Principal Network Engineer

Principal Network Engineer

Optum is a global organization that delivers care, aided by technology to help millions of people live healthier lives. The work you do with our team will directly improve health outcomes by connecting people with the care, pharmacy benefits, data and resources they need to feel their best. Here, you will find a culture guided by inclusion, talented peers, comprehensive benefits and career development opportunities. Come make an impact on the communities we serve as you help us advance health optimization on a global scale. Join us to start Caring. Connecting. Growing together.

The Principal Network Engineer serves as a senior technical authority within the Edge & Customer Connectivity (ECC) organization, responsible for architecting, engineering, securing, and optimizing B2B and WAN connectivity across Optum's global network. This role specializes in Cisco routing, switching, IPsec/IKE VPN design, partner onboarding and WAN/MPLS integration, enabling secure, highly available communication with hundreds of external business partners.

Primary Responsibility:

• Comply with the terms and conditions of the employment contract, company policies and procedures, and any and all directives (such as, but not limited to, transfer and/or re-assignment to different work locations, change in teams and/or work shifts, policies in regards to flexibility of work benefits and/or work environment, alternative work arrangements, and other decisions that may arise due to the changing business environment). The Company may adopt, vary or rescind these policies and directives in its absolute discretion and without any limitation (implied or otherwise) on its ability to do so

Required Qualifications:

• 10+ years of enterprise network engineering experience in large scale, Cisco based environments
• Experience managing large scale B2B partner connectivity
• Advanced mastery of IPsec/IKEv2 VPN design including AES GCM, DH21, PFS, crypto maps, and route based VPN architectures
• Solid understanding of routing policy design, NAT, segmentation (VRFs), and secure edge connectivity
• Expert level proficiency with Cisco routing and security platforms
• Proven solid troubleshooting capability across multi vendor VPN ecosystems (Cisco, Palo Alto, Fortinet, ASA/FTD, CheckPoint)
• Proven excellent communication and leadership skills; ability to influence architecture decisions and mentor senior engineers
• Proven ability to evaluate, pilot, and engineer new technologies in partnership with infrastructure leads and service providers
• Proven ability to work flexible hours, including after-hours changes and participating in an on-call rotation
• Proven to be capable of working with minimal guidance on complex tasks

Preferred Qualifications:

• CCNP or higher certification, or experience that aligns with certification
• Experience installing and maintaining Cisco routers and switches
• Experience in Arista switch management
• Experience in Palo Alto firewalls
• Experience in translating highly technical concepts into language understood by diverse audiences
• Documentation skills and use of programs such as Visio
• Skilled in a scripting language such as Python