Description

About Northern Trust:

Northern Trust, a Fortune 500 company, is a globally recognized, award-winning financial institution that has been in continuous operation since 1889.

Northern Trust is proud to provide innovative financial services and guidance to the world's most successful individuals, families, and institutions by remaining true to our enduring principles of service, expertise, and integrity. With more than 130 years of financial experience and over 22,000 partners, we serve the world's most sophisticated clients using leading technology and exceptional service.

Title: Sr Lead - Network Engineer

The Role:

The Sr. Lead Network Engineer is a seasoned techno-functional leader with deep expertise in Network Engineering, Office Network Services, Colocation Services, and Private Data Centers. This role demands proven experience in managing engineering functions and driving initiatives from strategic planning through to execution.

As a key contributor, the Engineer will lead the design, implementation, and support of network infrastructure and services across Northern Trust's global private data centers, public cloud environments, and colocation facilities. This position plays a critical role in global transformation and modernization efforts and offering expert guidance to operations teams. Success in this role requires a strong product-ownership mindset and an unwavering commitment to customer service excellence.

Key responsibilities:

The Sr. Lead Network Engineer will be responsible for establishing and maintaining well-architected standards and solution patterns across the network infrastructure landscape. This role will drive modernization and transformation initiatives, oversee the full lifecycle of network products and services, and ensure a seamless transition to Network Operations for ongoing support and management.

• Network Architecture
  Partner with the Network Architecture Council to define and drive modernization strategies and technology roadmaps for both on-prem and cloud networking services. Lead vendor evaluations and manage third-party technology partnerships.
• Network Security
  Design and enforce comprehensive security frameworks for hybrid cloud network services, including system hardening and secure configuration management.
• Governance & Compliance Leadership
  Ensure all network solutions align with industry standards (CIS, NIST, SOC 2). Lead engagements with internal and external auditors to maintain compliance and operational integrity.
• Capacity Planning & Performance Optimization
  Collaborate with Engineering and Operations teams to monitor and scale network services, ensuring seamless connectivity for business applications and office locations.
• Global Network Deployments
  Lead and coordinate network infrastructure deployments across data centers, cloud environments, and mission-critical office sites.
• Automation & Infrastructure as Code (IaC)
  Champion network automation initiatives by identifying opportunities for efficiency and implementing IaC and GitOps practices.
• Documentation & Knowledge Management
  Maintain comprehensive documentation for network designs, solutions, and infrastructure states-past, present, and future.
• Tier 2/3 Technical Support
  Serve as the highest-level escalation point for Network Engineering and Operations, providing expert guidance and resolution.

Qualifications:

• Expertise in Networking Technologies

Demonstrated mastery in Routing, Switching, Load-Balancing, Firewalling, SD-WAN, and DNS across complex enterprise environments.

• Extensive Industry Experience

Over 10 years of hands-on experience architecting, deploying, and managing network solutions in on-premises and colocation settings. CCIE certification or multiple CCNPs strongly preferred.

• Cloud Networking Exposure

Some experience designing and operating network infrastructures in public cloud platforms such as Azure, AWS, and Google Cloud. Relevant certifications are a plus.

• Automation & Orchestration Leadership

Proven ability to implement and scale automation practices using tools like Terraform, Ansible, Python, GitHub, and GitHub Actions. Experience with additional orchestration platforms is highly preferred.

• Network Observability & Performance Optimization

Deep understanding of observability tools to extract actionable insights, drive performance improvements, and accelerate issue resolution.

• Global Collaboration & Teamwork

Exceptional time management and collaboration skills within cross-functional teams spanning three global regions.

• Problem Solving

Expert-level analytical skills for diagnosing and resolving complex network issues across hybrid environments including on-prem, office sites, and cloud.

• Security-First Mindset

Strong grasp of security best practices for deploying network services across hybrid cloud ecosystems (on-prem, private, and public cloud).

• Strategic Communication & Influence

Excellent verbal, written, and interpersonal communication skills to facilitate decision-making and alignment across teams supporting mission-critical applications.

• Product Ownership & Iterative Delivery

Experience as a product owner with a track record of evolving services through customer-driven feedback and agile iteration.

• Agile Methodology Experience

Solid background in Agile environments, including the use of Agile tools for managing daily tasks, feature development, and infrastructure initiatives. Familiarity with Azure DevOps (ADO) is preferred.

• Continuous Improvement & Self-Motivation

Self-starter with a passion for ongoing learning and identifying opportunities to continually enhance network products and services.

Salary Range:
$114,500 - 194,700 USD

Salary range is a good faith estimate of base pay. Northern Trust provides a comprehensive benefits package including retirement benefits (401k and pension), health and welfare benefits (medical, dental, vision, spending accounts and disability), paid time off, parental and caregiver leave, life & accident insurance, and other voluntary and well-being benefits. Northern Trust also provides a discretionary bonus program that may include an equity component.

Working with Us:

As a Northern Trust partner, greater achievements await. You will be part of a flexible and collaborative work culture in an organization where financial strength and stability is an asset that emboldens us to explore new ideas.

Movement within the organization is encouraged, senior leaders are accessible, and you can take pride in working for a company committed to assisting the communities we serve! Join a workplace with a greater purpose.

We'd love to learn more about how your interests and experience could be a fit with one of the world's most admired and sustainable companies! Build your career with us and apply today. #MadeForGreater

Reasonable accommodation

Northern Trust is committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities. If you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the employment process, please email our HR Service Center at MyHRHelp@ntrs.com .

We hope you're excited about the role and the opportunity to work with us. We value an inclusive workplace and understand flexibility means different things to different people.

Apply today and talk to us about your flexible working requirements and together we can achieve greater.