Network Configuration Automation Engineer

Zachary Piper Solutions is seeking a Network Configuration Automation Engineer to support a long-term DOD program focused on Navy enterprise network infrastructure, configuration management, network automation, and Net Dev Ops . This position is 100% onsite in Norfolk, VA
. The Network Configuration Automation Engineer will support a large-scale, geographically dispersed enterprise network environment, ensuring network devices maintain consistent, secure, and compliant configurations through network management systems, configuration baselines, automation, Infrastructure as Code, and CI/CD practices.

• Establish, maintain, and enforce approved configuration baselines for enterprise network devices including routers, switches, firewalls, and load balancers
• Monitor network infrastructure for configuration drift and identify unauthorized or non-compliant configuration changes
• Maintain configuration backups, version history, and rollback/recovery procedures to support network resiliency and disaster recovery
• Develop and implement automated remediation processes to restore network devices to approved configuration standards
• Administer and optimize Network Management Systems (NMS) including Cisco Catalyst Center, Open Text NNMi, and Open Text Network Automation
• Support network inventory discovery, configuration management, topology monitoring, and network health reporting across the enterprise
• Integrate Nautobot, Infoblox IPAM, and other source-of-truth systems with network management platforms to maintain accurate topology and addressing information
• Configure NMS alerts and monitoring thresholds to identify unauthorized configuration changes, network anomalies, and compliance issues
• Develop compliance and configuration reports for engineering leadership, cybersecurity teams, and audit stakeholders
• Develop network automation playbooks and workflows using Ansible, Terraform, Python, and Jinja2
• Automate network configuration changes across large numbers of enterprise network devices while minimizing manual intervention and configuration errors
• Maintain network infrastructure code within Git-based repositories, including pull requests, peer reviews, version control, and change tracking
• Build and maintain CI/CD pipelines using Git Lab CI/CD, Jenkins, Git Hub Actions, or similar tools to validate and safely deploy network configuration changes
• Implement automated validation, linting, testing, and dry-run processes before network changes are deployed into production
• Develop automated pre- and post-change validation workflows to verify network health, configuration compliance, and service availability
• Review high-impact network changes for alignment with approved architecture, configuration standards, and change-management requirements
• Provide Tier III troubleshooting and escalation support for complex network issues related to configuration discrepancies, failed changes, and software upgrades
• Perform root cause analysis of configuration-related network incidents and develop corrective and preventative solutions
• Coordinate large-scale network patching and configuration campaigns across geographically dispersed network environments
• Support vulnerability remediation and software lifecycle activities across thousands of network nodes
• Analyze large configuration files and network datasets to identify anomalies, inconsistencies, configuration errors, and potential reliability issues
• Maintain technical documentation, configuration standards, automation procedures, and network change records
• Collaborate with network engineers, cybersecurity teams, SREs, operations teams, and other technical stakeholders to improve network reliability and automation
• Coordin…