Ulta Beauty · 10 hours ago
Lead IT Engineer - Network Ops
Bolingbrook, IL
Full-time
Hybrid
Senior Level, Lead/Staff
$103K/yr - $142K/yr
7+ years expUlta Beauty is a leading North American beauty retailer that emphasizes professional empowerment and continual learning. The Lead Network Operations Engineer is responsible for designing, implementing, and managing the enterprise network while ensuring stability, performance, and incident response across various environments.
BeautyConsumer GoodsCosmeticsRetail
Responsibilities
Leads the day-to-day operational support of Ulta’s enterprise network
Develops procedures and documentation for operational support, coordinates escalations, and provides senior-level troubleshooting, diagnosis, and resolution of network issues
Ensures support requests are fulfilled in accordance with defined standards, SLAs, and operational processes
Participates in reviewing network architectures, designs, configurations, and standards with a focus on operational readiness, resiliency, and supportability
Ensures appropriate instrumentation, monitoring, security controls, and failover capabilities are included to enable effective operations
Leads escalated network incidents, coordinates service restoration efforts, and ensures timely and accurate communication to stakeholders
Manages post-incident activities including documentation, closure, and problem management/root cause analysis to reduce recurrence
Evaluates operational risk and business impact associated with proposed network changes (availability, performance, security, and compliance)
Leads change planning, documentation, execution, validation, and peer review in accordance with established change control procedures
Provides technical expertise and leadership in executing operational procedures including patching, firmware upgrades, monitoring, capacity planning, and maintenance routines
Delivers improvement recommendations and operational status reporting to specialists, users, and management
Develops and enhances network monitoring capabilities, dashboards, alerts, runbooks, and performance reporting
Identifies efficiency and quality improvements related to incident response, automation, lifecycle management, and operational workflows
Supports network lifecycle activities including capacity planning, EOL/EOS validation, hardware and software refresh, and vendor roadmap alignment
Coordinates with Architecture and Engineering to ensure smooth introduction of new technologies into the operational environment
Collaborates with carriers, service providers, and hardware/software vendors to resolve incidents, improve service quality, and enforce SLAs
Contributes to operational assessments of vendor capabilities, sourcing, and procurement decisions
Contributes to and enforces operational procedures, security controls, compliance requirements, and support standards across the network environment
Ensures operational impacts and risks are identified and addressed through process, documentation, and training
Provides senior operational leadership, direction, mentoring, and escalation support to network engineers and analysts
Influences operational standards, incident best practices, and continuous improvement efforts across teams
Design and deploy large scale enterprise LAN, WAN and WLAN solutions including routers, switches, firewalls, and other network related hardware
Work closely with the business and IT to develop high performing, efficient, cost effective, and operationally supportable solutions that meet the business’ complex requirements
Ensures operations of enterprise-level network hardware and data communications systems by minimizing system downtime and maximizing system performance
Evaluate and identify opportunities for network performance, functionality, and improvement within the environment
Collaborates closely with peer ULTA IT, Infrastructure, ITRM, Operations and business teams to deliver infrastructure services to support Enterprise applications (i.e., SA, JDA, HANA, Manhattan, GCP and Azure) throughout the company
Interface with internal/external customers and vendors to determine system and application requirements
Collaborate with Enterprise and Infrastructure Architecture teams to create and maintain standards and operating procedures, and provide information as appropriate to manager, project manager, and various departments within ULTA
Lead development and implementation efforts to bring automation into the environment
Conducts Infrastructure-specific project management activities; participates as an Infrastructure technical resource in business-related projects
Performs IT network consulting, including the network certification process of new development, and acquisitions
Conducts IT network research and development, as well as network/product evaluations and vendor certification
Define requirements in support of budget plans and make recommendations for ways to improve performance and reduce costs
Accountable for defining and reviewing project scope, execution checklists and validation tests and providing final go ahead to the team
Qualification
Required
Bachelor's degree in computer science, a related field, 7+ years of enterprise network engineering or operations experience
Deep expertise in routing, switching, WLAN, and network troubleshooting (Cisco preferred)
Strong experience supporting distributed or retail environments across multiple sites
Proficiency with monitoring/visibility tools, packet analysis, and performance tuning
Experience working with MSPs, carriers, and hardware/software vendors
Solid understanding of ITIL-based incident, problem, and change management practices
Excellent communication, escalation management, and stakeholder engagement skills
Experience mentoring or coaching other engineers and influencing operational practices
Ability to work in high-pressure incident situations and participate in 24x7 on-call rotation
Preferred
Experience in large retail or multisite operations environments
Exposure to enterprise-scale WLAN (Aruba, Cisco Meraki, Cato or similar)
Experience automating network operations (Python, Ansible, or automation platforms)
Experience with cloud connectivity or hybrid network models
Relevant certifications (CCNP, CCDP, or vendor equivalents)
Familiarity with analytics & observability technologies (EXTRAHOP, DNAC, NetBrain, ThousandEyes, etc.)
Benefits
Paid time off
Health
Dental
Vision
Life and disability benefits
Company
Ulta Beauty
Ulta Beauty is a beauty retailer that offers a wide range of products including cosmetics, fragrances, skincare, and hair care.
10001+ employees
H1B Sponsorship
Ulta Beauty has a track record of offering H1B sponsorships. Please note that this does not
guarantee sponsorship for this specific role. Below presents additional info for your
reference. (Data Powered by US Department of Labor)
Distribution of Different Job Fields Receiving Sponsorship
Represents job field similar to this job
Trends of Total Sponsorships
2020 (9)
Funding
Current Stage
Public CompanyTotal Funding
$266.3MKey Investors
Berkshire HathawayDimensional Fund Advisors
2024-08-14Post Ipo Equity· $266.3M
2016-10-11Post Ipo Equity
2007-10-25IPO
Leadership Team
Kecia Steelman
President & Chief Operating Officer
Chris Lialios
Senior Vice President Controller
Recent News
Global Cosmetic Industry Magazine
2026-01-23
2026-01-22
Company data provided by crunchbase