Director Network Engineering Jobs in Colorado (NOW HIRING)

Location: Cherry Hills Village, CO Salary: $135,000.00 USD Annually - $190,000.00 USD Annually Description:
Company: Fortune 100
Position: Principal Wi-Fi Engineer
Duration: Direct hire/permanent
Location: Greenwood Village (4 days onsite each week)
About the Role
This is the Director's right hand. The Principal Engineer I is the senior technical authority on the team - the person the Director trusts to make platform decisions, lead execution, and be the final gate before changes hit the production network. When Tier 2 engineers are ready to deploy, they come to this person for technical sign-off and guidance.
This is a hands-on technical leadership position on a team that operates WiFi and wireless infrastructure for one of the largest telecommunications providers in the US. You own a technical domain end-to-end: standards compliance, upgrade execution, incident resolution, capacity planning, and the development of the engineers beneath you.
This is NOT a design-only or advisory role. You execute maintenance windows. You troubleshoot under pressure. You are the deployment authority that Tier 2 engineers bring their work to before it touches the network.
What You'll Actually Do
Serve as the deployment gate - Tier 2 engineers bring their MOPs, configs, and upgrade plans to you for technical review and approval before execution. You are the last check before production.
Own a platform domain - subject matter expert and final technical approver for your area (wireless controllers, AAA/RADIUS, WAG/BNG, firewalls/ACLs, or network automation)
Execute complex upgrades and maintenance - plan, document, execute, validate, and communicate for firmware upgrades, configuration campaigns, and hardware replacements across a multi-vendor fleet
Troubleshoot production incidents - Tier 3 escalation point. Root cause analysis, vendor engagement, clear communication to leadership during outages
Build and maintain automation - Python scripts, Ansible playbooks, CI/CD pipelines for repeatable operational tasks
Drive standards compliance - audit fleet against published standards, build remediation plans, execute corrections
Develop engineers - the Tier 2s on this team need to learn how to be actual engineers. You teach by doing, review their work, raise the bar, and build their confidence to eventually own domains themselves
Present with clarity - 2 AM outage bridge or executive status update, you communicate crisply and confidently. You represent the team's technical credibility.
Coordinate cross-team - work with Planning & Design, peer operations teams, NOC, and vendor TAC on handoffs, escalations, and shared infrastructure
Technical Environment
Multi-vendor network operations environment including Ruckus wireless controllers, Nokia AAA and WAG/BNG routers, Cisco ASA firewalls, Juniper SRX firewalls, Ruckus ICX venue switches, and A10 load balancers. Automation stack includes Python, Ansible, GitLab CI, and FastAPI. Monitoring via Splunk, Grafana, and proprietary inventory/alarming platforms. Change management through Jira, NOC Portal (MOPs), and Remedy (CRQs).
Required Experience
5+ years in network operations or network engineering - must have executed changes on production network equipment, not design-only
Hands-on CLI proficiency with at least two of: Cisco IOS/NX-OS, Nokia SROS, Juniper JunOS, Ruckus SmartZone
Change management discipline - MOPs, CRQs, maintenance windows, pre/post checks, rollback procedures
Python scripting for operational automation - able to read, modify, and write scripts that interact with network devices via SSH/API
Understanding of AAA/RADIUS authentication flows and troubleshooting
WiFi or wireless operations experience - controller management, AP provisioning, zone architecture
Incident response - comfortable leading troubleshooting bridges and performing root cause analysis under pressure
Experience reviewing and approving others' work - you've been the technical gate for a team before
Strongly Preferred
Experience with Ruckus vSZ controllers (SmartZone platform)
Experience with Nokia SR-series routers (SROS CLI, service configuration)
Ansible for network automation
Splunk for log analysis and alert creation
ITIL change management in a large enterprise
Git workflow (GitLab, branching, CI pipelines)
Understanding of BGP, VXLAN, EoGRE, IPsec in subscriber traffic environments
CCIE, JNCIE, or equivalent expert-level certification
Prior experience at a cable operator or large ISP
What Success Looks Like (First 90 Days)
1. Independently execute a firmware upgrade campaign (MOP through post-change report) on your assigned platform
2. Serve as technical approver for at least one change type - Tier 2 engineers are bringing work to you
3. Identify and remediate a compliance gap in your domain
4. Build or improve at least one automation script that reduces manual effort
5. Complete on-call rotation handling issues in your domain independently
6. Earn the trust of the team through competence, energy, and collaboration
Work Environment
Schedule: Standard business hours + overnight/weekend maintenance windows (rotating, ~2-3 per month)
On-call: Rotating page coverage
Team size: ~12 engineers + contractors across operations, automation, and NOC enablement
Culture: Direct communication, ownership mentality, process discipline, continuous improvement. We build our own tools, enforce our own standards, and hold each other accountable.
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