Top 12 Senior Network Engineer Skills to Put on Your Resume

Hiring managers skim fast. Senior network engineers who surface the right skills, clearly, win more calls. Stack your resume with the things that prove you design, secure, and tune complex networks without flinching. The twelve skills below carry weight. They show depth, breadth, and readiness for the tricky stuff.

Senior Network Engineer Skills

1. Cisco IOS
2. Juniper Junos
3. BGP (Border Gateway Protocol)
4. OSPF (Open Shortest Path First)
5. MPLS (Multiprotocol Label Switching)
6. IPv6
7. QoS (Quality of Service)
8. SD-WAN (Software-Defined WAN)
9. Network Security
10. Cloud Networking
11. Wireless Technologies
12. Network Automation

1. Cisco IOS

Cisco IOS powers most Cisco routers and many switches. It delivers the control plane and data plane features that keep routing, switching, security, and services humming across enterprise backbones and edges.

Why It's Important

A common platform across a broad device lineup means consistent configuration, predictable operations, and deeply mature tooling. That stability translates into uptime, sane troubleshooting, and strong security controls you can trust.

How to Improve Cisco IOS Skills

1. Plan upgrades, not just patches: Track code trains, use maintenance releases, and leverage ISSU where supported to minimize downtime.

2. Harden the box: Enforce SSHv2, AAA with TACACS+ or RADIUS, role-based CLI views, secure boot, and control-plane policing (CoPP). Lock down management planes and disable unused services.

3. Automate the drudge: Use EEM applets, NETCONF/RESTCONF, and model-driven telemetry. Let scripts handle backups, rollbacks, and compliance checks.

4. See the traffic: Export NetFlow/IPFIX, stream telemetry, and baseline performance. Noise becomes signal when you can graph it.

5. Engineer quality: Define QoS classes, trust boundaries, and queueing strategies that protect real-time and business-critical flows.

6. Design for resilience: Deploy FHRPs like HSRP/VRRP/GLBP, tune object tracking, and use StackWise/VSS or equivalent for high availability.

7. Document ruthlessly: Golden configs, topology diagrams, and change logs save hours when seconds count.

How to Display Cisco IOS Skills on Your Resume

2. Juniper Junos

Junos OS drives Juniper routing, switching, and security gear with a consistent, modular design. Clean configuration hierarchy, commit checks, and rollbacks make operations calm instead of chaotic.

Why It's Important

Reliability, strong automation hooks, and a unified CLI let you scale changes with confidence across data centers, WANs, and security edges.

How to Improve Juniper Junos Skills

1. Use the commit pipeline: Validate with commit check/confirmed, harness groups and apply-groups, and roll back quickly when needed.

2. Automate natively: Lean on NETCONF, YANG, PyEZ, event and commit scripts, and JSNAPy for pre/post-change testing.

3. Lab like you mean it: Spin up virtual labs to test topologies, features, and failure domains before touching production.

4. Harden and monitor: Lock management access, enforce routing-protocol authentication, and stream telemetry for visibility.

5. Stay current: Track release notes, features, and known issues for the platforms you run.

How to Display Juniper Junos Skills on Your Resume

3. BGP (Border Gateway Protocol)

BGP glues the internet together and keeps large private networks sane. It exchanges reachability between autonomous systems and enforces policy at scale.

Why It's Important

Resilience, selective control, and global reach. BGP is the knob that shapes where traffic goes and how quickly it recovers when links or neighbors fail.

How to Improve BGP (Border Gateway Protocol) Skills

1. Filter first: Prefix-lists, AS-path filters, and route-maps guard the door. Never trust inbound routes blindly. Strip private ASNs when appropriate.

2. Turn on RPKI origin validation: Publish ROAs and enforce route origin validation to reduce hijacks and leaks.

3. Control scale: Use route reflectors for iBGP, tune cluster IDs, and consider add-path for multipath visibility.

4. Converge faster: Pair BGP with BFD, enable Graceful Restart and, if needed, Long-Lived Graceful Restart. Use max-prefix to avoid meltdowns.

5. Tag with intent: Communities and large communities power clean policy. Document their meaning and keep them consistent.

6. Secure the session: TTL security (GTSM), MD5/AEAD authentication, and prefix limits. Keep it tight.

7. Be cautious with damping: Outdated damping defaults can hurt convergence. Apply only when you must, tuned carefully.

How to Display BGP (Border Gateway Protocol) Skills on Your Resume

4. OSPF (Open Shortest Path First)

OSPF is a link-state IGP for IPv4 and IPv6 that calculates shortest paths with Dijkstra’s algorithm. Hierarchical areas keep scale and churn under control.

Why It's Important

Enterprises rely on quick convergence and deterministic paths. OSPF provides both with solid support for large domains and clean policy at area borders.

How to Improve OSPF (Open Shortest Path First) Skills

1. Design the areas: Keep a small, stable backbone (Area 0). Use stub and NSSA types where external routes add little value.

2. Summarize smartly: ABRs should aggregate routes to limit LSDB size and SPF workload.

3. Tune timers with intent: Hello/dead intervals adjusted per link type. Add BFD for rapid failure detection on critical paths.

4. Choose the right network type: Point-to-point vs broadcast vs NBMA changes DR/BDR behavior and adjacency count.

5. Secure adjacencies: OSPFv2 authentication, OSPFv3 IPsec/AES, and passive interfaces on non-transit links.

6. Redistribute carefully: Tag and filter. Avoid feedback loops. Keep external noise out of sensitive areas.

7. Audit regularly: Prune stale neighbors, remove dead interfaces, and align costs with actual bandwidth and policy.

How to Display OSPF (Open Shortest Path First) Skills on Your Resume

5. MPLS (Multiprotocol Label Switching)

MPLS forwards packets using labels, not long lookups. It enables VPNs, traffic engineering, and predictable paths across provider and large enterprise cores.

Why It's Important

Low-latency steering, scale, and feature depth. MPLS keeps big networks efficient and resilient while cleanly separating tenants and services.

How to Improve MPLS (Multiprotocol Label Switching) Skills

1. Engineer the traffic: RSVP-TE still works, but Segment Routing (SR-MPLS or SRv6) simplifies control planes and path computation.

2. Fail over in a blink: TI-LFA and Fast Reroute deliver sub-50ms protection. Test fail paths, not just the happy ones.

3. Mind LDP and IGP sync: Prevent blackholing during convergence. Protect sessions and prioritize label distribution stability.

4. QoS with intent: Map DSCP to EXP/TC, pick pipe or short-pipe models, and size queues to match SLAs.

5. Scale L3VPNs sanely: Standardize RT/RD schemes, enable RTC (route target constraint) where supported, and use BGP PIC for fast edge/core recovery.

6. Observe everything: MPLS-aware telemetry, LSP ping/traceroute, and path liveliness probes keep paths honest.

How to Display MPLS (Multiprotocol Label Switching) Skills on Your Resume

6. IPv6

IPv6 replaces IPv4’s cramped space with a vast address pool, cleaner headers, and first-hop security features. It’s the present, not just the future.

Why It's Important

Address exhaustion is real. IPv6 enables growth, simplifies routing, and supports modern services and IoT at massive scale.

How to Improve IPv6 Skills

1. Plan the space: Hierarchical addressing, documented prefixes, and predictable subnets. Distinguish ULA and GUA clearly.

2. Choose provisioning: SLAAC, DHCPv6, or both. Align with your inventory and security model.

3. Secure first hops: RA Guard, DHCPv6 Guard, and IPv6 ACLs. Allow required ICMPv6; blocking it breaks discovery and PMTUD.

4. Transition on purpose: Prefer dual-stack. Use NAT64/DNS64, 464XLAT, or MAP when necessary. Follow updated transition guidance (for example, RFC 4213 supersedes older docs).

5. Fix the DNS: AAAA records, reverse zones (ip6.arpa), and coherent TTLs. Don’t forget monitoring.

6. Observe and troubleshoot: Flow logs, telemetry, and the usual suspects (ping6, traceroute6, ndp). Bake IPv6 into your IPAM.

How to Display IPv6 Skills on Your Resume

7. QoS (Quality of Service)

QoS carves out predictable performance by classifying, marking, queuing, shaping, and sometimes policing traffic. When the pipe is full, policy decides who waits.

Why It's Important

Voice, video, control traffic, and interactive apps need guardrails. QoS keeps them snappy when congestion hits.

How to Improve QoS (Quality of Service) Skills

1. Define classes clearly: Mark at the edge, set trust boundaries, and keep the model simple enough to operate.

2. Shape, don’t just police: Use shaping on egress to smooth bursts. Reserve LLQ only for strict real-time flows.

3. Queue with intent: CBWFQ for fairness, LLQ for latency, and AQM (WRED/PIE/Codel) to avoid global synchronization.

4. Measure and iterate: SLA probes, jitter and loss dashboards, and change reviews tied to user experience.

5. Keep it end-to-end: Consistent DSCP mapping across LAN, WAN, Internet edges, and cloud. Consistency beats cleverness.

How to Display QoS (Quality of Service) Skills on Your Resume

8. SD-WAN (Software-Defined WAN)

SD-WAN steers traffic across multiple underlays with centralized policy and real-time awareness. It fuses control, security, and performance into one fabric.

Why It's Important

Better use of bandwidth, simpler operations, and direct-to-cloud performance. All while tightening security posture.

How to Improve SD-WAN (Software-Defined WAN) Skills

1. Go application-aware: Identify apps accurately, then route based on loss, latency, and jitter. DIA breakout where it helps.

2. Condition the path: Packet duplication, FEC, and jitter buffering hide underlay imperfections.

3. Automate lifecycle: Zero-touch provisioning, centralized templates, and API-driven changes reduce drift and toil.

4. Integrate security: NGFW, IDS/IPS, DNS filtering, and CASB/SSE tie-ins. Segment users, sites, and apps by policy.

5. Design for cloud: Use cloud on-ramps and transit hubs. Keep inter-region latency and egress costs in the plan.

6. Prove it with metrics: Per-tunnel analytics, synthetic probes, and user-experience scoring guide routing decisions.

How to Display SD-WAN (Software-Defined WAN) Skills on Your Resume

9. Network Security

Network security combines controls, monitoring, and response. The goal: preserve confidentiality, integrity, and availability despite relentless threats.

Why It's Important

Breaches are costly and public. Strong controls protect data, keep services online, and satisfy regulators and customers alike.

How to Improve Network Security Skills

1. Patch and inventory: If you don’t know you run it, you don’t patch it. Automate updates and verify.

2. Control access: MFA, RBAC, just-in-time access, and hardened admin paths. Enforce 802.1X and NAC on the edge.

3. Segment deeply: Macro and microsegmentation limit blast radius. Least privilege at the network layer.

4. Encrypt by default: TLS for apps, IPsec/MACsec for transport where needed. Manage keys and rotate credentals on schedule.

5. Detect and respond: IDPS at chokepoints, EDR/XDR on endpoints, and SIEM/SOAR to stitch the story together.

6. Test and assess: Regular vulnerability scans, config compliance, and red/blue/purple exercises. Fix findings quickly.

7. Prepare for the worst: Incident response runbooks, tabletop drills, immutable backups, and out-of-band comms.

8. Train everyone: Security awareness, phishing simulations, and clear reporting channels reduce preventable incidents.

How to Display Network Security Skills on Your Resume

10. Cloud Networking

Cloud networking links VPCs/VNets, regions, and on-prem into coherent topologies. Think transit hubs, private connectivity, and policy that travels with the workload.

Why It's Important

Apps live everywhere now. Reliable, secure, and cost-aware cloud networking keeps them reachable and fast without breaking the budget.

How to Improve Cloud Networking Skills

1. Architect the core: Use hub-and-spoke or mesh where it fits. Standardize routing domains, shared services, and DNS resolution.

2. Secure at every hop: Security groups, NACLs, firewalls, and DDoS protection layered cleanly. Zero Trust access for users and services.

3. Pick the right pipes: IPsec VPN for quick wins, private circuits for steady-state bandwidth and predictable latency.

4. Balance and accelerate: L4/L7 load balancers, global anycast, and CDN placement to crush latency.

5. Watch the meter: Egress charges, NAT gateway costs, and inter-region traffic can sting. Use flow logs and cost dashboards to tune paths.

6. Automate everything: Templates and IaC for networks, policies, and firewalls. Drift detection and guardrails baked in.

7. Don’t forget IPv6: Native IPv6 in cloud fabrics simplifies scale and eliminates awkward NAT stacks.

How to Display Cloud Networking Skills on Your Resume

11. Wireless Technologies

Wireless connects people and things without copper. From Wi‑Fi to cellular and IoT radios, RF is the new access layer for most enterprises.

Why It's Important

Mobility is the norm. Reliable, fast, and secure wireless keeps users productive and devices talking.

How to Improve Wireless Technologies Skills

1. Adopt modern standards: Move to Wi‑Fi 6/6E, and evaluate Wi‑Fi 7 where it makes sense. OFDMA, TWT, and wider channels bring big gains when designed well.

2. Design with RF first: Do site surveys, plan channels (DFS-aware), and right-size channel widths. Power levels matter.

3. Secure the air: WPA3‑Enterprise, 802.1X, and strong EAP methods. Use PPSK/MPSK as needed for IoT/guests. Separate SSIDs and VLANs with proper segmentation.

4. Roam smoothly: 802.11r/k/v improve handoffs. Keep QoS with WMM and prioritize voice/video traffic.

5. Watch capacity, not just coverage: AP density, client mix, and airtime fairness dictate experience more than signal bars.

6. Analyze spectrum: Hunt interference, classify sources, and mitigate. Firmware currency helps too.

7. Use mesh wisely: Great for tough spots, but wired backhaul still wins for throughput and stability.

How to Display Wireless Technologies Skills on Your Resume

12. Network Automation

Network automation is code-driven change, validation, and observability. It turns repeatable tasks into reliable pipelines.

Why It's Important

Speed without fear. Fewer mistakes. Consistent deployments. The network keeps pace with the rest of engineering.

How to Improve Network Automation Skills

1. Pick solid foundations: Python, Ansible or Nornir, Jinja2 templates. Know NETCONF/RESTCONF/gNMI and YANG models.

2. Create a source of truth: Store intent in Git and a system of record (for example, NetBox). Generate configs from data, not memory.

3. Test before deploy: CI/CD, dry runs, unit tests, pyATS/Genie, Batfish, and snapshot comparisons to catch drift and bad plans.

4. Make it idempotent: Desired state beats imperative one-offs. Rollbacks ready. Change windows short.

5. Secure the pipeline: Secrets management, RBAC, code reviews, and audit trails. Compliance checks as code.

6. Stream telemetry: Event-driven automation reacts to signals. Closed-loop control handles routine fixes automatically.

7. Share the patterns: Document modules and playbooks. Reuse wins. So does peer feedback.

How to Display Network Automation Skills on Your Resume