Player-Coach Network & Systems Engineering Manager

Rewards Network; Chicago (IL); Hybrid; USD 160,000 - 175,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary and bonus 15%

401(k) with company match

Health, dental, vision plans

Hybrid office in downtown Chicago

Catered lunches on Tuesdays

Job summary

Rewards Network is seeking a Manager, Network & Systems Engineering to lead a senior team and own the health of our network and systems infrastructure. You will oversee on-prem and cloud environments, drive modernization, and collaborate with security, SRE, DBA, and product teams.

The role requires hybrid in-office presence three days a week in Chicago, with a focus on reliability, performance, and cost-effective infrastructure decisions. Strong leadership and communication skills are essential.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of hands-on experience in network engineering, systems administration, or a combined infrastructure role.
• 2+ years in a lead or management capacity with direct reports.
• Demonstrated experience with enterprise networking (routing, switching, firewalls, VLANs).
• Proficiency administering Windows Server and Linux/Unix environments.
• Working knowledge of AWS or comparable public cloud platform.
• Experience supporting or migrating relational databases (SQL Server, PostgreSQL).
• Strong written and verbal communication; able to translate technical concepts for non-technical stakeholders and leadership.
• Effective prioritization and time management across people management, project work, and operational response.

Responsibilities

• Lead, develop, and support a team of network and systems engineers; manage performance and growth.
• Architect, maintain, and improve on-premises network infrastructure including routing, switching, firewalls, and topology.
• Own the health and reliability of Windows and Linux server environments, including patching cadence and OS lifecycle planning.
• Drive modernization initiatives such as datacenter consolidation, network stabilization, and cloud expansion.
• Lead or contribute to database migrations and integrations (SQL Server to PostgreSQL).
• Collaborate with AWS-focused SRE team to extend cloud infrastructure and security boundaries.
• Evaluate infrastructure options with ROI-focused approach and vendor selection.
• Establish and maintain runbooks, change control, and technical documentation.
• Participate in incident response as escalation point; conduct root cause analysis.
• Manage virtualization and containerization platforms across on-prem and cloud environments.
• Contribute to infrastructure roadmap planning by surfacing risks and capacity needs.
• Own disaster recovery planning and regular DR testing.

Skills

Network engineering

Systems administration

Team leadership

Windows admin

Linux admin

AWS knowledge

Database migrations

Cross-functional work

Documentation

Tools

Windows Server

Linux

PostgreSQL

MS SQL

Job description

Rewards Network is seeking a Manager, Network & Systems Engineering to lead a senior team and own the health of our network and systems infrastructure. You will oversee on-prem and cloud environments, drive modernization, and collaborate with security, SRE, DBA, and product teams.

The role requires hybrid in-office presence three days a week in Chicago, with a focus on reliability, performance, and cost-effective infrastructure decisions. Strong leadership and communication skills are essential.