Network Operations Field Support Engineer

About You and The Role

You are joining Zipline as an Network Operations Field Support Engineer on our Network Operations team, supporting drone delivery and ground infrastructure that enable timecritical medical and commercial logistics. This is an owner‑level, frontline operations role: you will keep networked ground systems, fulfillment center connectivity, launch‑site communications, and site safety systems online across multiple operational sites. Your work directly affects mission availability, flight launch cadence, and customer deliveries; downtime delays flights and critical deliveries. You will operate in a mixed environment of office, warehouse, and outdoor launch sites; the role requires hands-on cabling and hardware work, real‑time incident response, and disciplined documentation.

What You'll Do

• Own day-to-day monitoring and incident response for site and regional network infrastructure; respond to alerts, lead initial troubleshooting, and restore service within defined SLAs (example targets: initial response <15 minutes for P1, restore or escalate within 2 hours).

• Triage and resolve Tier 1/2 issues across LAN, WAN, VPN, DNS, DHCP, routing, switching, wireless, and site connectivity; validate fixes end-to-end and update tickets with root cause and remediation steps.

• Execute on-site hardware work: install, replace, cable, rack, label, and test switches, routers, wireless APs, servers, patch panels, UPS, and environmental sensors; perform structured cabling to ANSI/TIA-568.2-D standards.

• Lead outage playbook execution during maintenance windows and incident escalations; coordinate cross-functional handoffs with Flight Ops, Field Ops, Safety, and Network Engineering to minimize operational impact.

• Maintain and improve observability: operate monitoring and ticketing tools, and implement simple automations or monitoring thresholds to reduce repeat incidents and mean time to repair (MTTR).

• Drive continuous improvements by identifying recurring failure modes, proposing measurable fixes (e.g., reduce recurrence by X%, improve restore time by Y%), and partner with Network Engineering to implement changes.

• Provide on-call and shift coverage as scheduled, including occasional nights or weekend deployments to support launches and critical maintenance; travel regularly between regional sites (typical frequency: 25–50% depending on operational needs).

What You'll Bring

• 1–3 years hands-on experience in network support, NOC operations, or field network engineering supporting production or business-critical systems; experience supporting operational sites or industrial environments is strongly preferred.

• Practical mastery of networking fundamentals: all layers of the OSI Model, TCP/IP, DNS, DHCP, routing, VLANs, switching, wireless, VPNs, and network troubleshooting methodologies.

• Hands-on structured cabling and hardware skills: running, terminating, testing, and labeling Cat5e/Cat6/Cat6a (shielded and unshielded) to ANSI/TIA standards; comfortable working in indoor racks and outdoor enclosures.

• Proven incident ownership: able to lead incident triage, runbooks, and post-incident documentation; evidence of reducing MTTR or ticket volume in previous roles is a plus.

• Comfortable operating under urgency and constrained conditions (field sites, weather, strict safety/aviation protocols); able to stay focused during outages and coordinate cross-functional stakeholders.

• Logistics and availability: able to travel between sites regularly (regional travel 25–50%), perform physical site work, and participate in scheduled on-call or shift rotations (including occasional nights/weekends).

• Tools/stack familiarity: experience with network monitoring and ticketing systems and basic command-line tools; experience with Linux, scripting (Python/Bash/PowerShell), or monitoring stacks is beneficial.

• Certifications or equivalent: CCNA, CompTIA Network+, military technical training, trade school credentials, or demonstrated hands-on experience in lieu of a degree.

Hard constraints and operating expectations

• This role requires regular onsite work at operational centers and launch sites; remote-only candidates will not meet the role requirements.

• You must be able to perform physical site tasks (lifting equipment, climbing ladders, working in confined racks/ceilings) safely and reliably.

What Else You Need To Know

Zipline is an equal opportunity employer and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws or our own sensibilities.

We value diversity at Zipline and welcome applications from those who are traditionally underrepresented in tech. If you like the sound of this position but are not sure if you are the perfect fit, please apply!