Position - Venue Network Lead Engineer

Location - Los Angeles, CA (Venue/Location based on site) (Local candidates preferred. Non-local candidates who are willing to relocate to LA on their own expense would be considered.)

Duration – Long Term Contract Role

Notes :

2. The requirement is for a lead network engineer, ideally someone who has supported live events environment in venues. The lead network engineer will be the sole point of contact in the event venue for any network related instances. We need strong hands-on engineers with excellent communication and people management skills.

Working Conditions:-

Venue‑based work with event‑driven hours (nights/weekends/holidays possible); on‑call participation and occasional travel to support test events or adjacent venues.

Ability to coordinate and, when necessary, assist with field activities in live environments (in partnership with L2 resources).

Role Summary:-

The Venue Network Lead Engineer owns the end‑to‑end lifecycle of venue networking, IPT voice, and circuits (collectively referred to as telecommunications), from initial discovery through implementation, readiness testing, live operations, and continuous improvement. This role blends hands‑on technical leadership with operational orchestration: the SVSM becomes the venue’s resident expert, maintains a complete working knowledge of all technologies deployed, and leads rapid troubleshooting across network, cabling, security, and telephony domains. The SVSM influences outcomes through clear communication, decisive incident leadership, and people management (including directing an on‑site team when assigned).

What Success Looks Like

Fast, calm incident leadership that drives low MTTR and high first‑time fix rates.

Flawless event readiness through disciplined planning, rehearsals, and documentation currency.

Seamless collaboration with L2 field engineers, senior (L3/L4/Architect) engineers, vendors, and client stakeholders.

Healthy, observable networks with actionable telemetry and compliant security postures.

Core Responsibilities:-

1) Lifecycle Ownership (Discovery → Design → Readiness)

Become the single source of truth for the venue’s network/telecom footprint: rack elevations, port maps, VLAN/VRF segmentation, IP plans, dependencies, and runbooks.

Coordinate and validate LAN/physical surveys; ensure cabling standards and labeling practices are followed to the letter.

Align venue designs to program standards (e.g., Zero‑Trust segmentation, NAC/AAA, Cisco SD-Access) and ensure security and monitoring hooks are in place from day one.

2) Implementation & Cutover Leadership

Orchestrate and, when necessary, hands‑on lead rack/stack, cabling, device upgrades, and baseline configurations; ensure acceptance tests and failover drills are completed.

Oversee installation, configuration, and testing of Cisco Catalyst switches/APs/firewalls and related platforms; coordinate integration with SD‑WAN and telephony.

Partner with senior engineers to validate design intent (routing, switching, wireless, segmentation) and quality‑gate changes before go‑live.

3) Operations, Incident & Problem Management

Serve as the venue’s primary incident commander: triage, isolate, and drive cross‑technology troubleshooting until restoration; convene “war rooms” and escalate effectively. (Leverages L3/L4/Architect guidance where needed; mentors L1/L2 responders.)

Operate and interpret telemetry from Cisco Catalyst Center (formerly DNA Center), ThousandEyes, SIEM/XDR, ISE, and Firepower to detect, diagnose, and prevent service degradations.

Run post‑incident reviews with clear root cause, corrective actions, and preventive measures tracked to closure.

4) People Leadership & Stakeholder Communication

Lead an on‑site venue support team (where assigned); schedule coverage, coach L2 engineers, and foster a blameless, action‑oriented culture.

Communicate status crisply to venue operations, client stakeholders, and program leadership—before, during, and after events; translate complex topics into business‑impact terms.

Coordinate vendors and cross‑functional partners to meet SLAs/SLOs and event‑readiness milestones; ensure change windows are respected and risks mitigated.

5) Documentation, Asset & Change Control

Maintain accurate, living documentation: network diagrams, configs, SOPs, emergency procedures, and test scripts; keep asset inventory current.

Enforce rigorous change management with back‑out plans and pre/post validation steps.

Technical Domains & Tooling:-

Routing/Switching & Segmentation: VLANs, VRFs, QoS; policy‑driven segmentation in line with Zero‑Trust.

Cisco SD-Access: Required network architecture for segmentation, policy enforcement, and automation across venue infrastructure.

Wireless: Design/optimization and operational oversight of enterprise Wi‑Fi (e.g., Cisco 9800 & 9100‑series APs).

Structured Cabling: Copper/fiber (single & multi‑mode), terminations, testing, labeling, patch‑panel hygiene.

Security & Access: ISE (NAC/AAA), Firepower NGFW, Secure Endpoint/XDR, SIEM integration.

Observability & Automation: Cisco Catalyst Center, ThousandEyes, CAIT/CI‑aligned operational testing.

Telephony: Cloud IP telephony (e.g., Webex Calling), endpoint provisioning and call‑flow readiness.

Required Competencies:-

Organizational excellence: Plans ahead, sequences complex activities, documents obsessively, and keeps the venue “audit‑ready” at all times.

Troubleshooting mastery: Hypothesis‑driven diagnosis across layers 1–7; comfortable jumping from cabling to routing to wireless to security tooling without hand‑offs.

People & communication: Clear, confident communicator under pressure; able to lead bridge calls, coach L2s, and brief executives with equal fluency.

Customer focus: Anticipates venue operations needs; navigates trade‑offs to protect the event experience.

Qualifications:-

Experience: 5+ years in telecommunications/network operations or service management; event/venue or multi‑site environments preferred. (Mix of hands‑on L2‑style field work and L3‑level coordination is ideal.)

Certifications: Cisco certifications (e.g., CCNP/CCIE) strongly preferred.

Knowledge base: IP, VLANs, routing protocols (OSPF/BGP/EIGRP), wireless design, and network security principles.

Tools: Proficiency with Catalyst Center, ThousandEyes, SIEM/XDR, ISE, Firepower; familiarity with Webex Calling.

Nice to have: Automation/orchestration exposure (Ansible, Python, Terraform) and hybrid/cloud networking awareness.

KPIs & Operating Cadence:-

Reliability: MTTR, SLA/SLO attainment, change success rate, and incident recurrence trend.

Readiness: % of documented systems with current diagrams/runbooks; test‑event pass rate; cutover rehearsal outcomes.

Team Effectiveness: Ticket aging/throughput, knowledge base contributions, and L2 skill uplift (mentoring outcomes).

Stakeholder Satisfaction: Post‑event and post‑incident feedback scores; timely and accurate status communications.

Thank you

Ashish Kumar- Lead Recruiter

Email: [email protected]