Network Administrator - Palo Alto & Juniper

Smart Start, Inc.; Grapevine (TX); Hybrid; USD 100,000 - 140,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health plan

401(k) match

Performance bonus

Life insurance

Telemedicine access

Job summary

Smart Start is seeking a seasoned Network Engineer to enhance and support our enterprise network infrastructure. You will handle Juniper switching/routing, Palo Alto firewalls, VPN connectivity, datacenter links, and site-to-site networking in a hybrid work environment.

The role requires hands-on troubleshooting of production issues, firewall and routing problem-solving, and collaboration across Windows Server and core infrastructure services to ensure reliability and security.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of hands-on enterprise network experience.
• Strong experience with Juniper networking equipment.
• Strong experience with Palo Alto firewalls.
• Experience with routing, switching, firewalling, VPNs, NAT, segmentation, and high-availability network design.

Responsibilities

• Manage and troubleshoot Juniper switching and routing infrastructure.
• Manage and troubleshoot Palo Alto firewalls, including policies, NAT, VPNs, traffic logs, and HA configurations.
• Support LAN, WAN, datacenter, remote-site, and third-party connectivity.
• Troubleshoot production connectivity issues involving firewalls, switches, routers, VPNs, DNS, DHCP, servers, and applications.
• Use firewall logs, packet captures, routing tables, interface counters, and monitoring tools to diagnose issues.
• Monitor network availability, circuit health, firewall performance, VPN tunnels, and site connectivity.
• Plan and complete network changes using maintenance windows, validation steps, and rollback plans.
• Support firewall rule reviews, network segmentation, vulnerability remediation, and security improvements.
• Work with vendors and carriers on circuit issues, hardware replacements, firewall support cases, and escalations.
• Maintain network diagrams, IP addressing, firewall rules, VPN documentation, circuit records, and support procedures.
• Participate in production support, after-hours maintenance, and on-call rotation.

Skills

Juniper networking

Palo Alto firewalling

VPNs & NAT

Routing & switching

Network troubleshooting

Windows Server/AD/DNS/DHCP

Hyper-V virtualization

Network monitoring

Scripting/Automation (PowerShell)

Tools

SolarWinds

FortiMonitor

PRTG

Packet captures / Wireshark

Job description

________________________________________________________

DEPARTMENT:Information Technology

REPORTS TO:IT Director

Schedule:Monday-Friday, 8am-5pm (Hybrid)

Why You Should Join Us!

• A comprehensive health plan that includes medical, dental, and vision coverage to ensure you and your family have access to the care you need
• A 401(k)-retirement plan with a generous company match to help you save for your future and achieve your financial goals
• Other fringe benefits including Birthday & Anniversary bonus, company-wide discounts, life insurance, Telemedicine access, short & long-term disability, and more!
• Positive work environments that offer work/life balance and professional growth
• Mission-driven work making a global impact with local roots
• The opportunity to have hands on work experience with industry leading, innovative technology

Position Summary

Smart Start is seeking a strong Network Engineer to support and improve our enterprise network infrastructure. This role is responsible for Juniper switching and routing, Palo Alto firewalls, VPN connectivity, site-to-site networking, datacenter connectivity, monitoring, troubleshooting, and production support.

This is a hands-on network role. We need someone who can troubleshoot real production issues, work through firewall and routing problems, support critical infrastructure, and help strengthen network reliability and security. Although the primary focus is network engineering, this role may also assist with adjacent systems administration tasks across Windows Server, Active Directory, DNS, DHCP, Hyper-V, and other core infrastructure services in support of production operations

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Manage and troubleshoot Juniper switching and routing infrastructure.
• Manage and troubleshoot Palo Alto firewalls, including policies, NAT, VPNs, traffic logs, and HA configurations.
• Support LAN, WAN, datacenter, remote-site, and third-party connectivity.
• Troubleshoot production connectivity issues involving firewalls, switches, routers, VPNs, DNS, DHCP, servers, and applications.
• Use firewall logs, packet captures, routing tables, interface counters, and monitoring tools to diagnose issues.
• Monitor network availability, circuit health, firewall performance, VPN tunnels, and site connectivity.
• Plan and complete network changes using maintenance windows, validation steps, and rollback plans.
• Support firewall rule reviews, network segmentation, vulnerability remediation, and security improvements.
• Work with vendors and carriers on circuit issues, hardware replacements, firewall support cases, and escalations.
• Maintain network diagrams, IP addressing, firewall rules, VPN documentation, circuit records, and support procedures.
• Participate in production support, after-hours maintenance, and on-call rotation.
• Perform other duties as assigned by the IT Director.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of hands-on enterprise network experience required.
• Strong experience with Juniper networking equipment required
• Strong experience with Palo Alto firewalls required
• Experience with routing, switching, firewalling, VPNs, NAT, segmentation, and high-availability network design required.
• Experience troubleshooting complex network issues in production environments required.
• Experience supporting multi-site LAN/WAN environments, datacenter connectivity, remote offices, and redundant circuits required.
• Experience with packet captures, firewall logs, switch logs, routing tables, and network monitoring tools required.
• Experience working with vendors, carriers, and technical support providers required.
• Ability to participate in after-hours maintenance and on-call rotation required.
• Working systems administration knowledge in Windows Server, Active Directory, DNS, DHCP, or Hyper-V are preferred.
• Experience with Hyper-V or other virtualization platforms preferred.
• Experience supporting production application environments preferred.
• Experience with SolarWinds, FortiMonitor, PRTG, or similar monitoring tools preferred.
• Familiarity with backups, disaster recovery, vulnerability management, SOC2, ISO, or NIST preferred.
• PowerShell, scripting, or automation experience preferred.
• JNCIA, JNCIS, PCNSA, PCNSE, Network+, Security+, or similar certifications preferred.

Physical Demands & Work Environment

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this position. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the functions.

While performing the duties of this position, the employee is regularly required to talk or hear. The employee frequently is required to use hands or fingers to handle, or feel objects, tools or controls. The employee is occasionally required to stand; walk; sit; reach with hands and arms; climb or balance; and stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 25 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this position include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, and the ability to adjust focus. The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate.

This job description in no way states or implies that these are the only duties to be performed by the employee(s) incumbent in this position. Employees will be required to follow any other job-related instructions and to perform any other job-related duties requested by any person authorized to give instructions or assignments.

All duties and responsibilities are essential functions and requirements and are subject to possible modification to reasonably accommodate individuals with disabilities. To perform this job successfully, the incumbents will possess the skills aptitudes and abilities to perform each duty proficiently. Some requirements may exclude individuals who pose a direct threat or significant risk to the health or safety of themselves or others.

The requirements listed in this document are the minimum levels of knowledge, skills or abilities. This document does not create an employment contract, implied or otherwise, other than an “at will” relationship.