Linux Network Engineer Virtual Jobs in Houston, TX

1. PURPOSE AND SCOPE
• 1.1. Objective: The purpose of this document is to define the advanced technical criteria, architectural leadership responsibilities, and strategic duties for the Senior Network Engineer role at Foxconn Industrial Internet.
• 1.2. Applicability: This policy and job specification apply to senior-level technical personnel within the Information Technology Infrastructure and Networks Department.
• 1.3. Mission: The Senior Network Engineer is responsible for designing, optimizing, and securing a highly available, scalable, and resilient global enterprise network infrastructure. This role serves as the Tier-3 escalation point for all network infrastructure issues and leads the execution of complex network transformation projects aligned with the organization's technological roadmap.
2. CORE RESPONSIBILITIES
• Architecture & Design: Lead the architectural design, engineering, and long-term capacity planning of corporate data centers, manufacturing plant networks, global WAN/SD-WAN structures, and enterprise campus environments.
• Tier-3 Escalation & Troubleshooting: Act as the highest internal technical authority for complex routing, switching, wireless, and network security incidents. Direct emergency troubleshooting efforts during high-priority (P1/P0) network outages.
• Project Leadership: Serve as the technical lead or Project Manager for major infrastructure initiatives, including data center migrations, cloud integrations, and core hardware refreshes. Ensure projects are delivered within scope, on schedule, and with zero business disruption.
• NetDevOps & Automation: Champion network automation initiatives. Develop scripts and utilize orchestration tools to automate repetitive tasks, configuration provisioning, compliance auditing, and mass firmware deployments.
• Security & Compliance Governance: Design and enforce enterprise-wide network security baselines, zero-trust architectures, and segmentation strategies. Ensure network infrastructure complies with global standards (e.g., ISO 27001, NIST) and Foxconn internal security policies.
• Vendor Management & SLA Enforcement: Oversee relationships with telecommunication carriers, internet service providers (ISPs), and core hardware vendors (Cisco, Fortinet, Palo Alto). Lead negotiations for service contracts, technical support agreements, and hardware procurements.
• Mentorship & Knowledge Transfer: Provide technical guidance, training, and mentorship to junior network administrators and helpdesk staff. Establish engineering
05/2026 Senior Network Administrator version 1.0
standards, best practices, and approve comprehensive Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).
3. TECHNICAL QUALIFICATIONS
3.1. Education and Certification
• Academic Background: A Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Information Technology, or a strictly related field is required.
• Professional Credentials: Active expert-level certifications are highly preferred, such as CCIE (Enterprise Infrastructure/Data Center), CCNP Enterprise, Fortinet NSE 7/8, or equivalent proven industry experience.
3.2. Advanced Routing, Switching & Infrastructure
• Expert Routing & WAN: Deep, authoritative understanding of advanced routing protocols. Proven experience designing and optimizing OSPF in complex multi-area environments, BGP (iBGP/eBGP with complex route policies/attributes), and large-scale SD-WAN deployments.
• Layer 2/3 Redundancy & Segmentations: Extensive experience with complex Spanning Tree implementations (PVRST+, MSTP) and multi-layer redundancy (HSRP/VRRP, GLBP). Expertise in design and deployment of advanced VLAN structures, Private VLANs (PVLAN), and Virtual Routing and Forwarding (VRF).
• Data Center Technologies: Mastery of data center switching fabrics, Cisco Nexus switches (NX-OS), vPC (Virtual Port Channels), VXLAN, and Quality of Service (QoS) design for traffic prioritization.
3.3. Enterprise Security, Cryptography & Firewalls
• Next-Generation Firewalls (NGFW): Expert-level configuration and lifecycle management of enterprise-grade firewalls, specifically Fortigate and Palo Alto clusters. Advanced implementation of High Availability (HA), Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPS), SSL Inspection, and Deep Packet Inspection (DPI).
• Cryptography & PKI Infrastructure: Thorough understanding of cryptographic protocols. Experience implementing highly secure Site-to-Site IPsec VPNs and remote-access SSL VPNs utilizing advanced symmetric/asymmetric algorithms (AES, RSA, ECC). Strong command of Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) concepts, including certificate lifecycle, Certificate Authorities, and handling revocation lists (CRLs/OCSP).
3.4. Enterprise WLAN & Mobility
• Wireless Infrastructure: Expertise in designing, surveying, and tuning high-density enterprise wireless networks. Advanced management of centralized Wireless LAN
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Controllers (WLCs), Wi-Fi 6/6E/7 deployments, and secure authentication mechanism integration (802.1X, RADIUS, TACACS+).
3.5. Automation, Monitoring & Advanced Diagnostics
• Network Programmability: Hands-on experience using Python, Ansible, or Terraform for network automation, configuration backup, and API-driven infrastructure management.
• Expert Protocol Analysis: Expert capability in using Wireshark, tcpdump, and network flow monitoring tools to dissect multi-layered protocol anomalies, performance bottlenecks, and security breaches at the packet level.
4. PHYSICAL AND OPERATIONAL REQUIREMENTS
• Operational Availability: Ability to participate in a senior-level on-call rotation for critical infrastructure emergencies. Flexibility to perform high-risk network maintenance during non-business hours/weekends.
• Physical Presence: Capable of supervising physical datacenter layouts, ensuring structural cabling standards (Fiber and Copper) meet strict structural and environmental requirements.
5. SECURITY & COMPLIANCE
• 5.1. Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA): Due to the high level of administrative privilege and access to critical intellectual property, execution of a strict, comprehensive NDA and IP protection agreement is mandatory.
• 5.2. Background Check: Must pass a stringent, comprehensive executive criminal and professional background verification.