Manager, Network Engineering (Houston)

Crescent is a differentiated U.S. energy company committed to delivering value through a disciplined, returns-driven growth through acquisition strategy and consistent return of capital. Our long-life, balanced portfolio combines stable cash flows from low-decline production with a deep, high-quality development inventory. Crescent is a top three producer (by gross operated production) in the Eagle Ford basin. Crescent’s leadership is an experienced team of investment, financial and industry professionals that combines proven investment and operating expertise. For more than a decade, Crescent and our predecessors have executed on a consistent strategy focused on cash flow, risk management and returns.  Through disciplined and accretive investments, we have successfully tripled the size of our company since going public in December 2021 while maintaining a strong balance sheet. We are seeking a highly capable Manager, Network Engineering to lead the design, operation, modernization, and reliability of Crescent Energy’s enterprise and operational technology network environment. This is a hands-on leadership role responsible for the network infrastructure that connects corporate offices, field operations, production sites, tower locations, operational technology environments, and Microsoft Azure.Crescent Energy operates a large, distributed oil and gas environment with thousands of wells, dozens of operational sites, and more than 100 tower locations across field areas. The network is a critical operational backbone connecting field assets, OT systems, enterprise services, and cloud platforms. The successful candidate must be equally comfortable leading people, setting technical direction, troubleshooting complex issues, and building a disciplined, secure, well-documented network operating model.Crescent is an enterprise Fortinet environment. This leader must bring strong hands-on and architectural experience with Fortinet firewalls, switches, routers, SD-WAN, VPN, routing, and centralized management. While the CISO organization owns cybersecurity governance and security operations, the Network Engineering team is responsible for the engineering, configuration, operation, and lifecycle management of network and firewall infrastructure. The ideal candidate will also bring deep experience with operational technology connectivity, remote field communications, tower-based networks, hybrid cloud networking, and Microsoft Azure networking. This role requires a leader who can support today’s operations while building the standards, automation, monitoring, documentation, and engineering discipline required for Crescent’s continued growth.Key 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 resilientcommunications 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 policymanagement.• 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.Key Skills• Fortinet Firewalls, Switches, Routers, SD-WAN, and VPN• FortiManager and FortiAnalyzer• Enterprise Routing and Switching• Firewall Policy Management and Network Segmentation• OT / SCADA / Industrial Network Connectivity• Field Networks, Towers, Wireless, and Remote Communications• Microsoft Azure Networking / Hybrid Cloud Connectivity• Network Reliability, Monitoring, and Observability• Change Control and Configuration Standards• Vendor and Service Provider Management• Incident Troubleshooting and Root Cause Analysis• Team Leadership and Technical Mentorship• Cross-Functional Collaboration with Security, OT, Cloud, and Operations TeamsLeadership ExpectationsThe Manager, Network Engineering is expected to be more than a ticket escalator or administrative manager. This leader must set standards, create clarity, improve engineering discipline, and build trust with business, field, OT, security, and infrastructure stakeholders. The successful candidate will:Lead from both technical depth and operational ownership.Build a network engineering culture focused on stability, documentation, standardization, and continuous improvement.Establish clear guardrails for firewall and network changes while working constructively with cybersecurity leadership.Improve visibility into the health, risk, and performance of Crescent’s netwo