Principal Network Engineer - National Remote

Caring. Connecting. Growing Together.

Optum is a global organization that delivers care, aided by technology to help millions of people live healthier lives. The work you do with our team will directly improve health outcomes by connecting people with the care, pharmacy benefits, data and resources they need to feel their best. Here, you will find talented peers, comprehensive benefits and career development opportunities. Come make an impact on the communities we serve as you help us advance health equity on a global scale.

You'll enjoy the flexibility to work remotely from anywhere within the U.S. as you take on some tough challenges. For all hires in the Minneapolis or Washington, D.C. area, you will be required to work in the office a minimum of four days per week.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Own the SDWAN service end-to-end, accountable for performance, stability, and strategic direction
• Present service updates during Monthly Service Reviews (MSRs)
• Manage project timelines, intake requests, and feature tracking
• Host weekly/bi-weekly SME meetings to align priorities and progress
• Lead monitoring, alerting, standards, and security-delegating execution to Architects and SMEs
• Own and manage problem records and restoration activities
• Ensure proactive identification, tracking, and mitigation of security vulnerabilities across the service
• Serve as the primary point of contact for business stakeholders
• Conduct regular meetings to understand current needs and future direction
• Translate business requirements into technical roadmaps and service enhancements
• Lead through influence in a matrixed environment, fostering trust and collaboration
• Maintain a capability matrix to identify and close skill gaps across Operations and Engineering
• Develop training curriculum and on-the-job learning paths for the service
• Mentor and develop successors for the SLO role
• Define and uphold service standards for technology, change, documentation, and deployment
• Manage all operational and engineering work related to the service
• Develop and maintain a service lifecycle roadmap aligned with business and security needs
• Track KPIs and generate reports to drive service improvement and capacity planning
• Advocate for new features with vendors and influence product development
• Align with enterprise service management tools and ensure documentation is accessible and current
• Establish and manage budgets across capital, expense, and revenue categories
• Define and optimize work intake methods and automation backlogs
• Maintain awareness of all P1/P2 incidents impacting the service
• Ensure timely engagement of technical resources during war rooms
• Lead or designate leadership for restoration efforts
• Document technical supply chains and vendor engagement strategies
• Author impact statements for major incidents

You'll be rewarded and recognized for your performance in an environment that will challenge you and give you clear direction on what it takes to succeed in your role as well as provide development for other roles you may be interested in.

Required Qualifications:

• 8+ years of experience in network engineering
• 5+ years of hands-on experience managing SDWAN services, preferably with Cisco SD-WAN (vSmart, vBond, vEdge/cEdge, vManage)
• 5+ years of experience with routing protocols (OSPF, BGP), multicast (PIM, IGMP), and SDWAN overlays
• 3+ years of experience with service ownership
• 2+ years of experience with security features (ZTP, IPsec, SIG, VRFs) and cloud integrations (Zscaler, Umbrella)
• 2+ years of experience with monitoring tools (ThousandEyes, NetScout) and automation via vManage APIs

Preferred Qualifications:

• Proven ability to lead cross-functional teams without direct authority
• Excellent communication, stakeholder management, and strategic planning skills

Pay is based on several factors including but not limited to local labor markets, education, work experience, certifications, etc. In addition to your salary, we offer benefits such as, a comprehensive benefits package, incentive and recognition programs, equity stock purchase and 401k contribution (all benefits are subject to eligibility requirements). The salary for this role will range from $110,200 to $188,800 annually based on full-time employment. We comply with all minimum wage laws as applicable.

Application Deadline: This will be posted for a minimum of 2 business days or until a sufficient candidate pool has been collected. Job posting may come down early due to volume of applicants.