Manager Network Engineering Jobs in Houston, TX (NOW HIRING)

Job Summary:
Crescent Energy is a differentiated U.S. energy company committed to delivering value through disciplined growth strategies. They are seeking a highly capable Manager, Network Engineering to lead the design, operation, modernization, and reliability of their enterprise and operational technology network environment.
Responsibilities:
• Lead the Network Engineering function responsible for enterprise, field, OT, tower, and cloud-connected networking environments.
• Manage, mentor, and develop network engineering resources while maintaining a strong hands-on technical presence.
• Own the design, deployment, operation, documentation, and lifecycle management of Crescent’s Fortinet-based network infrastructure.
• Engineer and support Fortinet firewalls, switches, routers, VPNs, SD-WAN, routing policies, security zones, segmentation, and centralized management platforms.
• Partner with the CISO organization to ensure firewall and network infrastructure configurations align with security policies, risk requirements, audit expectations, and enterprise standards.
• Design and support reliable connectivity for oilfield operations, including wells, production sites, tower locations, SCADA/OT environments, field networks, and remote communications infrastructure.
• Lead the architecture and support of OT network segmentation, secure remote access, field connectivity, and resilient communications paths between operational sites and corporate/cloud environments.
• Support and mature Azure networking capabilities, including hub-and-spoke network design, virtual networks, routing, private connectivity, VPN/ExpressRoute, DNS, network security controls, and integration between field networks and Azure-hosted services.
• Establish and enforce network standards, configuration baselines, documentation requirements, change control practices, and operational procedures.
• Drive continuous improvement in network reliability, observability, capacity planning, monitoring, alerting, and incident response readiness.
• Troubleshoot complex network, firewall, routing, SD-WAN, OT connectivity, and cloud networking issues through to resolution.
• Coordinate with field operations, SCADA/OT teams, infrastructure teams, security teams, application teams, service providers, and vendors to deliver stable and secure connectivity.
• Lead network modernization efforts, including standardization of inherited environments, technical debt reduction, field network optimization, and improved cloud connectivity.
• Participate in architecture reviews, project planning, vendor evaluations, infrastructure roadmaps, and M&A integration activities as needed.
• Maintain accurate network diagrams, firewall rule documentation, IP addressing standards, routing documentation, site connectivity records, and operational runbooks.
• Ensure network designs support business continuity, operational uptime, safety, cybersecurity expectations, and scalable growth.
Qualifications:
Required:
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• 8+ years of progressive experience in network engineering, infrastructure engineering, or related roles.
• 3+ years of experience leading engineers, managing technical teams, or acting as a senior technical lead with people leadership responsibilities.
• Deep hands-on experience with Fortinet technologies, including FortiGate firewalls, FortiSwitch, FortiRouter or Fortinet routing capabilities, FortiManager, FortiAnalyzer, VPN, SD-WAN, segmentation, and firewall policy management.
• Strong experience supporting distributed enterprise networks across offices, remote sites, field operations, and hybrid environments.
• Strong knowledge of routing, switching, firewalling, SD-WAN, VPN, NAT, VLANs, QoS, DNS, DHCP, IP addressing, subnetting, and network segmentation.
• Strong operational technology networking experience, including connectivity for SCADA, field systems, industrial networks, production locations, or comparable OT environments.
• Experience with tower-based, wireless, microwave, point-to-point, point-to-multipoint, LTE/private wireless, or other remote field connectivity models.
• Strong Microsoft Azure networking experience, including virtual networks, peering, routing, VPN gateways, ExpressRoute or private connectivity, private endpoints, DNS, NSGs, Azure Firewall or equivalent controls, and hybrid network patterns.
• Experience managing network change control, configuration standards, monitoring, incident response, vendor coordination, and lifecycle management.
• Ability to balance security requirements with operational continuity in a production-oriented environment.
• Strong troubleshooting skills across enterprise, cloud, firewall, routing, and OT connectivity layers.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to explain complex technical issues to technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Ability to operate with urgency, ownership, and sound judgment in an environment where network availability directly impacts field operations.
• Travel to field sites required (~30%), including operational sites, tower locations, and remote field environments.
Preferred:
• Prior experience in oil and gas, energy, utilities, industrial, or other field-heavy operating environments.
• Experience supporting networks for upstream or midstream oil and gas operations, including wells, production facilities, field.
• Experience integrating acquired networks, rationalizing inherited infrastructure, and standardizing environments after M&A activity.
• Experience with Azure landing zones, hub-and-spoke architectures, cloud security patterns, and enterprise-scale hybrid connectivity.
• Experience with infrastructure monitoring and observability tools such as Auvik, Datadog, FortiAnalyzer, SolarWinds, PRTG, or similar platforms.
• Experience with network automation, Infrastructure as Code, scripting, or configuration management tools.
• Familiarity with NERC/CIP-style controls, industrial cybersecurity frameworks, or OT security best practices.
• Fortinet certifications such as FCP, FCSS, or equivalent Fortinet NSE certifications.
• Microsoft Azure certifications such as Azure Network Engineer Associate or Azure Solutions Architect Expert.
Company:
Crescent Energy is an energy company delivering value for shareholders through acquisition strategy and consistent return of capital. Founded in 2002, the company is headquartered in Houston, USA, with a team of 501-1000 employees. The company is currently Late Stage.