About the position
As an MS Network Engineer (L2) at the company in South Africa, you will provide managed networking services, proactively resolving technical incidents and ensuring client infrastructure meets SLAs. Responsibilities include managing complex tickets, coaching junior staff, implementing automation, and supporting disaster recovery. The role requires hands-on experience with Cisco, Meraki, Aruba, Linux, and SD-WAN technologies, as well as strong documentation and incident management skills. Candidates must hold a diploma or degree in IT/Computing (or equivalent experience), possess Palo Alto Networks Certified Network Security Administrator (PNCNSA) certification, and demonstrate excellent customer service and technical troubleshooting abilities. Experience with network security, incident response, and enterprise-level network design is advantageous.
Your day at the company:
As a Networking Managed Services Engineer (L2) at the company, you will lead in providing exceptional managed services to the company’s clients. Your day will revolve around proactively identifying and resolving technical incidents and problems, ensuring the company’s clients meet all service level agreement (SLA) conditions, identify root cause of critical incidents and implement solutions for problems identified. With your advanced technical expertise, you will manage high-complexity tickets, conduct thorough analyses, and provide resolutions to a variety of complex issues, all while coaching and mentoring junior team members. Important responsibility is to create knowledge articles for frequent tasks/issues and train junior team members in executing those tasks. Provide inputs to automation teams to reduce manual efforts.
You will ensure that the company’s clients' infrastructure is configured, installed, tested, and operational, performing necessary checks and employing monitoring tools to respond to alerts in a timely manner. Your role will involve identifying and logging problems before they escalate, analysing and escalating support calls, and investigating third-line support calls to find root causes and solutions.
Additionally, you will provide onsite technical support and field engineering services to clients, work closely with third-party vendors for issue escalation, and offer continuous feedback and updates to all involved parties. Through your efforts, you will drive operational improvements and optimize work processes, including opportunities for automation.
You may also have the opportunity to manage and implement projects within the technology domain, deliver disaster recovery functions and tests, and improve the quality of incidents and service requests through random monthly reviews. Your work will play a key role in delivering high-quality services that ensure a positive client experience throughout their journey with us.
Requirements (technical):
- Assist in the implementation of IT security measures.
- Basic knowledge of Ansible and Python.
- Understand firewalls and other network tools.
- Provide system documentation and diagrams.
- Implement change management procedures for system architecture changes.
- Document network areas to develop network diagrams.
- Evaluate current IT resources and assist in developing security policies.
- Ensure systems and networks are secure and operational.
- Basic understanding of SD-WAN technologies, Palo Alto, Cisco, Meraki.
- Identify and investigate risk and vulnerability issues.
- Assist in developing and maintaining standards and procedures.
- Review client network policies and recommend changes.
- Experience with deploying network systems.
- Experience with deploying SDWAN network systems.
- Basic understanding of security principles and design.
- Excellent customer service skills.
- Ability to work independently with minimal supervision.
- Participate in CAB processes for changes.
- Familiarity with Linux environment and shell scripting.
- Security administration on switches and routers.
- Prepare monthly work status reports and update technology-specific documents.
- Assist in designing and implementing network infrastructure.
- Proven Cisco/Meraki/Aruba device management skills.
- Installing, configuring, and troubleshooting networking equipment.
- Knowledge of Layer-2 switching, VLANs, and access lists.
- Basic understanding of routing protocols: OSPF, EIGRP.
- Understanding of OSI Model, TCP/IP protocol suite.
- IP addressing and subnetting, routing concepts.
- Implement SNMP on devices for network management.
- Implement traffic filters using access lists and route maps.
- Perform troubleshooting between sites.
- Basic knowledge of enterprise-level network design and implementation.
Responsibilities:
- Proactively monitors the work the ticketing queues.
- Performs operational tasks to resolve all incidents/requests in a timely manner and within the agreed SLA.
- Updates tickets with resolution tasks performed.
- Identifies, investigates, analyzes issues and errors prior to or when they occur, and log all such incidents in a timely manner.
- Captures all required and relevant information for immediate resolution.
- Provides second level support to all incidents, requests and identifies the root cause of incidents and problems.
- Communicates with other teams and clients for extending support.
- Executes changes with clear identification of risks and mitigation plans to be captured into the change record.
- Follows the shift handover process highlighting any key tickets to be focused on along with a handover of upcoming critical tasks to be carried out in the next shift.
- Escalates all tickets to seek the right focus from CoE and other teams, if needed continue the escalations to management.
- Works with automation teams for effort optimization and automating routine tasks.
- Coaches Service Desk and L1 teams for technical and behavioural skills.
- Identifies problems and errors before they impact a client’s service.
- Leads and manages all initial client escalation for operational issues.
- Ensures all changes are carried out with proper change approvals.
- Plans and executes approved maintenance activities.
- Audits and analyses incident and request tickets for quality and recommends improvements with updates to knowledge articles.
- May also contribute to / support on project work as and when required.
- May work on implementing and delivering Disaster Recovery functions and tests.
- Performs any other related task as required.
Advantageous Skills:
- Knowledge of Cisco ISE
- Knowledge of enterprise monitoring tools (Logic Monitor, SolarWinds).
- Experience within managed services.
- Familiarity with ticketing tools (Service Now, Remedy).
- Working Knowledge of Palo Alto SDWAN
- Knowledge of Cisco and HP support processes.
- Working Knowledge of Cisco, Meraki, Aruba switches and access points support and configuration
- Working Knowledge of Network address translation
Academic Qualifications:
- Diploma, degree, or relevant qualification in IT/Computing (or equivalent work experience).
Qualifications:
- Ability to build secure networks for enterprise applications; to maintain security configurations, troubleshoot problems related to network configuration and outages.
- Experience with network security and incident response preferred.
- CCNA Enterprise.
- CCNP Enterprise - advantageous.
- ITILv4 or relevant ITIL certification (Foundation Level)
- Certified Wireless Network Professional (CWNP) - advantageous
- Certified Wireless Network Expert (CWNE) – advantageous
- Palo Alto Networks Certified Network Security Administrator (required)
Desired Skills:
- MS Network Engineer
- SD-WAN technologies
- aruba
- palo alto certified.
