Layer 7 Application Engineer

Layer 7 Application Engineer

We are seeking a Layer 7 Application Engineer to diagnose and resolve application-layer performance issues across a large enterprise environment. This role focuses on how applications behave on the wire, including HTTP/S, APIs, DNS, TLS, load balancing, and authentication, and works across application, network, and cloud teams to find and fix the root cause.

Responsibilities
*Capture and analyze application traffic to isolate slow page loads, API timeouts, failed transactions, and other Layer 7 performance problems.
*Diagnose HTTP/S issues, including status codes, headers, caching, session persistence, redirects, and request/response timing.
*Troubleshoot REST and SOAP API performance, including payload size, chatty transactions, connection reuse, and backend dependency delays.
*Investigate DNS resolution delays, misconfigurations, and failures affecting application availability.
*Analyze TLS/SSL handshakes, certificate chains, cipher negotiation, and decryption to identify encrypted-session failures and latency.
*Troubleshoot authentication and SSO workflows such as SAML, OAuth, Kerberos, LDAP, and Azure AD / Entra ID.
*Diagnose issues involving load balancers, reverse proxies, web application firewalls, and application delivery controllers (F5, NetScaler, or similar).
*Trace end-to-end transactions across users, data centers, the internet, and Azure to pinpoint where application response time degrades.
*Separate application-layer causes from underlying network issues (latency, packet loss, retransmissions) to direct the right team to the fix.
*Lead technical troubleshooting during high-impact incidents and produce clear root-cause findings, timelines, and follow-up actions.
*Establish application performance baselines, review recurring trends, and recommend changes that improve availability and the end-user experience.
*Create troubleshooting guides, runbooks, and technical documentation that strengthen team response capabilities.

Required Qualifications
*Professional experience diagnosing application performance problems in a large enterprise environment.
*Deep knowledge of Layer 7 protocols and services, including HTTP/S, REST APIs, DNS, TLS/SSL, and common authentication flows.
*Advanced packet-capture and protocol-analysis skills using Wireshark, tcpdump, or comparable tools, including decrypting and reading application traffic.
*Experience with load balancers, proxies, or ADCs (F5 BIG-IP, Citrix NetScaler, or similar).
*Working knowledge of TCP/IP and how network latency, packet loss, and retransmissions affect application performance.
*Experience with APM or network performance monitoring tools (Dynatrace, AppDynamics, New Relic, ThousandEyes, or similar).
*Experience troubleshooting applications hosted in or connected to Azure, including ExpressRoute or comparable hybrid-cloud connectivity.
*Ability to explain complex technical findings clearly and collaborate across application, network, cloud, and security teams.
*Experience contributing to incident response and formal root-cause analysis.

Preferred Qualifications
*Exposure to Cisco enterprise networks, SD-WAN, and Direct Internet Access architectures.
*Scripting experience (Python, PowerShell, or Bash) to automate captures or analysis.
*Certifications such as WCNA, F5 Certified, CCNA/CCNP, or Azure certifications.