Network Engineer Sr

Employment Type: Salaried
Work Arrangement: Hybrid


Position Summary:

The Senior Network Engineer designs, implements, operates, and improves Ventura Foods' enterprise and plant networks with a strong focus on availability, security, and performance across multiple locations and manufacturing sites. This role is primarily hands-on and technical, serving as a senior escalation resource for complex incidents while executing network modernization initiatives including SD-WAN/SASE, Palo Alto firewall upgrades, cloud connectivity (Azure/AWS), Zero Trust access, and IT/OT segmentation. The engineer will use monitoring and automation practices to proactively identify risks, reduce downtime, and ensure secure connectivity for business systems and production-critical OT workloads. This position can be based in Irvine, CA or Ft. Worth, TX.

Major Duties and Responsibilities:

• Execute network modernization projects including Palo Alto firewall upgrades, SD-WAN deployments, switch refresh initiatives, VLAN redesign, and cloud connectivity.
• Provide day-to-day operational support for LAN, WAN, SD-WAN, wireless, firewall, and VPN services across enterprise and manufacturing environments; troubleshoot complex network issues impacting production and business systems.
• Act as senior escalation point for routing, switching, firewall, VPN, and wireless incidents; restore service with minimal downtime in production-critical environments.
• Implement and maintain secure access solutions including Cisco ISE, Zero Trust principles, and IT/OT network segmentation.
• Maintain network documentation, diagrams, configurations, runbooks, and support change management and post-implementation validation activities.
• Additional responsibilities as assigned.

Education and Experience:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, IT, or equivalent experience is required
• 7+ years of hands-on enterprise network engineering experience is required
• Ability to travel up to 20% is required
• Ability to work in either Irvine, CA or Ft. Worth, TX is required
• Manufacturing/OT networking exposure is highly desired
• CCNP, PCNSE, or equivalent hands-on expertise is greatly helpful

Knowledge and Skills:

Required:

• Cisco routing and switching (Catalyst/Nexus/ISR/ASR or equivalents)
  OSPF, BGP, Layer 2/Layer 3 troubleshooting, VLANs, STP, trunking, EtherChannel
• Firewall operations (Palo Alto preferred): zones, security policy, NAT, and VPN concepts
• High availability concepts (firewall HA, redundancy design, failover testing)
• Experience supporting or operating WAN/SD-WAN connectivity (MPLS, internet, overlays, path selection)
• Working familiarity with wireless operations (Cisco/Aruba/Ruckus or equivalent)
• Strong documentation and diagramming skills (e.g., Visio), including runbooks and configuration standards
• Ability to troubleshoot under pressure and restore service for production-critical issues with minimal downtime

Preferred:

• Cisco ISE experience (802.1X/MAB, policy sets, TACACS+/RADIUS).
  Prisma SD-WAN / CloudGenix or VeloCloud deployment/operations experience
• Manufacturing/OT networking exposure (segmented PCN/Purdue-like zoning concepts; industrial VLANs)
• Experience with Infoblox DDI administration and DNS security features
• Experience with SASE security architectures and secure edge designs
• Certifications: CCNP, PCNSE, or equivalent proven hands-on skill

Why Join Us:
Ventura Foods innovates and manufactures food solutions for foodservice and retail businesses. We make exclusive products for the world's most iconic restaurants and retailers, we provide ready-to-go product solutions for professional kitchens, and we make consumer brands everyone knows and loves. When you work for Ventura Foods, you get a strong foundation of training, a manager who cares about you and celebrates your success, a safe environment, and challenging work. As part of our team, your future is limited only by how much you're willing to push yourself to get there. We invest in your growth because you invest in ours.


Ventura Foods offers career growth opportunities as well as competitive compensation and benefits:

• Medical, Prescription, Dental, & Vision - coverage beginning on your 1st day for eligible employees
• Profit Sharing and 401(k) matching (after eligible criteria is met)
• Paid Vacation, Sick Time, and Holidays
• Employee Appreciation Events and Employee Assistance Programs
• Salary Base Range of $127,062.00 - $166,769.40*

*The "base salary range" provided above is a good faith estimate of what we expect to pay for this position in the specified markets. Ventura Foods reserves the right to pay outside of the given range based on a variety of factors including but not limited to: candidate skills and experience, complexity of the job, budgetary factors, and location/geography. Ventura Foods conducts regular reviews of compensation ranges and therefore reserves the right to alter this range at any given time.


Diversity & Inclusion:
Our commitment to a diverse and inclusive environment in which all employees are treated with respect is evident in our company culture and values. We believe that fostering an environment of inclusion and a focus on diversity across our organization is vital to attracting top talent, driving innovation, and meeting the high expectations of our customers in a rapidly evolving global marketplace.

Ventura Foods is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status or any other characteristic protected by law.