Lead Network Automation Engineer

• Type of Requisition:
  Regular
• Clearance Level Must Currently Possess:
  Top Secret/SCI
• Clearance Level Must Be Able to Obtain:
  Top Secret/SCI
• Public Trust/Other
  
  Required:
  
  None
• Job Family: IT Infrastructure and Operations
• Job Qualifications:
  
  Skills:
  
  Automation, Configuration Management (CM), Network Automation, Systems Design
• Certifications:
  
  None
• Experience:
  
  8 + years of related experience
• US Citizenship
  
  Required:
  
  Yes

Lead Network Automation Engineer Position Overview We are seeking an experienced Lead Network Automation Engineer to lead the development, implementation, and sustainment of network automation solutions supporting a complex, multivendor enterprise network environment. The ideal candidate combines strong network engineering fundamentals with advanced hands on expertise in Python and Ansible. This individual will collaborate closely with network administrators, engineers, architects, and customer stakeholders to translate technical requirements into scalable, reliable, and maintainable automation solutions.

This is a hands on technical leadership position responsible for developing production ready automation, mentoring a small team of automation engineers, and helping establish repeatable engineering practices. The successful candidate will play a critical role in improving network operational efficiency, accelerating configuration deployments, reducing manual effort, and increasing the consistency and reliability of network infrastructure operations.

• Network Automation Engineering Design, develop, test, deploy, and maintain network automation solutions using Python and Ansible.
• Develop Ansible playbooks, Python scripts, and reusable automation modules to support network configuration management, provisioning, patching, maintenance, and operational tasks.
• Automate network device configuration changes, software updates, configuration backups, compliance checks, and operational validation across multivendor environments.
• Develop automation capabilities supporting Cisco, Juniper, Arista, Aruba, and other enterprise networking technologies.
• Implement automated configuration validation, network state verification, and configuration drift detection to improve network reliability and compliance.
• Build automation solutions for network monitoring, reporting, inventory management, and operational data collection.
• Develop standardized, reusable automation components that reduce repetitive administrative activities and improve engineering consistency.
• Incorporate appropriate error handling, logging, validation, and rollback capabilities into automated network changes.
• Troubleshoot automation failures and resolve integration challenges between automation tools and network infrastructure.

Work directly with network administrators, engineers, and architects to understand technical requirements and operational challenges.

Translate network engineering specifications into functional automation playbooks, scripts, and workflows.

Evaluate manual network administration processes and identify opportunities to improve execution through automation.

Collaborate with infrastructure and cybersecurity teams to ensure automated solutions satisfy operational and security requirements.

Validate automation solutions with network engineering stakeholders before deployment into production environments.

Provide technical recommendations regarding implementation approaches, automation feasibility, and operational considerations.

Serve as the technical lead for a small team of network automation engineers.

Provide technical direction, mentorship, and hands on support to team members.

Coordinate and assign automation development activities based on established engineering priorities.

Conduct code reviews and promote consistent development, testing, documentation, and version control practices.

Establish reusable development standards and promote knowledge sharing across the automation team.

Support the development of junior and midlevel engineers through technical coaching and collaborative problem solving.

Communicate progress, technical challenges, dependencies, and delivery risks to engineering and program leadership.

Enhance existing Python scripts and Ansible playbooks while expanding the organization's automation capabilities.

Establish consistent approaches for source code management,…