Network Engineer

Network Engineer Onsite/Hybrid -

Santa Clara, CA Exp :

10 yrs What are the top 3 skills required for this role?

Experience with network automation tooling:

Ansible, Nornir, NAPALM, pyATS, Batfish, NetBox/Nautobot Exposure to CI/CD pipelines (GitLab CI, GitHub Actions, Jenkins) applied to network configuration workflows Knowledge of infrastructureascode concepts as applied to networking Experience in a dedicated network validation or solutions engineering lab environment

Certifications:

CCNP / CCIE

(Enterprise or Data Center), JNCIP, ACE, or equivalent professional level certification will help. Job Description/ Responsibilities Lab Validation & Testing o Receive network use cases from architecture, engineering, or business stakeholders and translate them into structured lab test plans covering functional, performance, resiliency, and failure-scenario testing o Execute high-touch validation of enterprise networking technologies including switching, routing, wireless, SD-WAN, firewalling, and network automation platforms o Deliver complete validation packages including: o Logical and physical topology diagrams o Device configurations (sanitized and version-controlled) o Step-by-step test procedures and results o Pass/fail summaries with root cause analysis for failures o Go/No-Go recommendations with supporting evidence o Perform rack and stack of lab equipment when required - cable management, power sequencing, console access setup, and physical layer verification Design & Documentation o Produce clear, detailed lab reports that can be handed directly to production engineering teams for deployment o Maintain up-to-date physical and logical topology documentation for all active lab topologies o Document configurations using version control (Git) so all tested configs are traceable and reusable o Build and maintain a library of validated reference architectures and design patterns Vendor Collaboration o Partner with network vendors (Cisco, Arista, Juniper, Palo Alto, Aruba, etc.) to conduct joint proof-of-concept testing and feature validation o Drive vendor-supported test engagements including bug reproduction, feature requests, and interoperability testing o Evaluate new hardware and software releases against defined acceptance criteria before recommending adoption o Manage loaner equipment logistics and coordinate lab access for vendor engineers Automation & CI/CD o Write scripts (Python, Bash, Ansible) to automate repetitive lab tasks - device provisioning, configuration push, test execution, and results collection o Build or maintain CI/CD pipelines (Jenkins, GitLab CI, GitHub Actions) for automated configuration validation and regression testing o Develop test automation frameworks using tools such as pyATS, Robot Framework, Batfish, or NAPALM o Integrate lab test results into reporting dashboards or ticketing systems to provide traceability from test run to design decision