Onshore Network Patch Lead – Cisco/Juniper & F5 Firmware

Cognizant; Toronto; Hybrid; CAD 60,000 - 85,000; Full time

Job summary

Cognizant in Canada seeks a Network Patch Tower Lead (Onshore) to serve as the primary interface to client NetOps during Canada hours. You will own IOS/IOS-XE/NX-OS firmware patching and security upgrades across a 147,000+ device estate, including Cisco core routers, campus and data center switches, Juniper, and F5 devices.

Hybrid onshore role with weekend change windows; English is mandatory. Compensation ranges from $60,000–$85,000 CAD annually, with Cognizant ensuring compliant, sponsor-free

Qualifications

• CCNP Enterprise or CCNP Data Centre is mandatory.
• ITIL 4 Foundation certification is required or preferred.
• Experience patching large estates with Cisco, Juniper, and F5 devices.
• Strong knowledge of change management and CMDB processes.
• Experience with network automation and SRE practices.

Responsibilities

• Plan and execute firmware upgrades for Cisco IOS/IOS-XE/NX-OS and patches for Cisco, Juniper, and F5 devices.
• Design patching sequences with redundancy and failover testing.
• Coordinate maintenance windows and ensure alignment with golden-config standards.
• Back up configurations, perform staged upgrades (core → distribution → access), validate failover.
• Maintain EOS tracking, update CMDB, and track vulnerabilities.
• Produce and present KPIs for governance reviews.
• Escalate issues to L2/L3 NetEng and vendors as needed.

Skills

Network Platforms

Protocols

Patching Tools

Automation

ITSM & Vuln

Education

CCNP Enterprise or CCNP Data Centre

ITIL 4 Foundation

CCIE Enterprise or CCIE Data Centre

Juniper JNCIP/JNCIA-Junos

F5 Certified Administrator (F5-CA 201)

Cisco DevNet Associate (network automation)

Tools

Cisco DNA Center

Cisco Prime

TFTP

SCP image transfer

Kron EEM scheduler

Ansible network modules

Netmiko

Napalm

RESTCONF

Job description

Cognizant in Canada seeks a Network Patch Tower Lead (Onshore) to serve as the primary interface to client NetOps during Canada hours. You will own IOS/IOS-XE/NX-OS firmware patching and security upgrades across a 147,000+ device estate, including Cisco core routers, campus and data center switches, Juniper, and F5 devices.

Hybrid onshore role with weekend change windows; English is mandatory. Compensation ranges from $60,000–$85,000 CAD annually, with Cognizant ensuring compliant, sponsor-free