Protocols: BGP, IS-IS, OSPF, EVPN-VXLAN, MPLS, L2/L3 VPNs.

• Automation : Ansible, Python, YAML.

• Tooling & Integration: Netbox, Kentik, Grafana, REST APIs.

• DCI: ADVA & Adtran DWDM, Coherent Optics, metro connectivity.

• Security: Custom DDoS mitigation, traffic filtering, and threat detection.

What success looks like in the first year

• You have built trust with the network engineering team and created clarity around

• You have helped the team deliver key network upgrades and datacenter expansion projects in close collaboration with network architects and senior engineers.

• You’ve improved the team’s operational rhythm, including incident follow-up, documentation, capacity planning, and customer escalation handling.

• You’ve supported the further development of automation practices that improve delivery speed, reliability, and consistency.

• You’re seen as a strong people leader who understands the technical environment and helps engineers do their best work.

• You’ve helped make the team stronger through coaching, structured knowledge sharing, better collaboration, and clear technical prioritization.

About you

• Education: You have a bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience in networking, IT, computer science, or a related field.

• Experience: You have significant experience in network engineering, preferably in ISP, telecom, cloud, gaming infrastructure, or datacenter environments.

• Leadership: You have experience leading, mentoring, or managing network engineers, either as an engineering manager, team lead, technical lead, or senior engineer with strong people leadership responsibilities.

• Network Skills: You understand service provider and datacenter networking concepts, including BGP, OSPF, IS-IS, EVPN-VXLAN, MPLS, and L2/L3 VPNs.

• Hardware: You are familiar with Juniper environments or similar high-performance networking platforms such as Cisco, Arista, Nokia, or Brocade.

• Automation: You understand the value of automation and have experience working with tools such as Ansible, Python, Netbox, or similar platforms.

• Tooling: You are comfortable working with monitoring, documentation, and operational tooling such as Kentik, Grafana, Netbox, REST APIs, or similar tools.

• Troubleshooting: You understand how complex network issues are investigated and resolved, from hardware and optics to routing, traffic flow, configuration, and customer impact.

• Operational Ownership: You know how to balance project delivery with operational reliability, incident response, on-call processes, and customer escalations.

• Communication: You are fluent in English and able to explain technical topics clearly to engineers, stakeholders, leadership, and non-technical teams.

• People Management: You enjoy helping people grow, setting direction, creating structure, giving feedback, and building a healthy engineering culture.

• Broader Tech Insight: You have a good understanding of related infrastructure areas such as Linux, storage, virtualization, cloud fundamentals, and datacenter operations.

• Certifications: JNCIP-SP, JNCIP-DC, CCNP, CCIE, or similar certifications are a plus, but not required.

• Remote vs Onsite: This is a hybrid position with onsite work required at our Rotterdam office. You are either based near Rotterdam or open to relocating. Candidates must be authorized to work in the Netherlands.

Why Join i3D.net?

• Global Exposure: We operate our own international backbone network, with a presence in over 60 locations worldwide.

• State-of-the-Art Technology: Work with cutting-edge service provider and datacenter equipment in a high-performance global network environment.

• Leadership Impact : Lead a skilled engineering team working on infrastructure that directly supports millions of users worldwide.

• Technical Depth: Stay close to advanced networking topics such as backbone routing, datacenter networking, DDoS mitigation, automation, monitoring, and capacity planning.

• Scale & Complexity: Help shape how a global network is built, operated, automated, and improved.

• Competitive Perks: Enjoy great pay, an annual bonus, vacation days, travel allowance, pension, and other local benefits.

• Skill Development: Level up with career guidance, leadership development, and education reimbursement.

• Gaming Perks: Get lifetime access to Ubisoft’s game library and two free games every year