Senior Network Engineer

Senior Network EngineerAt Banner Life Insurance Company, we lead with heart and ambition. Every day, we transform purpose into progress, guided by our unwavering commitment to be better for our customers, clients, and communities, not just today but long-term as well. Our people are the driving force behind everything we achieve. Their passion, purpose, and pursuit of innovation empower us to deliver cutting-edge solutions that support those we serve, ensuring we are here for you, here for good and striving for better.We're a forward-thinking company energized by our work and how we show up for one another. Our culture is built on meaningful impact and genuine enjoyment, because we believe great work and great experiences should go hand in hand.By offering career development opportunities, comprehensive benefits, and programs that support your wellbeing, we help you thrive personally and professionally. We are here for you, here for good and here for better.Banner Life has experienced significant growth over the past several years, driven by digital transformation and platform-led innovation. As we look ahead, we have an ambitious goal to more than triple our revenue over the next decade by expanding into new products, distribution channels, and customer experiences.Technology & Transformation plays a central role in enabling this growth. Our infrastructure strategy is evolving from traditional operations to a scalable, cloud-enabled, and intelligent platform that can support exponential growth, resilience, and innovation.Within this context, Network Engineering is a critical capability—building the secure, high-performing, and future-ready connectivity foundation that powers our digital enterprise.The Senior Network Engineer is responsible for defining, engineering, and evolving enterprise network capabilities that enable scalable growth, resilience, and secure digital operations across both on-premises and cloud environments.This role acts as a domain authority, establishing network architecture standards, driving modernization, and building future-ready connectivity platforms that support business expansion, digital experiences, and cloud adoption.ResponsibilitiesDefine and maintain enterprise network standards, reference architectures, and engineering guardrails aligned to future-state architecture.Establish "what good looks like" for network design, security, and performance across the organization.Design and evolve network platforms to support business growth, increased digital traffic, and future scalability demands, including proactive capacity and performance planning.Anticipate future business and technology needs and build network capabilities ahead of demand.Lead network transformation initiatives including cloud-native networking, zero trust architecture, SD-WAN evolution, and legacy network decommissioning.Provide engineering leadership and support to managed service partners responsible for network operations (RUN), ensuring adherence to standards, performance expectations, and continuous improvement.Reduce operational dependency through automation, design simplification, and platform standardization.Treat network capabilities as enterprise platforms, enabling reusable, scalable, and standardized connectivity services across applications and business units.Act as the domain authority for enterprise network engineering and a key contributor to infrastructure strategy and roadmap.Lead hybrid cloud networking design including Azure hub-and-spoke connectivity, routing, and segmentation.Partner with Product, Application Engineering, Data, and Cyber teams to deliver integrated, secure, and high-performing end-to-end solutions.Provide Tier-3 escalation support for complex issues, focusing on root cause elimination and systemic improvement.Develop and maintain network documentation, standards, diagrams, and runbooks.Drive network automation, infrastructure-as-code, and policy-driven networking to enable scalable, repeatable, and low-touch operations.Introduce AIOps and telemetry-driven insights to improve network reliability and proactive issue detection.Own technical engagement with network vendors, carriers, and service providers, driving architecture alignment, performance outcomes, and cost optimization.Drive adoption of modern network architectures include zero trust, SASE/SSE, cloud-native networking, and secure hybrid connectivity.Mentor junior engineers and provide technical guidance across the Network Engineering team.QualificationsEducationBS in Engineering and/or Computer Science or equivalent experienceOne or more of the following certifications: Cisco CCNP, Cisco CCIE Enterprise Infrastructure, Datacenter or SecurityTechnical training in network operating systemsExperience/Knowledge8 years of experience in IT, configuring and installing various network devices and services (e.g., routers, switches, firewalls, load balancers, VPN, QoS)Advanced technical skills and experience with the following L2 and L3 protocols and technologies such as IPSec, DMVPN, BGP, OSPF, VPC, QoS, 802.1x. Be familiar with Cisco IOS, IOS-XE and NXOSMust be familiar with various platforms – NetScaler, F5, Riverbed, Palo Alto, Cisco (Catalyst, ISR, ASR, Nexus, ASA/FTD)SkillsDemonstrated ability to communicate technical issues and information both verbally and in writing to managementComprehensive knowledge of technical and architectural aspects of enterprise-wide ITMust understand open-source and other tools to assist in monitoring, troubleshooting and performance analysisWhat's in it for you?The expected hiring compensation range for this position is $127,500 - $175,350 annually. This is a hybrid opportunity working in Frederick, MD.The total compensation package for this position may include other elements, such as a sign-on bonus, long term incentives, and annual bonuses. This role is eligible to participate in the Annual Incentive Plan. The current target payment for the position is 20% of base salary, modified for corporate and individual performance. Bonuses are pro-rated based on start date. This role has 20 vacation days and 10 sick days that are accrued on a bi-weekly basis. Employees also have 9 paid holidays throughout the calendar year.We have a competitive compensation and benefits package focused on your overall wellbeing. Employee benefits include health, life, and dental insurance; 401K with company match up to 6% as well as a pension package; generous time off; and wellbeing initiatives throughout the year (we like doing fun stuff). We're big on professional development and we'll support and mentor you in your career progression and expect you to help us pay it forward by helping us develop tomorrow's leaders and growth-focused professionals. We value our teams and our communities and believe in giving back. Enjoy time off to volunteer for those causes that matter most to you!If hired, employee will be in an "at-will position" and the Company reserves the right to modify base salary (as well as any other discretionary payment or compensation program) at any time, including for reasons related to individual performance, Company or individual department/team performance, and market factors. The Company reserves the right to change benefits plans at any time.We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, sex, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, perform essential job functions, and receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us to request accommodation.