Principal Network Automation Engineer

What You’ll Be Doing

• Lead architecture, design, and implementation of network automation platforms across datacenter, cloud, campus, and enterprise environments.
• Build source-of-truth–driven automation workflows using in-house platforms and authoritative network data models.
• Design and maintain scalable data models for sites, fabrics, roles, interfaces, addressing, and deployment intent.
• Generate intent-based deployment artifacts (cutsheets, cable matrices, rack elevations, port maps, deployment docs) from network models.
• Create automated configuration generation pipelines using templating + IaC patterns to render device/service configs from model data.
• Create multi-vendor provisioning, onboarding, and Zero Touch Provisioning (ZTP) workflows for network platforms and services.
• Develop automated validation/health-check tooling (pre/post checks, compliance, readiness) and integrate with CI/CD and operations systems.
• Collaborate cross-functionally and provide technical leadership by setting standards (reliability, security, testability, documentation) and mentoring engineers.

What We Need To See

• Bachelor’s degree (or equivalent experience) in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Information Systems, or related field.
• 15+ years in network/infrastructure engineering, including 7+ years building production-grade network automation.
• Strong software engineering skills in Python and Golang (required); YAML, Bash, JavaScript experience is a plus.
• Proven ability to design and deliver large-scale network automation using IaC and API-driven approaches.
• Hands-on experience with DCIM/IPAM / Source-of-Truth platforms (e.g., Nautobot/NetBox), including data modeling and API integration.
• Experience building config generation pipelines using templating/automation frameworks (e.g., Jinja2, Ansible).
• Strong experience with Terraform/Ansible (or similar), including reusable modules, versioned workflows, and pipeline integration.
• Deep understanding of datacenter networking fundamentals: TCP/IP, switching/routing, BGP, EVPN/VXLAN.
• Experience across multi-vendor network platforms/NOS (e.g., NVIDIA/Mellanox, Arista, Cisco, Juniper) and automating via REST/CLI with secure access patterns.
• Strong DevOps mindset: CI/CD (Jenkins/GitLab), ZTP/onboarding, automated validation/compliance/health checks, strong Linux fundamentals, and clear cross-functional communication/ownership.