Network Automation Reliability Engineer

Overview

Ontrac Solutions is seeking a Network Automation & Reliability Engineer to operate and automate hyperscale data center, backbone, and out-of-band (OOB) networks. This is a Python-first role: you will spend more of your week writing code that operates the network than typing on a CLI. You will build the tooling, telemetry pipelines, and self-healing automation that keep a global fleet of data centers and POP sites running, and you will carry the on-call pager for the systems you build.

We are looking for an engineer who is genuinely production-grade on both sides of the job — deep routing and switching fundamentals and real, sustained Python software work. Candidates who are strong on one side and thin on the other will not clear screening.

We screen against the requirements below exactly as written — your resume should make these easy to find:

• Python you actually wrote, described as software, not as a skills keyword. Name the project, what it did, roughly how large it was, and who used it. A Git Hub, Git Lab, or public repo link is strongly preferred — we look at code.
• The specific Python network libraries you have used in production — for example Netmiko, NAPALM, Nornir, pyATS/Genie, Scrapli, ncclient, or a vendor SDK — and what you built with each.
• BGP in production at scale. Name the policy work: local preference, MED, communities, import/export policy, route reflection, ECMP, or multihoming across carriers.
• Hands-on with at least two of Arista EOS, Juniper Junos (QFX / SRX / PTX / MX), or Cisco IOS-XR / NX-OS — named by platform, not just by vendor.
• Telemetry and observability you implemented: gNMI/gRPC, Open Config, streaming telemetry, flow telemetry, or SNMP-to-TSDB pipelines. Say what you subscribed to and what you did with the data.
• Config-as-code: Jinja2 templating, NETCONF/YANG or REST-API-driven provisioning, golden configs, ZTP, and the Git/CI workflow you shipped changes through.
• Your networking certifications, named, with dates and credential IDs or verification links — we verify certifications.
• Whether you have carried production on-call
  , and at what scale (sites, devices, or POPs).

Shortly after you apply you will receive a short role-specific questionnaire — completing it promptly is the fastest way to move into screening.

• Python — primary requirement: Demonstrated, sustained Python development in a production network or infrastructure environment. You have written and maintained tooling that other engineers depended on: config generation and validation, API integrations, telemetry collectors, automated remediation, or test harnesses. You are comfortable with modules, packaging, testing, code review, and version control — not just single-file scripts.
• Routing & switching depth: Production experience with BGP (policy, path selection, multihoming), plus IS-IS or OSPF, ECMP, and VXLAN/EVPN or MPLS overlays.
• Multi-vendor hardware: Hands-on operations across at least two of Arista EOS, Juniper Junos (QFX/SRX/PTX/MX), or Cisco IOS-XR / NX-OS.
• Automation frameworks: Ansible and Jinja2, plus NETCONF/YANG, RESTCONF, or vendor REST APIs for model-driven configuration management.
• Telemetry & monitoring: gNMI/gRPC streaming telemetry, Open Config models, SNMP, flow telemetry, and dashboarding/alerting on top of them.
• Linux: Comfortable operating on Linux hosts — networking stack, packet capture, systemd services, and shell scripting.
• Version control and CI: Git-based workflows with peer review; experience shipping network changes through a pipeline (Jenkins, Git Lab CI, or Git Hub Actions).
• Production on-call: Experience holding a 24x7 rotation for a live network, including incident command and root cause analysis.
• Experience level: Roughly 2–5 years in a network production, network reliability, or network automation role. Exceptional early-career engineers with a strong Python portfolio and hyperscale or carrier exposure are encouraged to apply.
• Location & work authorization: Must be located in the United States and authorized to work in the US.

• Out-of-band network experience — console server fleets (ZPE…