Zillow - Senior Network Engineer

Role Summary : We are recruiting a top-performing Senior Network Engineer to serve as the technical owner for Zillows on-prem network and employee access infrastructure. This role owns physical and logical on-prem network architecture, corporate LAN/WAN and Wi-Fi, the current Cisco SSL client VPN, and has a meaningful technical stake in the design and deployment of next-generation Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) architectures. The engineer will work in close partnership with engineers across a range of experience levels as part of a team that collectively owns corporate infrastructure outcomes. This role provides technical leadership through hands-on engineering, collaboration, and influence - such as participating in design reviews, pairing on complex work, and leading incident response - while creating intentional opportunities to mentor and uplift more junior engineers. This mentorship is delivered through day-to-day engineering practices and shared problem-solving, not people management. This is a senior individual contributor role with significant autonomy, influence, and accountability, but no people management. Primary Responsibilities : - Own the architecture, standards, and lifecycle of on-prem network infrastructure across Zillow offices - Design, operate, and evolve LAN, WAN, and Wi-Fi networks - Lead equipment refreshes, obsolescence management, and vendor strategy - Design networking for new office builds, expansions, and relocations - Own Wi-Fi architecture, performance, and user experience - Own the Cisco SSL client VPN platform, including reliability, security, and user experience - Ensure secure and dependable employee remote access - Partner with endpoint, identity, and security teams on the design and rollout of Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) - Help guide architectural decisions during the transition from VPN-centric access to Zero Trust models - Serve as senior escalation for complex incidents and outages - Develop and maintain documentation, standards, diagrams, and runbooks - Mentor and uplift junior engineers through technical leadership and collaboration - Make pragmatic, cost-conscious decisions that balance reliability, security, and sustainability. We're Looking for Someone Who : - Is a builder and owner, not just an operator - Takes pride in stable, well-run, and well-documented environments - Thinks holistically about employee experience - Communicates clearly and calmly, especially during incidents - Leads through influence and technical credibility - Values mentoring and developing more junior engineers - Balances security, reliability, and cost with sound judgment - Seeks to understand business context and user needs Non-Negotiable Skills : - Deep experience designing and operating enterprise on-prem networks - Strong expertise with Juniper switching, routing, and wireless (EX, QFX, SRX, Mist) - Strong understanding of physical network infrastructure (MDF/IDF design, cabling, optics, circuits) - LAN/WAN fundamentals: TCP/IP, VLANs, BGP, OSPF, VRFs - Enterprise Wi-Fi architecture and troubleshooting - Experience operating enterprise remote access solutions (e.g., SSL VPN) - Solid grounding in network security and identity-aware access concepts - Network monitoring, incident response, and root-cause analysis - Strong written and verbal communication skills Skills We're Willing to Be Flexible On : - Prior hands-on implementation of specific ZTNA products - Cloud/AWS networking (owned by a separate team) - Container or microservices networking - Heavy automation experience (nice-to-have, not required)