About the opportunity
Role summary
We are seeking a highly skilled and experienced Senior IT Network Engineer to anchor our dynamic IT Operations team. The ideal candidate will possess a blend of advanced technical expertise in Network Engineering, strong project management capabilities, and a strategic mindset to oversee the A-Z launch and maintenance of our Dark Store and Kitchen infrastructure. This role requires a deep understanding of IT systems, excellent problem-solving abilities (Crisis Management), and a commitment to delivering "Gold Standard" solutions while actively mentoring junior engineers.
The following experience is relevant to us
Strategic Leadership & Mentorship
Team Guidance: Provide technical expertise to junior engineers (IC1/IC2). Resolve technical conflicts within the squad based on logical reasoning, ensuring the team moves forward without deadlock.
Project Management: Lead infrastructure projects (Site Launches, Hub expansions) from conception to completion, ensuring adherence to timelines, budgets, and resource coordination.
Collaboration: Collaborate with cross-functional teams (Expansion, Operations, Logistics) to assess infrastructure needs and develop scalable, frugal solutions that support business growth across MENA.
Talent Acquisition: Participate in the interview process for new engineers, raising the technical bar for the team.
Tribe Alignment: Translate business goals into technical execution, explicitly driving the Tribe’s KPIs (e.g., Speed to Launch, Uptime, SLA) to completion.
Advanced Technical Execution
Gold Standard Design: Own the architecture for Fortinet Security Fabric. Independently design, implement, and maintain complex solutions that avoid duplication and conflict with existing implementations (Network Segmentation, Zero-Trust Architecture, LAN/WAN, SD-WAN, CCTV… etc.) to meet business requirements, defining the configuration standards that the rest of the team follows with the support of L3 teams.
Proactive Engineering: Proactively identify and address potential issues or bottlenecks within the infrastructure (e.g., bandwidth saturation, firewall policy conflicts), implementing preventive measures and automation scripts to ensure optimal performance.
Emerging Tech: Stay abreast of industry trends (e.g., AI in CCTV, Zero-Touch Provisioning), recommending and implementing best practices to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of our infrastructure.
Crisis Management: Act as the primary technical escalation point for complex outages, utilizing advanced troubleshooting to resolve high-impact incidents (P1/P2) that junior engineers cannot solve. Utilizing advanced troubleshooting to resolve high-impact incidents and owning the Post-Mortem / RCA process to prevent recurrence.
RFCs & Documentation: Author RFCs (Request for Comments) and ADRs (Architecture Decision Records) for major infrastructure changes, ensuring all designs are documented and reviewed before implementation.
Innovation: Lead cross-team POCs (Proof of Concepts) to evaluate and test new hardware/software solutions before mass deployment.
Technical Skills
Core Networking: Extensive experience designing, implementing, and supporting enterprise-level IT infrastructure solutions. Proficiency in networking concepts including TCP/IP, BGP/OSPF, VLANs, and Subnetting.
Security & Firewalls: Expert proficiency in configuring and managing Fortinet Security Fabric (FortiGate NGFW, FortiManager, FortiAnalyzer) and SD-WAN architecture.
Monitoring: Proficiency in installing and configuring monitoring tools (e.g., Prometheus & Grafana) for network monitoring and performance analysis.
Physical Infrastructure: Deep knowledge of CCTV systems (Hikvision) including NVR storage calculations, AI analytics, and structured cabling standards for warehouses.
Containarization & Virtualization: Strong knowledge of containerization (Docker/Podman) and familiarity with cloud platforms (AWS/Azure) for hybrid-network connectivity.
Automation: Familiarity with scripting (Python, Bash) and automation tools to drive operational efficiency.
Soft Skills
Communication: Excellent communication skills, with the ability to convey complex technical concepts (risks, trade-offs) to non-technical stakeholders (Ops Managers, City Managers).
Mentorship: Proven leadership skills, with the ability to mentor and motivate team members without formally managing HR. You encourage dissent and diversity of thought in technical problem solving.
Adaptability: Willingness to learn new technologies and methodologies quickly in a fast-paced startup environment.
Time Management: Effective prioritization skills, with the ability to manage multiple site launches simultaneously while shielding the team from burnout.
Business Skills
Strategic Alignment: Understanding of business processes (Quick Commerce/Logistics), with the ability to align infrastructure initiatives with strategic goals (e.g., "Speed to Launch").
Frugality & Budgeting: Proven track record of delivering projects on time and within budget, applying a frugal mindset to optimize costs without sacrificing quality.
Risk Management: Ability to assess and mitigate risks (e.g., single points of failure in warehouse connectivity), making data-driven decisions to ensure project success.
What you need to be successful
Qualifications
Education: Bachelor’s Degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, or Engineering.
Experience: 6+ years of experience in Network Engineering or IT Infrastructure, with at least 2 years in a technical leadership or mentoring capacity.
Certifications: Professional-level certifications (Fortinet NSE 7, CCNP Enterprise) are highly desirable.
Technical Skills: Strong grasp of Automation, Virtualization, and Cloud concepts (AWS/Azure) beyond standard troubleshooting.
ITIL: ITIL Strategist or Leader (V4)
Who we are
A little bit about talabat
talabat is the leading online food and groceries ordering platform in MENA, operating in 9 countries across the region. Founded in 2004 by a small group of entrepreneurs in Kuwait, talabat’s success expanded to the rest of the GCC region, Egypt & Jordan, making it the largest and most popular food ordering app. With over 2,000+ employees and millions of users, we deliver hundreds of thousands of orders every day.
We are part of the Delivery Hero network building the next generation of online delivery platforms across the globe. Our network is truly international with engineering teams in 13 countries and operations in 40+ countries.