Team Lead, Application Network Services

About the Role

We are seeking an experienced Team Lead to head the newly formed Application Network Services team within WWT's internal IT organization. This team is responsible for the engineering and management of platforms that deliver WWT's enterprise applications, including F5 BIG-IP LTM, GTM, and F5 Distributed Cloud (XC). The role involves ensuring these applications remain available, performant, and secure. Reporting to the Manager of Network Services, you will lead a team of four engineers, balancing hands-on engineering work with leadership responsibilities.

Responsibilities

• Lead, coach, and develop a team of four application delivery engineers, including goal setting, regular one-on-ones, performance reviews, and compensation recommendations.
• Remain hands-on with the technology, configuring and operating F5 platforms alongside the team.
• Own the technical architecture, standards, and roadmap for application delivery across F5 BIG-IP LTM, GTM, and F5 Distributed Cloud (XC).
• Set the standard for supporting application teams with network connectivity and delivery through F5 platforms.
• Serve as the senior technical escalation point for complex application delivery, connectivity, performance, and availability issues.
• Lead the design and delivery of significant application delivery initiatives, including globally distributed and multi-region models.
• Define and govern application onboarding processes, including design patterns, configuration standards, and validation practices.
• Own the Web Application Firewall (WAF) policy approach and edge protection posture on F5 platforms, in coordination with security teams and managed service partners.
• Manage the F5 vendor and partner relationship, including day-to-day engagement, service quality, escalations, and participation in the F5 Flexible Consumption Program (FCP) true-up.
• Balance and prioritize team workload across project commitments and operational demands, communicating status and risk to leadership.
• Build depth and cross-coverage within the team to ensure critical platform knowledge is shared.
• Champion an automate-first culture, driving adoption of automation and AI-assisted tooling.
• Partner with application, infrastructure, security, and cloud engineering teams to deliver secure and scalable application connectivity patterns.
• Evaluate emerging application delivery and edge security capabilities and recommend adoption.
• Collaborate with the Manager of Network Services on hiring, staffing, and team growth.
• Participate in an on-call rotation for application delivery platforms.

Requirements

• Minimum 7 years of hands-on IT and network engineering experience, including substantial experience with enterprise application delivery platforms.
• Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field (equivalent experience may be considered).
• Experience leading a technical team, whether as a people leader, team lead, or senior engineer with formal mentorship and technical direction responsibility.
• Deep hands-on expertise with F5 BIG-IP LTM (virtual servers, pools, monitors, profiles, iRules, data groups, certificate management).
• Strong working knowledge of DNS and global traffic management (F5 GTM, wide IPs, DNS zones, record management).
• Hands-on experience with F5 Distributed Cloud (XC) or comparable cloud-delivered application delivery platforms.
• Experience designing application delivery architectures spanning on-premises and cloud environments.
• Experience with Web Application Firewall (WAF) policy design, tuning, and enforcement.
• Strong networking fundamentals (TCP/IP, DNS, HTTP/HTTPS, TLS/SSL, routing, switching, firewalls).
• Ability to partner with application owners and development teams, translating requirements into designs and explaining technical concepts.
• Automation experience with an automate-first mindset, including modern AI toolsets.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including with senior leadership and non-technical stakeholders.
• Ability to prioritize and lead effectively in a fast-paced environment with shifting demands.

Qualifications

• Deep hands-on experience with F5 Distributed Cloud (XC), including application delivery, DNS, and security services.
• Experience with F5 Advanced WAF/ASM or F5 Distributed Cloud WAF policy design and tuning.
• Experience leading platform modernization or technology transition initiatives across on-premises and cloud environments.
• Experience supporting globally distributed, customer-facing, or e-commerce application platforms.
• Experience with cloud-native application delivery and security services (e.g., Azure Application Gateway, Azure Load Balancer, Azure Front Door, Azure WAF).
• Experience managing vendor or managed service relationships, including service reviews and escalation management.
• Familiarity with enterprise software licensing models, such as F5’s Flexible Consumption Program (FCP).
• Experience using AI-assisted tooling to build automations and drive adoption.
• Familiarity with content delivery (CDN) and caching concepts.
• F5 certifications (e.g., F5 Certified Technology Specialist or F5 Certified Solution Expert) are a strong plus.
• Familiarity with monitoring, logging, and observability tools for application delivery platforms.

Pay

A reasonable estimate of the current base pay range for this position is $114,000 to $142,500 annually. Actual salary will be based on factors such as shift, location, experience, skill set, performance, licensure, certification, and business needs. The range may differ in other geographic locations.

Benefits

• Health and Wellbeing: Health (Medical & Prescription), Dental, Vision Care, Onsite Health Centers (MO & IL), Employee Assistance Program, Wellness program.
• Financial Benefits: Competitive Pay, Profit Sharing, 401k Plan with Company Matching, Life and Disability Insurance, Flexible Spending Accounts, Tuition Reimbursement.
• Paid Time Off: PTO & Holidays, Parental Leave, Medical Leave, Military Leave, Bereavement, Day of Caring.
• Additional Perks: Family Planning Benefits, Nursing Mothers Benefits, Voluntary Legal, Voluntary Supplemental Accident/Illness/Hospital, Voluntary ID Theft, Pet Insurance, Employee Discount Program.