Sr Network Engineer

Job Description: Rakuten International is a division of Rakuten Group, Inc., a Japanese global technology leader in services that empower individuals, communities, businesses and society. Headquartered in San Mateo, California with more than 4,000 employees worldwide, the Rakuten International business portfolio includes market leaders in e-commerce, digital marketing, advertising, communications and entertainment. We create products and services that provide exceptional value by aligning members and the businesses that want to engage them in a shared community.  Job Summary: In this role, you will be responsible for designing, implementing, and managing the organization's network infrastructure to ensure reliable and secure connectivity. You will configure and maintain routers, switches, firewalls, and other network devices, optimizing performance and troubleshooting issues as they arise. Your role includes monitoring network traffic, performing upgrades, and collaborating with IT teams to align network architecture with business needs. Key Responsibilities: Network Architecture & Design:  Lead the design and implementation of highly available, secure, scalable network solutions across  LAN, WAN, Data Center, and Cloud  environments; ensure solutions integrate with existing systems and support future growth. Operational Assessment & Optimization:  Assess network infrastructure and operational processes to identify optimization opportunities and risk reduction; regularly review performance and implement improvements to maintain high availability and security. Advanced Troubleshooting & RCA:  Act as the SME for complex network incidents—perform  root cause analysis , implement permanent fixes, and proactively address performance bottlenecks and capacity constraints. Network Security & Zero Trust / ZTNA:  Design, implement, and manage security solutions including  NGFW, IDS/IPS, VPN (IPsec/SSL), NAC, and DDoS mitigation ; lead  Zero Trust / ZTNA  implementations and optimization, including  Zscaler ZIA/ZPA , ensuring alignment with security policies and industry standards. Cloud Networking:  Architect, deploy, and manage public-cloud networking (e.g.,  AWS VPC, Azure VNet, GCP ) including  Direct Connect/ExpressRoute, Transit Gateways , and other cloud-native networking capabilities. Routing, Switching & WAN Technologies:  Provide expert hands-on leadership for advanced  routing (BGP/OSPF/EIGRP), MPLS, SD-WAN (e.g., Cisco Viptela/Meraki, FortiManager)  and high-performance switching platforms (e.g.,  Cisco Nexus, Arista ). Automation & Orchestration:  Drive network automation initiatives using  Python/Ansible  and network automation platforms to streamline configuration, deployment, and operational tasks. Load Balancing & Application Delivery:  Design and manage  ADCs/load balancers  (e.g.,  F5 BIG-IP, Citrix ADC, NGINX ) to ensure application high availability and performance. Monitoring, Observability & Analytics:  Implement and manage monitoring/logging platforms (e.g.,  SolarWinds, PRTG, Splunk, ELK Stack ) to proactively detect issues, analyze performance, and produce actionable insights. Program/Project Leadership & Delivery:  Provide technical leadership on large-scale network initiatives—coordinate across teams, manage timelines/resources, and ensure deliverables meet operational and compliance standards. Standards, Best Practices & Documentation:  Develop and maintain network  architecture documentation, standards, best practices , configurations, procedures, and diagrams; continuously refine processes to improve service delivery and consistency across projects. Mentorship & Leadership:  Mentor junior engineers, share troubleshooting/design best practices, and lead technical initiatives from conception through completion. Vendor Management:  Partner with vendors for technology evaluation, procurement, and support/escalations. Qualifications: To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. Routing & Switching: Expert BGP, OSPF, EIGRP, MPLS, VRF, QoS; SD-WAN (Cisco Viptela/Meraki, FortiManager, Silver Peak); Network OS (Cisco IOS-XE/XR, NX-OS; Juniper Junos; Arista EOS); Data center switching (Cisco Nexus, Arista, Juniper QFX). Network Security: NGFW (Palo Alto, Cisco FTD, FortiGate); IDS/IPS; VPN (IPsec, SSL); NAC (Cisco ISE, Aruba ClearPass); DDoS mitigation; WAF; segmentation & Zero Trust principles; Zscaler (ZIA, ZPA for SWG/cloud firewall/ZTNA) and ZDX for digital experience monitoring/troubleshooting. Cloud Networking: AWS (VPC, Direct Connect, Transit Gateway, Route 53, Security Groups, NACLs); Azure (VNet, ExpressRoute, Virtual WAN, NSGs, Azure Firewall); GCP (VPC, Interconnect, Cloud VPN, Cloud Routers). Automation & Orchestration: Python; Ansible/Puppet/Chef; REST APIs; NetConf/YANG; network automation platforms (Cisco NSO, Itential). Load Balancing / ADC: F5 BIG-IP (LTM, GTM, ASM); Citrix ADC (NetScaler); NGINX; HAProxy. Wireless: Enterprise Wi Fi (Cisco Meraki, Aruba, Ruckus); wireless security (WPA2/3, 802.1X). Monitoring & Observability: SNMP; NetFlow/IPFIX; sFlow; NPM tools (SolarWinds, ExtraHop, AppDynamics); log management/SIEM (Splunk, ELK Stack, Sumo Logic). Preferred (Voice/Video): QoS for VoIP/video; SIP, H.323; Cisco Unified Communications; Microsoft Teams/Zoom network integration. Certifications (Highly Preferred): Cisco CCNP Enterprise/Data Center/Security; (CCIE preferred); Juniper JNCIP/JNCIE; Palo Alto PCNSE; Fortinet NSE 4+; AWS Certified Advanced Networking – Specialty; Azure Network Engineer Associate. Minimum Requirements: 5-7 years Required 8-11 years Preferred Bachelor's Degree Required Master's Degree Preferred Cisco Certified Network Pr