Lead Software Engineer - L2/L3 Protocol testing

Lead Software Engineer - L2/L3 Protocol testingThis role has been designed as ‘’Onsite’ with an expectation that you will primarily work from an HPE office.

Who We Are:

Hewlett Packard Enterprise is the global edge-to-cloud company advancing the way people live and work. We help companies connect, protect, analyze, and act on their data and applications wherever they live, from edge to cloud, so they can turn insights into outcomes at the speed required to thrive in today’s complex world. Our culture thrives on finding new and better ways to accelerate what’s next. We know varied backgrounds are valued and succeed here. We have the flexibility to manage our work and personal needs. We make bold moves, together, and are a force for good. If you are looking to stretch and grow your career our culture will embrace you. Open up opportunities with HPE.

Job Description:

We are looking for a “Lead Software Engineer - Protocol Test” to lead test strategy, automation, and quality improvements for complex networking software and platforms. The role involves creating scalable test plans, building reusable automation, supporting customer escalations, and driving continuous improvement in test coverage and product quality.

###

What you will do :

• Review functional specifications and design documents to define comprehensive test strategies.
• Create test plans covering functional, scale, performance, resiliency, interoperability, upgrade, and negative scenarios.
• Design and develop Python-based automation frameworks, libraries, and reusable test suites.
• Integrate automated tests into regression and release validation pipelines.
• Lead investigation and replication of complex customer-reported issues.
• Analyze field defects to identify test coverage gaps and add preventive regression coverage.
• Work with development, architecture, product, support, and test teams to validate fixes and assess release readiness.
• Mentor engineers, review test designs and automation code, and promote best practices.
• Drive innovation in test automation, diagnostics, traffic validation, and quality metrics.

###

What you need to bring :

• Strong experience in network software testing, test automation, or systems validation.
• Advanced Python programming and automation framework development.
• Deep knowledge of networking technologies such as QoS, ACL/firewall, forwarding, multicast, L2/L3 protocols, MACsec, VRRP, VPLS, EVPN, VLANs, and MPLS.
• Experience with traffic generators such as Spirent, Ixia, or similar tools.
• Strong debugging skills across control plane, data plane, platform, and configuration layers.
• Experience handling customer escalations, reproducing issues, and validating fixes.
• Excellent communication, collaboration, and technical leadership skills.
• Self-starter with strong ownership and ability to work in ambiguous environments.

###

Preferred Skills

• Experience with large-scale service provider, enterprise, or data center network deployments.
• Familiarity with network operating systems and hardware forwarding architectures.
• Experience with CI/CD, regression systems, source control, and code review processes.
• Knowledge of Robot Framework, PyTest or similar automation tools.
• Relevant networking or cloud certifications.

###

Education and Experience

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Information Systems, or equivalent experience.
• Typically 12+ years of relevant experience, with demonstrated technical leadership and ownership of complex validation areas.

What We Can Offer You:

Health & Wellbeing

We strive to provide our team members and their loved ones with a comprehensive suite of benefits that supports their physical, financial and emotional wellbeing.

Personal & Professional Development

We also invest in your career because the better you are, the better we all are. We have specific programs catered to helping you reach any career goals you have — whether you want to become a knowledge expert in your field or apply your skills to another division.

Unconditional Inclusion

We are unconditionally inclusive in the way we work and celebrate individual uniqueness. We know varied backgrounds are valued and succeed here. We have the flexibility to manage our work and personal needs. We make bold moves, together, and are a force for good.

Let’s Stay Connected:

Follow [@HPECareers](http://instagram.com/hp…