Head of Network Engineering & Optical Transport

NextGen | GTA: A Kelly Telecom Company; Houston (TX); On-site; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

NextGen | GTA: A Kelly Telecom Company is seeking a seasoned Manager, Network Engineering to lead a team responsible for designing, implementing, and supporting a carrier-grade IP and optical network. The role combines hands-on technical leadership with strong project management to ensure reliability, scalability, and security across the network.

The ideal candidate has 15+ years in carrier networking with leadership, expertise in MPLS, BGP, IS-IS/OSPF, VPNs, and ROADM/DWDM, and hands-on work

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Telecommunications, or equivalent.
• 15+ years of carrier/service provider networking experience, including leadership responsibilities.
• Strong expertise in MPLS (LDP, RSVP-TE or Segment Routing), BGP, IS-IS & OSPF, Layer 2/Layer 3 VPNs, Carrier Ethernet, and optical transport networks (ROADM/DWDM).
• Hands-on experience with Juniper, Cisco, Nokia, and Ciena platforms.
• Excellent troubleshooting, communication, leadership, and organizational skills.

Responsibilities

• Lead and manage the Network Engineering team, including hiring, coaching, performance management, and professional development.
• Oversee network engineering projects, including upgrades, migrations, capacity planning, and technology deployments.
• Evaluate new technologies and provide strategic recommendations for network improvements.
• Manage network capacity, engineering priorities, budgets, and project timelines.
• Support IP and optical network design, testing, and implementation.
• Ensure adherence to change management processes and operational standards.
• Develop technical documentation, implementation plans, and engineering procedures.
• Serve as the primary escalation point for engineering operations and on-call support.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to deliver reliable and scalable network services.

Skills

MPLS (LDP, RSVP-TE or Segment Routing)

BGP

IS-IS & OSPF

Layer 2/Layer 3 VPNs

Carrier Ethernet

ROADM DWDM optical transport

Network hardware platforms (Juniper, C

Python

Ansible

NETCONF

YANG

gNMI

EVPN

DCI

Segment Routing

IP/Optical convergence

Education

Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Telecommunications, or equivalent experience

Tools

Juniper

Cisco

Nokia

Ciena

Job description

NextGen | GTA: A Kelly Telecom Company is seeking a seasoned Manager, Network Engineering to lead a team responsible for designing, implementing, and supporting a carrier-grade IP and optical network. The role combines hands-on technical leadership with strong project management to ensure reliability, scalability, and security across the network.

The ideal candidate has 15+ years in carrier networking with leadership, expertise in MPLS, BGP, IS-IS/OSPF, VPNs, and ROADM/DWDM, and hands-on work