Corporate Network Engineer

About the company

Panthalassa is a renewable energy and ocean technology company that builds autonomous, ocean-powered nodes that generate electricity from wave energy and run AI computing onboard.

About this role

<h3><strong>About the Company</strong></h3> <p>We are a renewable energy and ocean technology company committed to rapidly developing and deploying technologies that will ensure a sustainable future for Earth by unlocking the vast energy potential of its oceans. Our focus is on capturing civilizational levels of ultra-low-cost renewable energy for applications including computing and affordable renewable fuels delivered to shore.</p> <p>The company is a public benefit corporation headquartered in Portland, Oregon, and backed by leading venture capitalists, philanthropic investors, university endowments, and private investment offices. We operate as an idea meritocracy in which the best ideas change the company’s direction on a regular basis.</p> <h3><strong>About the Job</strong></h3> <p>We're looking for a Corporate Network Engineer to join our IT team and establish the network infrastructure that will enable our teams to advance renewable energy technology and ocean-based computing. You'll be building from the ground up—designing and implementing the corporate office network infrastructure that connects our Portland headquarters, lab facilities, and future locations as we scale.</p> <p>This is a foundational technical role. You'll own the architecture and operation of our corporate networks, including wired and wireless infrastructure, while also establishing the standards, automation, and documentation that future network engineers will rely on. You'll bring both depth of networking expertise and the flexibility to work in a startup environment, balancing immediate operational needs with long-term scalability.</p> <p>This role requires regular on-site presence in our Portland office and facilities. You'll need to be comfortable doing hands-on work, whether that's racking equipment, conducting wireless site surveys, coordinating with contractors during buildouts, or troubleshooting physical infrastructure. You are a team player with a "roll up your sleeves" attitude who can move seamlessly between strategic planning and tactical execution.</p> <p>Candidates should have strong interpersonal skills and be able to thrive in a creative, scrappy, and collaborative environment in which the best ideas change the company's direction on a regular basis. Our team members have worked at organizations such as SpaceX, Blue Origin, Boeing, Virgin Orbit, Virgin Galactic, Google, Amazon, Microsoft, New Relic, Bridgewater, Raytheon, Disney Imagineering, and the naval architecture faculty of the University of Michigan.</p> <h3><strong>Responsibilities</strong></h3> <ul> <li>Design and implement corporate office network infrastructure from the ground up, including wired and wireless networks, across our Portland campus and future locations.</li> <li>Establish network standards, best practices, and architectural patterns that will scale as we rapidly expand our facilities and headcount.</li> <li>Build and maintain high-performance wireless networks that support dense user environments, lab equipment, and diverse device requirements.</li> <li>Develop automation tools and monitoring solutions to ensure network reliability and rapid issue resolution.</li> <li>Partner with Facilities team to plan and integrate network infrastructure into new office, lab and industrial facility buildouts and expansions.</li> <li>Manage vendor relationships, oversee circuit procurement, and handle equipment lifecycle planning.</li> <li>Create comprehensive documentation, runbooks, and knowledge bases in Confluence for network operations.</li> <li>Implement network security controls including segmentation, access control, and firewall policies.</li> <li>Collaborate with infrastructure and DevOps teams to ensure seamless connectivity between office networks and cloud resources (GCP, Azure).</li> <li>Participate in an on-call rotation to provide network support and incident response.</li> </ul> <h3><strong>Growth Opportunities</strong></h3> <p>This role is intentionally designed with room to stretch. Depending on your interests and growth, you may also:</p> <ul> <li>Design specialized network infrastructure to support our ocean-based computing facilities and marine operations.</li> <li>Lead the implementation of our zero trust network architecture and identity-based access controls.</li> <li>Build network observability platforms and advanced monitoring solutions.</li> <li>Architect hybrid connectivity solutions between on-premises infrastructure and cloud environments.</li> <li>Mentor future network engineering hires as the team grows.</li> <li>Contribute to building automation and IoT network requirements for our lab and production facilities.</li> </ul> <h3><strong>Required Qualifications</strong></h3> <ul> <li>5+ years of experience designing and operating enterprise IP networks, with focus on corporate/office environments.</li> <li>Proficiency with firewall management, routing protocols, VLANs, and layer 2/3 switching technologies.</li> <li>Hands-on experience designing and troubleshooting enterprise wireless networks at scale.</li> <li>Experience with network configuration automation and scripting.</li> <li>Understanding of physical network infrastructure including structured cabling standards, IDF/MDF design, and equipment installation.</li> <li>Experience with network security best practices including segmentation, 802.1X, and firewall policies.</li> <li>Comfort with Linux/Unix systems and network troubleshooting tools.</li> <li>Ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously while working with facilities teams, contractors, and vendors.</li> <li>Excellent communication skills with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.</li> <li>Excitement about renewable energy and the opportunity to build foundational infrastructure at a mission-driven company.</li> </ul> <h3><strong>Desired Qualifications</strong></h3> <ul> <li>Experience establishing network infrastructure and standards at high-growth startups or rapid-scale