Media Networking Engineer

Red Oak Technologies; Culver City (CA); Hybrid; USD 84,033 - 97,809; Full time

Job summary

A technology services provider is seeking a Media Networking Engineer to manage networking solutions for media workflows in Culver City, CA. The ideal candidate will have extensive experience in network engineering and media protocols. Responsibilities include designing scalable solutions, collaborating with production teams, and managing vendor relationships. This role requires onsite work three days a week and offers a contract for 12 months with potential extensions.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in network engineering, focusing on media workflows.
• Deep understanding of networking protocols and security technologies.
• Experience working with broadcast video equipment.

Responsibilities

• Build and maintain relationships with stakeholders.
• Collaborate with media production teams for network requirements.
• Design end-to-end networking solutions.

Skills

Network engineering experience

Understanding of networking protocols

Experience with media protocols

Troubleshooting skills

Strong communication skills

Ability to work independently

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or Electrical Engineering

Tools

Ansible

Terraform

Cisco equipment

Job description

Media Networking Engineer for Culver City, CA for a 12-month Contract with possible extensions.

Base pay range: $61.00/hr - $71.00/hr

NOTE: If selected for this position, you are required to perform ALL work onsite, based on the client’s specified hybrid work schedule (currently onsite 3 days a week: Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday).

Key Responsibilities

• Relationship Management: Build and maintain strong relationships with key stakeholders across Media teams, GNS, and Security, fostering a collaborative and trust‑based environment.
• Workflow Analysis & Optimization: Collaborate with media production teams to document their specific network requirements, pain points, and desired outcomes. Translate these requirements into clear and actionable recommendations for Networking team implementation.
• Solution Design & Architecture: Assist in the architectural design of end‑to‑end networking solutions for M&E workflows, ensuring scalability, reliability, and security. Solutions should be designed to support a variety of media formats and workflows, including baseband video, compressed video, and audio over IP.
• Networking Team Collaboration & Advocacy: Act as a key liaison between Media teams and GNS, building strong working relationships to champion the unique networking requirements of media teams and ensure that their needs are met. This includes effectively communicating documented requirements, proactively resolving conflicts, and fostering a spirit of partnership.
• Solution Implementation & Oversight: Oversee the implementation of network solutions, working with our networking team and other teams as needed. This includes diagnosing and resolving performance issues such as latency, jitter, and packet loss. This may involve some direct, on‑site support to diagnose and resolve critical issues.
• Security Compliance & Hardening: Ensure that all network solutions comply with our security policies and best practices. Implement security controls to protect sensitive media assets.
• Troubleshooting & Triage: Provide expert‑level troubleshooting and triage for network‑related issues affecting media workflows. This may involve some direct, on‑site support to diagnose and resolve critical issues.
• Documentation & Training: Develop and maintain clear and concise documentation of network configurations and procedures. Provide training to media teams on best practices for network usage and security.
• Vendor Management: Work with vendors of media‑specific hardware and software to ensure compatibility with our network infrastructure.
• Proactive Monitoring & Tuning: Identify opportunities to implement proactive monitoring and alerting systems to identify and resolve network issues before they impact media workflows. Continuously tune network configurations to optimize performance.
• Automation & Orchestration: Identify opportunities to automate network configuration and management tasks to improve efficiency and reduce manual effort.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in network engineering, with a focus on supporting media and entertainment workflows.
• Experience within a media/entertainment company.
• Deep understanding of networking protocols (TCP/IP, UDP, DNS, DHCP, etc.), routing principles (OSPF, BGP), and Layer 2/Layer 3 networking concepts (VLANs, QinQ, MLAG, LACP).
• Experience with network security technologies (firewalls, intrusion detection systems, VPNs), preference for experience with Palo Alto Networks firewalls.
• Strong knowledge of media protocols (SRT, RIST, NDI, Dante, AVB) and SMPTE ST 2110 standards for professional media over IP networks.
• Strong understanding of service uptime, redundancy, and failover mechanisms in a broadcast environment.
• Experience with high‑performance storage solutions (Qumulo, Isilon, etc.).
• Experience with cloud computing platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP).
• Experience with Software Defined Networking (SDN) concepts and technologies such as OpenFlow, or similar.
• Experience working with broadcast video equipment, such as routers, switchers, encoders, and decoders.
• Experience with timing and synchronization technologies, including Precision Time Protocol (PTP).
• Proven experience designing, implementing, and troubleshooting both Wide Area Network (WAN) and Local Area Network (LAN) environments.
• Strong understanding of Quality of Service (QoS) principles and implementation techniques.
• Excellent troubleshooting and problem‑solving skills.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team.
• Exceptional communication, interpersonal, and relationship‑building skills, with the ability to effectively communicate technical concepts to diverse audiences and build consensus around solutions.
• Proven ability to document complex technical requirements in a clear and concise manner.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or equivalent experience.

Preferred Qualifications

• Cisco CCNA or CCNP certification.
• Experience with network automation tools (Ansible, Puppet, Chef).
• Experience with infrastructure‑as‑code tools such as Terraform or Pulumi.
• Experience with scripting languages (Python, Perl, etc.).
• Experience with configuration and management of networking equipment from vendors such as Arista, Cisco, and Fortinet.
• Familiarity with cellular and mobile networking technologies, such as LTE, 5G, and mobile device management (MDM) solutions.
• Experience with in‑band and out‑of‑band network management techniques.
• Experience with Virtual Private Clouds (VPC) and Software‑Defined Wide Area Networking (SD‑WAN) technologies.
• Experience with long‑haul networking technologies used in broadcast environments (e.g., DWDM, optical transport, high‑speed Ethernet).
• Experience with audio networking technologies, such as Dante, AES67, and Ravenna.
• Knowledge of color science and video engineering principles.