Freelance Network Site Survey Engineer (ZZP)

We are looking for an experienced engineer who can independently survey, verify, and document the current network infrastructure at all in-scope sites. The initial priority is to complete the 2026 survey programme. The assignment may continue in 2027 with remediation, migration, rollout, testing, and decommissioning activities.

Assignment objective: Create a verified current-state record for every site and identify the physical, technical, security, and operational conditions that affect migration to the new desired network. The resulting evidence must support target design, migration planning, remediation, procurement, implementation, and acceptance.

Responsibilities: Survey preparation: review existing site, WAN, LAN, wireless, cabling, floor-plan, circuit, and asset information before each visit; use a standard pre-survey data request and obtain controller, switch, CMDB, monitoring, and carrier information from the responsible suppliers; confirm the local contact, building access, restricted areas, escort requirements, working hours, photography rules, and safety requirements; prepare a site-specific visit pack and record missing information before travel.

On-site infrastructure survey: locate and document all main equipment rooms, intermediate distribution rooms, network cabinets, demarcation points, and relevant technical spaces; record room ownership, physical access controls, shared access, door and rack locks, visitor arrangements, CCTV where applicable, and whether sensitive equipment is protected from unauthorised access; assess rack condition, available rack units, cabinet depth, door clearance, working space, equipment mounting, cable management, labelling, cleanliness, and whether racks can be closed and secured; document power feeds, PDUs, UPS equipment, available sockets, redundancy, grounding, cooling, temperature monitoring, fire detection or suppression, water exposure, and other environmental risks; verify structured cabling, patch panels, copper and fibre uplinks, cable routes, spare capacity, connector types, labelling, and visible defects; record carrier handoff points, routers, firewalls, SD-WAN devices, switches, wireless controllers, access points, telephony equipment, and other network-related components; take clear and consistently named photographs of rooms, racks, equipment, labels, patch panels, power connections, cable routes, and identified risks, subject to local security rules.

Access point and switch-port reconciliation: create a complete access-point inventory for each site, including hostname, manufacturer, model, serial number, MAC address, asset owner, firmware, operational state, controller or cloud platform, and physical position; record the building, floor, room or area, mounting position, label, photo reference, and the network outlet or patch-panel reference for each access point; determine the connected switch, switch stack or member, switch port, PoE status, access or management VLAN, and uplink path by using approved controller exports, LLDP or CDP data, switch information, CMDB records, and supplier evidence; reconcile the logical supplier export with the physical survey; flag access points that are missing, unregistered, offline, incorrectly located, duplicated, connected to an unexpected port, or present in the controller but not found on site; request information from the supplier when direct access is not available; track requests, missing evidence, response dates, and escalations in the project register; do not disconnect equipment or change production configurations unless a separate approved change authorises the work.

Current-state and migration assessment: confirm network ownership and identify landlord, carrier, and shared components or services; document known WAN circuits, bandwidth, redundancy, routing or segmentation dependencies, local services, printers, telephony, building systems, and other services that may affect separation or cutover; compare the current situation with the agreed new requirements once those requirements are available; identify what can be reused, what must be replaced, what needs remediation, and what must be clarified before migration; classify findings by impact and urgency, and provide a clear proposed action, owner, and target date.

Supplier and stakeholder coordination: coordinate with country IT contacts, local facilities, suppliers or successor suppliers, local teams, carriers, and cabling or installation partners; use the agreed communication matrix, evidence request, naming convention, reporting template, and escalation route for every site; provide a concise progress update at least twice per week during the execution period and immediately report findings that present a security, safety, availability, or schedule risk; follow up open questions until the evidence is received, an owner accepts the gap, or the programme lead records a formal exception.

Required experience and skills: several years of practical experience with enterprise LAN, WAN, Wi-Fi, SD-WAN, firewalls, switches, routers, and structured cabling; experience performing network infrastructure surveys, technical audits, rollout readiness checks, or data-centre and office migration assessments; ability to understand rack layouts, cabling, fibre and copper connections, patching, PoE, UPS and PDU arrangements, carrier handoffs, and physical network dependencies; ability to use switch and wireless information such as LLDP, CDP, MAC address tables, ARP information, controller exports, monitoring data, and CMDB records to reconcile physical and logical assets; strong documentation skills in Excel and diagramming tools such as Visio, draw.io, or an equivalent tool; ability to work independently, plan international travel, coordinate access, manage suppliers, and keep documentation accurate under time pressure; professional English communication skills; additional European languages are useful; willingness and legal ability to travel frequently within Europe.