Network Automation Engineer

Network Production Engineer – Network Automation

Location: UK – Hybrid, 1–2 days onsite

Contract: 12 months initially

Start Date: ASAP

Working Hours : 40 hours per week, with occasional flexibility until 7:00 PM to collaborate with US team

Important

This role will suit someone who is genuinely strong in networking fundamentals as well as automation/software engineering. Candidates without a solid understanding of core networking concepts and protocols are unlikely to be suitable.

We are looking for an experienced Network Production Engineer to join a high-performing network infrastructure team working on one of the world's largest and most complex networks.

This is an exciting opportunity for a hands-on engineer with strong Python, network automation and networking fundamentals to build and deploy tooling that supports the provisioning, testing, qualification and global rollout of network platforms.

What you'll be doing

• Design and develop Python-based automation, tools and workflows for network provisioning and deployment.
• Build and integrate automation workflows into existing codebases, including platform provisioning and configuration deployment.
• Develop end-to-end test automation frameworks for routers, switches, optical devices and network software.
• Explore and use AI tools to improve automation, testing and engineering productivity.
• Integrate automated testing into CI/CD pipelines for continuous network qualification.
• Test and qualify new network platforms within lab environments before production deployment.
• Work closely with full-time engineers and cross-functional teams to introduce new products into production networks.
• Investigate and troubleshoot complex technical issues involving networking, software, automation and hardware.
• Work hands-on with large-scale network infrastructure and contribute to its ongoing deployment and operation.
• Collaborate across different time zones, including US-based teams.

What we're looking for

Essential:

• 7+ years of experience in software engineering, network engineering, infrastructure engineering or test automation.
• Strong Python programming skills and experience developing automation.
• Experience working with AI-assisted development tools and applying AI to coding or automation.
• Strong understanding of core networking fundamentals and protocols , including:
• TCP/IP
• IPv4/IPv6
• BGP
• MPLS
• SSH
• IS-IS or similar routing protocols
• DNS/DHCP
• Experience developing automation and tools for network provisioning, deployment and operations .
• Experience working with network device configurations from at least one major vendor such as Arista, Juniper, Cisco, Ciena, Infinera or Nokia .
• Strong Linux experience, with 5+ years developing software on Linux-based systems .
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.

Nice to have

• Experience with Ansible, Puppet or Chef .
• Experience with network ZTP, deployment, monitoring, remediation or software push systems .
• Knowledge of Django and SQL databases .
• Experience with distributed systems operating at scale.
• Experience with software/network debugging, profiling and instrumentation.
• Experience working within a DevOps environment .
• Experience integrating automation into CI/CD pipelines.

What makes this opportunity interesting?

• Work within a hyperscale technology environment operating at exceptional global scale.
• Work alongside highly experienced engineers using cutting-edge networking, automation and AI technologies .
• Gain exposure to a network infrastructure that operates at a scale matched by very few organisations globally.
• Opportunity to work on challenging problems across networking, software engineering, automation and infrastructure .