Network Engineering Lead- L3

Network Engineering Lead- L3

Location: Austin, Texas - (Hybrid -1-2 days per week]

Job Summary

We are seeking a highly experienced L3 Network Engineering Lead to provide senior-level support for production enterprise and data center networks. The role is the final operational escalation point and requires independent ownership of complex network incidents, configuration changes, upgrades, carrier issues, and hardware failures.

Key Responsibilities

· Resolve complex network incidents escalated from L1/L2 teams.

· Lead major/severity incidents and drive them through permanent resolution.

· Troubleshoot routing, switching, firewall, WAN, data center, hardware, and connectivity issues.

· Implement and validate production network configuration changes.

· Plan and execute network software/firmware upgrades with appropriate validation and rollback procedures.

· Troubleshoot carrier circuits, optical issues, link failures, and loss of redundancy.

· Diagnose network hardware failures and manage vendor RMA cases end to end.

· Prepare MOPs, incident timelines, RCA documentation, and technical procedures.

· Coordinate with carriers, vendors, onsite technicians, and cross-functional teams during outages.

· Escalate to Network Engineering only when resolution requires design/standards changes or vendor defect remediation.

Required Skills

· 9+ years of hands-on enterprise or service-provider network operations experience.

· Strong routing troubleshooting skills with BGP plus OSPF or IS-IS.

· Strong Layer 2 switching troubleshooting, including VLANs, trunking, STP, link aggregation, and common failure scenarios.

· Hands-on experience with Firewall Clusters, including Juniper SRX Chassis Cluster and/or Cisco ASA Failover.

· Hands-on knowledge of IPv6 operations in Data Center environments.

· Experience with Data Center fabric using EVPN-VXLAN on leaf/spine architecture (RSW/MSW/SSW).

· Hands-on configuration experience with Juniper Junos, Cisco IOS/IOS-XE/NX-OS, or Arista EOS.

· Experience troubleshooting WAN/carrier circuits, fiber, optics, and network hardware.

· Experience executing production network configuration changes and software/firmware upgrades.

· Strong L3 incident management, RCA, change management, and vendor RMA experience.

Certification

· Current Cisco CCNP Enterprise certification is mandatory.

Applications will be accepted until 11/30/2026

The annual salary for this position is between $99,000- $115,000 depending on experience and other qualifications of the successful candidate.

This position is also eligible for Cognizant’s discretionary annual incentive program, based on performance and is subject to the terms of Cognizant’s applicable plans.

Benefits: Cognizant offers the following benefits for this position, subject to applicable eligibility requirements:

· Medical/Dental/Vision/Life Insurance

· Paid holidays plus Paid Time Off

· 401(k) plan and contribution

· Long-term/Short-term Disability

· Paid Parental Leave

· Employee Stock Purchase Plan

Disclaimer: The salary, other compensation, and benefits information is accurate as of the date of this posting. Cognizant reserves the right to modify this information at any time, subject to applicable law.