SD-WAN / MPLS
Also written as SD-WAN, MPLS, WAN, Software-Defined WAN, Cisco Viptela, VeloCloud, Fortinet SD-WAN
Ways of connecting a company's branches, offices and data centres into one network (the WAN, or wide area network). MPLS is the older approach: private links leased from a telecom provider. SD-WAN is the newer, centrally managed approach that mixes ordinary internet links, 4G/5G and MPLS.
Think of it like
MPLS is a private toll road between your offices; SD-WAN is a traffic app that picks the best of several roads for each trip.
Junior or senior?
Common at banks, retailers and manufacturers with many branches.
Junior sounds like
Monitors links and raises tickets with the provider.
Senior sounds like
Has rolled out SD-WAN across many sites or moved branches off MPLS.
Ask them
“How many sites did your WAN connect, and were you part of moving branches from MPLS to SD-WAN? What went wrong during the rollout?”
Reading SD-WAN / MPLS on a resume
- Common
- SD-WAN / MPLS narrows the field but doesn't prove depth on its own. The junior-versus-senior contrast above is what separates one candidate from another.
Sourcing for SD-WAN / MPLS
Every way it's written
("SD-WAN" OR "MPLS" OR "WAN" OR "Software-Defined WAN")Paste into LinkedIn Recruiter, Naukri or your ATS. Combine with a job title and location.
Wider net, with accepted substitutes
("SD-WAN" OR "MPLS" OR "WAN" OR "Software-Defined WAN" OR "Cisco Viptela" OR "VeloCloud")Includes skills a hiring manager would usually accept instead. Use it when the exact search runs dry.
Job titles to search alongside it
Network Engineer · Network Administrator · System Administrator · IT Infrastructure Engineer · Network Security Engineer · NOC Engineer · Windows Administrator · Linux Administrator
Where this talent works in India — Networking & IT Infrastructure
Target companies that build networking gear or run large networks and data centres themselves: equipment makers, telecom operators, data-centre operators and infrastructure-services firms. Help-desk-heavy outsourcing contracts use the same titles with far less design work, so ask who designed the network, not just who kept it running.
For example: Cisco, Juniper Networks (HPE), HPE Aruba Networking, Arista Networks, Extreme Networks, F5, Infoblox, Nokia.