Hiring :: IT Network Consultant :: Irvine, CA
Vaibhav Sharma
Job Title: IT Network Consultant
Location: Irvine, CA (3 Days office in a week)
Duration: Contract
Rate: $50/HR C2C
Mode of Interview: Final Interview will be In-person in Irvine, CA office.
Role Overview
We are looking for an experienced IT Network Engineer to support day-to-day network operations and assist with ongoing infrastructure upgrades across multiple manufacturing sites. This role is primarily operational (60%), including troubleshooting, break/fix work, and supporting production-critical network issues. The remaining 40% will focus on project work such as firewall upgrades, SD-WAN modernization, and plant network refresh initiatives. The ideal candidate has deep hands-on experience with routing and switching (Cisco preferred), Palo Alto Networks firewalls, and ideally some background supporting manufacturing/OT environments.
Key Responsibilities
Operational Support (≈ 60%)
- Handle day-to-day break/fix tickets for LAN/WAN, wireless, and firewall systems.
- Troubleshoot routing, switching, and security issues across plant and enterprise networks.
- Resolve network issues impacting production lines, sensors, OT devices, plant-floor apps, and IoT/Industry 4.0 platforms.
- Monitor network health and help drive stability, performance, and resilience improvements.
- Participate in on-call rotation for critical network incidents.
Project Work (≈ 40%)
- Support Palo Alto firewall upgrades, policy refinement, and migration tasks.
- Assist with SD-WAN transformation projects (Prisma SASE/Prisma SD-WAN or VeloCloud).
- Contribute to network modernization: switch refresh, cabling, redesign, VLAN segmentation.
- Implement approved changes following established change management processes.
- Collaborate with cross-functional IT, OT, and vendor teams to ensure smooth deployments.
Required Skills & Experience
- Strong hands-on experience with Cisco routing and switching (Catalyst/Nexus/ISR/ASR).
- Solid understanding of OSPF, BGP, STP, VLANs, trunking, EtherChannel, ACLs, QoS.
- Palo Alto Networks firewall experience including policy management, zones, NAT, App-ID, and GlobalProtect.
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Experience supporting networks in a manufacturing environment (preferred but not required).
Solid understanding of:
o WAN/MPLS/SD-WAN architectures
o Layer 2 and Layer 3 enterprise design
o VPN (IPsec, SSL)
o High availability (HA) concepts
- Familiarity with wireless networking (Cisco, Aruba, or equivalent).
- Strong documentation practices (Visio, diagrams, configs, runbooks).
Preferred Skills (Nice to Have)
- Cisco ISE experience (authentication, authorization, policy sets, TACACS+).
- Prisma SD-WAN (formerly CloudGenix) deployment or administration experience.
- VeloCloud SD-WAN experience (profiles, business policies, overlays).
- Manufacturing OT networking exposure (EtherNet/IP, industrial VLANs, segmented PCN/PMS environments).
- Experience with DNS/DHCP/IPAM (Infoblox or similar).
- Experience with network monitoring tools (PRTG, SolarWinds, Meraki Dashboard, etc.).
- Certifications: CCNA/CCNP, PCNSE, or equivalent hands-on knowledge.
Soft Skills
- Strong communication and teamwork abilities.
- Ability to operate effectively in fast-paced manufacturing/plant environments.
- Organized, proactive, and capable of managing multiple priorities.
- Self-starter with strong problem-solving skills.
Best Regards,
Vaibhav Sharma |Technical Recruiter
Canvendor Inc.
2033, Gateway Place 5th Floor, San Jose, CA 95110