Cisco Catalyst Specialist Job Norfolk area,Virginia USA,IT/Tech

Zachary Piper Solutions is seeking a Cisco Catalyst Specialist to support a long-term DOD program focused on enterprise network management, automation, and reliability. This position is 100% onsite in Norfolk, VA
. The Cisco Catalyst Specialist will support large-scale enterprise networks by designing, deploying, and optimizing Net
work Management Systems (NMS), with a primary focus on the Cisco Catalyst platform, Catalyst Center/DNA Center, Catalyst SD-WAN, and IOS-XE
.

Responsibilities of the Cisco Catalyst Specialist include:

Design, deploy, configure, and optimize enterprise Network Management Systems (NMS) supporting large-scale Cisco network environments
Implement and maintain Cisco Catalyst Center (formerly DNA Center) and associated network management and orchestration platforms
Design highly available NMS environments, including HA, disaster recovery, backup, and platform resiliency
Configure and optimize SNMP, Syslog, Net Flow, IPFIX, RMON, and streaming gRPC telemetry for enterprise network monitoring and visibility
Integrate NMS platforms with Cisco ISE for role-based access control (RBAC) and secure network administration
Support the full lifecycle of Cisco Catalyst switches and routers, including provisioning, configuration, stacking, upgrades, patching, and migrations
Develop and maintain configuration templates, blueprints, and automated workflows within Cisco Catalyst Center for enterprise LAN/WLAN environments
Utilize Software Image Management (SWIM) capabilities to support operating system upgrades and patch compliance across large device populations
Develop migration plans and runbooks for transitioning legacy network infrastructure to modern Cisco Catalyst environments
Monitor network health and performance through NMS dashboards, alerts, telemetry, and assurance capabilities
Analyze network anomalies, client health, device performance, and connectivity issues to support root cause analysis and resolution
Monitor key network metrics including link utilization, memory, temperature, PoE, device health, and availability
Integrate network monitoring and telemetry with platforms such as Service Now and Splunk/SIEM
Troubleshoot complex network issues using NMS packet capture, telemetry data, sensor information, and Wireshark
Develop network automation workflows using Python, Ansible, and REST APIs
Leverage Cisco Catalyst Center APIs to automate bulk network configuration, provisioning, monitoring, and operational workflows
Implement Cisco Plug and Play (PnP) and Zero Touch Provisioning (ZTP) capabilities
Support enterprise network configuration validation, change management, troubleshooting, and lifecycle activities
Collaborate with network engineering, systems, cybersecurity, and operations teams to improve network reliability and automation
Develop and maintain technical documentation, configuration standards, migration procedures, and operational runbooks

Qualifications of the Cisco Catalyst Specialist include:

7+ years of experience in enterprise network engineering, network management, or related infrastructure engineering
3–5+ years of dedicated experience supporting enterprise Network Management Systems (NMS)
Strong hands-on experience with Cisco Catalyst Center / DNA Center
Experience with Cisco Catalyst switches, routers, and IOS-XE
Experience with Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN
Strong understanding of enterprise networking concepts including OSPF, EIGRP, BGP, VLANs, STP, Layer 2/Layer 3 networking, and routing/switching
Experience with modern Cisco architectures including SD-Access, VXLAN, and Trust Sec
Strong knowledge of network monitoring and telemetry technologies including SNMP v2c/v3, RMON, Syslog, Net Flow/IPFIX, and REST APIs
Experience developing or implementing network automation using…