Senior Network Engineer | SolarWinds SME & Platform Remediation

Location: Houston, TX or Tulsa, OK
Work Arrangement: Onsite Preferred
Employment Type: Contract Engagement
Specialization: SolarWinds Troubleshooting, Remediation, Implementation & Optimization

About the Opportunity

We are seeking an experienced Senior Network Engineer / SolarWinds Subject Matter Expert (SME) for a contract engagement supporting an enterprise IT infrastructure environment in Houston, TX, or Tulsa, OK.

Our client needs a highly technical, hands-on engineer who can evaluate an existing SolarWinds deployment, diagnose complex and persistent platform issues, and implement effective solutions to improve system performance, monitoring accuracy, reliability, and operational efficiency.

This role requires more than traditional network engineering or day-to-day monitoring. The ideal consultant has extensive experience installing, configuring, troubleshooting, upgrading, and optimizing SolarWinds environments and can independently resolve both common and uncommon technical challenges.

The primary objective is to identify root causes, remediate existing issues, stabilize the SolarWinds environment, and implement sustainable improvements that support long-term infrastructure monitoring.

Key Responsibilities

SolarWinds Troubleshooting & Remediation

• Conduct a comprehensive technical assessment of the existing SolarWinds deployment, architecture, configurations, and overall platform health.
• Diagnose and resolve complex SolarWinds performance, connectivity, polling, alerting, and monitoring issues.
• Troubleshoot SolarWinds Platform (formerly Orion), Network Performance Monitor (NPM), and related modules.
• Identify and remediate polling engine overload, delayed data collection, missing metrics, inaccurate device status, and monitoring failures.
• Investigate SNMP, WMI, ICMP, API, and agent communication issues.
• Resolve recurring platform instability, service failures, application errors, and configuration conflicts.
• Perform root cause analysis and implement permanent corrective actions.

Platform Optimization & Implementation

• Evaluate and optimize SolarWinds architecture, polling configurations, monitoring templates, alert thresholds, and system performance.
• Improve monitoring coverage, device discovery, network visibility, and alert accuracy.
• Troubleshoot and optimize SolarWinds SQL Server database dependencies, performance, and data retention configurations.
• Implement platform upgrades, patches, configuration changes, and new monitoring capabilities.
• Design and implement improvements to dashboards, reports, alert escalation, and operational workflows.
• Support integrations with ServiceNow and other enterprise infrastructure management platforms.
• Develop automation using PowerShell, SolarWinds APIs, SWQL, or other scripting technologies.
• Recommend architectural changes to improve scalability, security, and platform reliability.

Network Engineering & Infrastructure Support

• Troubleshoot enterprise routers, switches, firewalls, WAN connectivity, and associated network monitoring components.
• Diagnose network latency, packet loss, bandwidth utilization, interface errors, and connectivity problems.
• Apply strong knowledge of TCP/IP, routing, switching, DNS, VLANs, SNMP, and network management protocols.
• Collaborate with network, server, database, security, and infrastructure teams to resolve cross-platform issues.
• Validate that SolarWinds monitoring accurately reflects network and infrastructure health.

Documentation & Knowledge Transfer

• Document technical findings, root causes, remediation activities, and implemented solutions.
• Establish platform configuration standards, preventive maintenance practices, and operational procedures.
• Provide technical recommendations for ongoing SolarWinds management and future improvements.
• Transfer knowledge to internal network engineering and infrastructure support teams.

Required Qualifications

• 7+ years of enterprise network engineering or infrastructure engineering experience.
• 4+ years of hands-on SolarWinds administration, troubleshooting, implementation, and optimization experience.
• Advanced experience with SolarWinds Platform / Orion and Network Performance Monitor (NPM).
• Demonstrated success troubleshooting and remediating complex SolarWinds installations.
• Experience with SolarWinds polling engines, device discovery, alert configurations, monitoring protocols, and platform performance.
• Strong understanding of SNMP, WMI, ICMP, TCP/IP, routing, switching, and enterprise networking.
• Experience troubleshooting SolarWinds SQL Server database dependencies and performance issues.
• Experience installing, upgrading, configuring, and maintaining SolarWinds environments.
• Strong root cause analysis, technical problem-solving, and independent consulting capabilities.
• Ability to work onsite in Houston, TX, or Tulsa, OK as required by the engagement.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor (SAM), Network Configuration Manager (NCM), NetFlow Traffic Analyzer (NTA), and IP Address Manager (IPAM).
• Experience with additional polling engines, high availability, and distributed SolarWinds deployments.
• SolarWinds Certified Professional (SCP) certification.
• Cisco CCNP or equivalent networking certification.
• Experience with PowerShell, SWQL, SolarWinds Platform Web API / SWIS, and SQL Server.
• Experience integrating SolarWinds with ServiceNow or other ITSM platforms.
• Experience supporting large enterprise or mission-critical infrastructure environments.
• Previous consulting engagements involving SolarWinds platform recovery, stabilization, or remediation.