Senior Network Lead

Contract duration: 6 Months -- potential to extended

Location: Chicago or Remote for right candidate Hybrid flexibility (if onsite role): Yes We are looking for an experienced and customer-focused Network Lead to serve as the primary interface between clients and technical delivery teams. This role combines strong technical networking expertise with stakeholder management, service delivery oversight, incident leadership, and strategic consulting. The ideal candidate will be responsible for ensuring network services meet client expectations while driving operational excellence and continuous improvement.

Client Relationship Management: Act as the primary point of contact for key client stakeholders. Conduct regular service reviews, governance meetings, and executive updates. Communicate network incidents, risks, changes, and remediation plans to clients. Build trusted advisor relationships and understand client business objectives. Manage escalations and ensure timely resolution of critical issues. Network Operations & Service Delivery Oversee day-to-day operations of enterprise network environments. Ensure network availability, performance, security, and compliance targets are met. Lead major incident management and root cause analysis efforts. Coordinate maintenance activities and change implementations with internal and client teams. Review operational metrics, SLAs, and service performance reports. Network Engineering & Architecture Provide technical leadership for LAN, WAN, MPLS, SD-WAN, Internet, Data Center, and Cloud networking solutions. Guide network upgrades, migrations, and transformation initiatives. Review network designs and recommend improvements aligned with client requirements. Ensure network resiliency, redundancy, and disaster recovery capabilities. Stakeholder & Vendor Management Coordinate with carriers, service providers, and OEM vendors. Manage vendor escalations and service delivery commitments. Collaborate with project managers, infrastructure teams, security teams, and business stakeholders. People Leadership Lead and mentor network engineers and operations teams. Drive operational excellence and continuous service improvement initiatives. Foster a customer-centric culture within the technical teams. Qualifications we seek in you!

Minimum Qualifications: Bachelor's degree in computer science, Information Technology, or related field (or equivalent experience). Extensive experience (10 years) in designing, deploying, and managing large-scale enterprise networks. Excellent analytical, problem-solving, and communication skills. Ability to work effectively in a team environment and collaborate with cross-functional teams. Preferred Qualifications/ Skills

Certifications: CCNP (Routing & Switching or Enterprise); CCIE preferred. Experience with Cisco Catalyst/NexMeraki switches, ISR/ASR routers and Meraki AP platforms. Deep knowledge of routing protocols: OSPF, BGP, EIGRP, and MPLS. Expertise in switching technologies: VLANs, STP, HSRP/VRRP, Ether Channel, QoS. Expertise in WAN technologies: VPN, SD-WAN, MPLS. Familiarity with IPv4/IPv6 subnetting, ACLs, NAT, and DHCP. Experience in high-availability and failover technologies. Scripting knowledge (Python, Ansible) is a plus.