Principal Network Engineer - Deployments

Nscale; New York (NY); On-site; USD 220,000 - 280,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical Insurance

Dental Insurance

Vision Insurance

Flexible Paid Time Off

Parental Leave

Retirement Plan

Job summary

Nscale is seeking a Principal Network Engineer in New York, NY to lead the architecture, design, and operation of high-performance network infrastructure across data center and cloud environments. This senior role partners with multiple teams to set engineering standards, strategy, and best practices for scalable, reliable networking at scale.

The position requires travel roughly 50% to data centers, offices, and partner sites, and offers a comprehensive benefits package including medical,

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent practical experience.

Responsibilities

• Lead architecture, design, deployment, and operation of large-scale network infrastructure across data center and cloud environments.
• Define and drive technical strategy for core networking systems and infrastructure platforms.
• Own architectural decisions across routing, switching, transport, and overlay networking technologies (e.g., VXLAN, EVPN).
• Design highly available, scalable, and resilient network systems supporting mission-critical services.
• Diagnose and resolve complex, cross-layer networking issues spanning hardware, software, systems, and infrastructure domains.

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field

Job description

About The Role

We are seeking a Principal Network Engineer to lead the architecture, design, and operation of high-performance network infrastructure across large-scale data center and cloud environments. This is a highly strategic technical leadership role focused on defining network architecture, driving long-term infrastructure direction, and ensuring the reliability, scalability, and efficiency of mission-critical networking systems at significant scale.

You will serve as a senior technical authority across networking domains, partnering closely with infrastructure, platform, systems, and hardware teams to solve complex networking challenges and influence the future evolution of our infrastructure platforms.

As a Principal Engineer, you will establish engineering standards, guide cross-functional technical strategy, mentor senior engineers, and lead critical architectural decisions across the organization.

This role requires approximately 50% travel to data centers, offices, partner locations, and other sites based on business and project needs.

What You’ll Do

• Lead the architecture, design, deployment, and operation of large-scale network infrastructure across data center and cloud environments


• Define and drive technical strategy for core networking systems and infrastructure platforms


• Own architectural decisions across routing, switching, transport, and overlay networking technologies (e.g., VXLAN, EVPN)


• Design highly available, scalable, and resilient network systems supporting mission-critical services


• Diagnose and resolve complex, cross-layer networking issues spanning hardware, software, systems, and infrastructure domains


• Drive network automation, observability, and operational tooling initiatives to improve reliability and efficiency


• Establish and evolve network architecture standards, operational best practices, and engineering processes


• Partner cross-functionally with platform, systems, hardware, and operations teams to deliver end-to-end infrastructure solutions


• Lead technical reviews and guide long-term network infrastructure roadmap planning


• Mentor senior and staff-level engineers while elevating technical standards across the organization


• Drive operational excellence and reliability initiatives, including continuous improvement of production support processes


• Travel approximately 50% to support infrastructure deployments, site assessments, technical reviews, incident response, and collaboration with internal and external partners

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field (or equivalent practical experience)


• 10+ years of experience designing and operating large-scale network infrastructure in cloud, hyperscale, ISP, or enterprise environments


• Deep expertise in network architecture, operations, and production support at scale


• Expert-level understanding of networking protocols and technologies, including BGP, OSPF, IS-IS, MPLS, TCP/IP, and IPv4/IPv6


• Proven experience architecting and operating mission-critical network infrastructure


• Demonstrated technical leadership across complex, cross-functional engineering initiatives


• Strong troubleshooting, systems-thinking, and problem-solving skills


• Strong communication skills with the ability to influence technical direction across organizations


• Ability and willingness to travel approximately 50%, including travel to data centers and other infrastructure sites


• Willingness to participate in on-call rotations supporting production infrastructure

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with high-performance networking technologies such as InfiniBand and RoCE


• Deep knowledge of VXLAN, EVPN, and modern data center networking architectures


• Experience with network automation and scripting using Python or similar technologies


• Familiarity with network observability, telemetry, and monitoring platforms


• Experience with network modeling and programmability frameworks such as YANG, OpenConfig, and NETCONF


• Experience with cloud networking and hybrid infrastructure environments


• Familiarity with GPU cluster networking and AI/HPC infrastructure environments


• Experience designing low-latency, highly resilient networking systems at hyperscale

What We’re Looking For

• A highly technical networking leader who can define architecture and strategy for complex infrastructure environments


• A systems thinker who understands the interaction between networking, compute, storage, and distributed applications


• Someone who takes ownership of critical infrastructure systems and proactively drives continuous improvement


• A pragmatic engineer who balances reliability, scalability, performance, and operational simplicity


• A mentor and technical multiplier who raises the engineering bar across teams


• A collaborative leader capable of influencing cross-functional organizations and driving alignment on key technical decisions

The range below reflects the base salary for the position. Actual compensation may vary based on job-related factors such as skill set, experience, education, and location. In addition to base salary, this role may be eligible for bonus, equity, and/or commission programs. Nscale may offer a competitive benefits package including medical, dental, vision, flexible paid time off, parental leave, and retirement plan participation.

Salary Range: $220,000 USD - $280,000 USD

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