Network Automation Engineer

Responsibilities

• Strategic Roadmap & Vision: Evaluate the current state of our network automation capabilities. Define, prioritize, and maintain the product backlog, translating business requirements into actionable user stories and a comprehensive automation roadmap (including enhancements to existing scripts and net-new use cases).
• Vendor & Delivery Management: Direct and drive the external vendor development teams responsible for writing and implementing the automation scripts. Ensure their deliverables align with architectural standards, timelines, and business logic.
• Project Leadership: Act as the hands-on lead for end-to-end network automation initiatives, ensuring cross-functional alignment and on-time delivery using Agile/Scrum methodologies.
• Stakeholder Collaboration: Partner with Network Engineering, Security, and Operations teams to understand pain points, gather requirements, and evangelize the adoption of automation tools.
• Metrics & Governance: Define and track Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to measure the success, efficiency gains, and ROI of implemented network automation solutions.

Qualifications

Experience & Leadership

• 1012 years of experience in network engineering, with a heavy emphasis on network automation design and implementation.
• Proven track record of leading complex, large-scale network automation projects from conception through to production.
• Demonstrated leadership skills with experience managing distributed teams, vendor partners, and driving accountability in a fast-paced environment.
• Strong understanding of Agile frameworks, serving effectively as a Product Owner (Scrum/PO certifications like CSPO or POPM are a significant plus).

Technical Competencies

• Hands-on expertise with Infrastructure as Code (IaaC) concepts and configuration management tools, specifically Ansible.
• Proficiency in Python and modern Python-based network automation frameworks (e.g., Nornir, Nautobot, NetBox).
• Deep architectural understanding of core networking concepts (Routing/Switching, BGP, OSPF, VPNs, Load Balancing) across multi-vendor environments (Cisco, Juniper, Arista, etc.).
• Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines (Jenkins, GitLab CI), version control (Git), and REST APIs for network integration.