JR154115 Principal Engineer II

ICON plc is a world-leading healthcare intelligence and clinical research organization. We’re proud to foster an inclusive environment driving innovation and excellence, and we welcome you to join us on our mission to shape the future of clinical development.

Principal Engineer II

Location: Chennai (Hybrid Role)

The Level 3 Senior Network Engineer serves as the highest technical escalation point within the Global Network Operations team. This role is responsible for providing technical leadership, resolving complex network issues, supporting global infrastructure projects, and ensuring the stability, security, and availability of the enterprise network.

The ideal candidate should have 10+ years of hands-on enterprise networking experience, with strong expertise in Cisco ACI, Fortinet Firewalls, NetScaler/F5 Load Balancers, SD-WAN technologies (preferably CATO), enterprise routing and switching, and cloud networking. The role requires a strong balance of technical expertise, operational excellence, and project delivery within a global enterprise environment.

Key Responsibilities

1. Technical Leadership & Escalation

• Act as the highest technical escalation point for critical network incidents and complex infrastructure issues.
• Lead troubleshooting across multi-vendor enterprise network environments.
• Perform root cause analysis (RCA) for major incidents and implement permanent corrective actions.
• Provide technical guidance and mentorship to Level 1 and Level 2 engineers.
• Participate in Major Incident Management (MIM) calls and lead technical recovery efforts.

2. Network Operations

• Ensure the availability, stability, and performance of the global network infrastructure.
• Support BAU operations involving routing, switching, firewalls, SD-WAN, load balancers, VPNs, DNS, and cloud networking.
• Identify recurring operational issues and implement proactive improvements to reduce incidents.
• Perform advanced troubleshooting across on-premises and cloud network environments.

3. Infrastructure & Project Delivery

• Lead network implementation activities for global infrastructure projects.
• Design, review, and implement network solutions in accordance with enterprise standards.
• Support datacenter migrations, office deployments, cloud connectivity, and technology refresh initiatives.
• Review implementation plans and provide technical approval for high-risk network changes.
• Support mergers, acquisitions, and global expansion initiatives from a networking perspective.

4. Enterprise Network Technologies

Provide technical ownership, administration, and support for:

• Cisco Core Networking (including ACI)
• Cisco Meraki and Cisco ISE
• Fortinet Firewalls
• NetScaler/F5 Load Balancers
• SASE platforms (CATO preferred)
• BGP, OSPF, and enterprise routing
• Network segmentation and micro-segmentation
• Azure and AWS networking
• Ability to automate Network tasks using scripts such as Ansible, Python, Power shell
• Network performance analysis and packet capture (Wireshark/TCPDump)
• Network monitoring platforms such as ThousandEyes, SolarWinds, Site24x7, or equivalent

5. Security & Compliance

• Ensure network infrastructure complies with enterprise security standards and industry best practices.
• Review and approve firewall policies, NAT rules, VPN configurations, and network segmentation.
• Support vulnerability remediation activities and security audits.
• Work closely with Cyber Security teams during incident investigations.
• Implement secure network designs for new business requirements.

Skills & Qualifications

Experience

• Minimum 8-10+ years of networking experience.
• Strong experience supporting large-scale global network environments.
• Experience working in 24x7 operations supporting mission-critical infrastructure.
• Proven experience leading major incident resolution and infrastructure projects.

Soft Skills

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to lead technical discussions and major incident calls.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced global environment.
• Strong documentation and presentation skills.
• Self-motivated with the ability to work independently and mentor junior engineers.

Preferred Certifications

• CCNP Enterprise or CCIE
• Fortinet NSE 7/NSE 8 or FCSS Network Security
• Citrix NetScaler Certification
• CATO Certified Professional
• AWS or Azure Networking Certification
• ITIL Foundation

Any two of the above certifications will be considered an advantage.

What ICON can offer you:
Our success depends on the quality of our people. That’s why we’ve made it a priority to build a diverse culture that rewards high performance and nurtures talent.

In addition to your competitive salary, ICON offers a range of additional benefits. Our benefits are designed to be competitive within each country and are focused on well-being and work life balance opportunities for you and your family.

Our benefits examples include:

• Various annual leave entitlements
• A range of health insurance offerings to suit you and your family’s needs.
• Competitive retirement planning offerings to maximize savings and plan with confidence for the years ahead.
• Global Employee Assistance Programme, LifeWorks, offering 24-hour access to a global network of over 80,000 independent specialized professionals who are there to support you and your family’s well-being.
• Life assurance
• Flexible country-specific optional benefits, including childcare vouchers, bike purchase schemes, discounted gym memberships, subsidized travel passes, health assessments, among others.

Visit our careers site to read more about the benefits ICON offers.

At ICON, inclusion & belonging are fundamental to our culture and values. We’re dedicated to providing an inclusive and accessible environment for all candidates. ICON is committed to providing a workplace free of discrimination and harassment. All qualified applicants will receive equal consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or protected veteran status.

If, because of a medical condition or disability, you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application process, or in order to perform the essential functions of a position, please let us know or submit a request here

Interested in the role, but unsure if you meet all of the requirements? We would encourage you to apply regardless – there’s every chance you’re exactly what we’re looking for here at ICON whether it is for this or other roles.

Are you a current ICON Employee? Please click here to apply