Fortinet Network Engineer/Architect

Job: Fortinet Network Engineer / Architect

Location: Costa Mesa, CA (onsite)

Contract: 4-6 months (3-5 days/week for the first 90 days, then part-time)

Overview

Seeking a senior Fortinet engineer/architect to support a Cisco-to-Fortinet wireless migration. This role will embed onsite to stabilize network performance, resolve roaming/connectivity issues, and define a repeatable deployment model.

Responsibilities

• Lead wireless validation (Ekahau); resolve coverage gaps, roaming issues, RF interference, and misconfigs
• Troubleshoot FortiGate/FortiOS (policies, routing, NAT, HA, IPS/AV impacts)
• Optimize SD-WAN (rules, health checks, SLAs, BGP/OSPF overlays)
• Assess switching, VLANs, uplinks, and IDF/MDF readiness
• Conduct wireless stress testing (iPerf) and document findings
• Develop a standardized Fortinet deployment playbook
• Present findings and remediation plans to technical teams and stakeholders

Requirements

• Strong Fortinet experience: FortiAP, FortiGate, FortiOS, FortiWLC, SD-WAN
• Proven troubleshooting in complex enterprise wireless environments
• Cisco-to-Fortinet migration experience preferred
• Knowledge of FortiWLC vs. FortiOS controller models
• Strong routing (BGP, OSPF), NAT, and SD-WAN expertise
• Experience standardizing multi-site deployments

Certifications

• NSE 4 (required)
• NSE 7 / FCSS (preferred)
• NSE 8 (preferred)

Soft Skills

• Strong client-facing communication (technical + executive)
• Self-directed, hands-on problem solver
• Collaborative with internal teams