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Network Engineering & Simulation Expert — Hephaestus

$70–$90/hr

Published pay. The final rate depends on your test, experience and country.

United States Language: English Posted 5 Nov 2026

Network Engineering & Simulation Expert — Hephaestus is remote AI-training work for security teams, paying $70–$90/hr, open to applicants in United States. Posted 5 Nov 2026, still open on 5 Nov 2026. Zekai lists it for free; the application goes to the employer's platform.

About this role

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Role Overview

our partner is seeking experienced network engineers to build and validate technical tasks for AI systems working with enterprise, data-center, and service-provider networks.

The work focuses on executable network configurations, reproducible simulated or emulated topologies, troubleshooting, and measurable verification. Contributors create the network artifacts and reference solutions behind each task and test whether a proposed configuration produces the required behavior.

Key Responsibilities

  • Design realistic tasks involving routing, switching, network services, segmentation, access policies, redundancy, or performance.

  • Build reproducible network topologies and device configurations using relevant tools such as containerlab, GNS3, EVE-NG, Mininet, ns-3, FRRouting, or equivalent platforms.

  • Configure and debug scenarios involving technologies such as BGP, OSPF, VLANs, IPv4/IPv6, DNS, DHCP, NAT, VPNs, or firewalls, within your area of expertise.

  • Develop automated checks for reachability, route selection, policy enforcement, isolation, convergence, failover, latency, throughput, and packet loss. Use tests of live behavior alongside configuration inspection.

  • Produce reference configurations, traffic or failure scenarios, and verification scripts; validate both successful and deliberately incorrect cases.

  • Package topology files, configuration dependencies, scripts, packet captures, and results so another engineer can reproduce the outcome.

  • Review AI-generated configurations and diagnose the cause of failures. Use coding agents to support automation while independently validating network behavior.

Ideal Qualifications

  • 5+ years of professional network engineering experience, with direct ownership of enterprise, data-center, cloud, or service-provider networks.

  • Strong hands-on routing, switching, troubleshooting, and network-policy skills.

  • Experience building network labs, simulations, or emulations and analyzing traffic with tools such as Wireshark, tcpdump, or iperf. Familiarity with every listed platform is not required.

  • Ability to write and debug Python, shell, Ansible, or comparable automation for repeatable setup and verification.

  • Sound judgment about protocol behavior, failure modes, measurement limitations, and differences between simulated and production networks.

  • Clear technical communication. Relevant certifications such as CCNP, CCIE, or JNCIP, and experience with network test automation, are a plus.

Compensation

  • Writers: $70–$80/hour.
  • Reviewers: $90/hour.

Location: United States.

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What to know before you apply

Pay
At the published rate, 10 hours a week would be about $700–$900 and 20 hours about $1,400–$1,800 before tax. Hours depend on the project, so treat this as a ceiling, not a promise.
Location
Only applicants located in United States can be paid for this role. Platforms usually verify where you are, so apply only if you are based there.
Credentials
The listing asks for 5+ years of experience. Put it in the first line of your profile: reviewers screen for it before anything else.
Timing
This listing is new today. Projects can close once they have enough people, so it is worth applying while it is open.
Test tips for security teams
  • Judge AI security advice against real attack paths, not checklists.
  • Flag unsafe commands and missing input validation first.
  • Reference CVEs, CWE or OWASP categories when you correct.
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