Network Automation Engineer

Vallum Associates; Greater London; On-site; GBP 85,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Vallum Associates is seeking an experienced Network Automation Engineer to accelerate automation of network incident diagnostics and operational workflows using NetBrain in a large enterprise environment.

You will work with Network Operations, engineering, tooling and service-management teams to convert repeatable troubleshooting knowledge into secure, reusable automation, applying change management and audit requirements in a regulated setting.

Qualifications

• Experience with NetBrain in a large enterprise environment.
• Proven ability to translate troubleshooting playbooks into automated workflows.
• Strong scripting and API integration capabilities with monitoring/ITSM tools.

Responsibilities

• Analyse incidents, alerts and data to identify automation opportunities.
• Design, build, test and deploy NetBrain PDAs, Runbooks, Qapps and Data Views.
• Translate existing runbooks and procedures into deterministic automation workflows.
• Configure diagnostic workflows with guardrails, approvals and exception handling.
• Integrate NetBrain with ServiceNow and other monitoring/orchestration platforms.
• Automate collection of device state, topology, configurations, logs and telemetry.
• Collaborate with CMDB/inventory teams to ensure data quality for correlation.
• Develop pre/post-change validation and compliance checks as prioritized.
• Partner with network teams to validate diagnostic logic across vendors.

Skills

NetBrain expertise

Python scripting

Ansible automation

API integration

Networking basics

ITSM integration

Change management

Security auditing

Tools

ServiceNow

DX NetOps Spectrum

Git

CI/CD

Job description

Client is seeking an experienced Network Automation Engineer with strong hands‑on expertise in NetBrain to accelerate the automation of network incident diagnostics, evidence collection and operational workflows. The role will work alongside Network Operations, engineering, tooling and service‑management teams to convert repeatable troubleshooting knowledge into secure, reusable and auditable automation.

Your Responsibilities:

• Analyse incident, alert and service‑management data to identify and prioritise automation opportunities.
• Design, build, test and deploy NetBrain PDAs, Runbooks, Qapps, Data Views, Dynamic Maps, Network Intents and associated templates.
• Translate existing playbooks, standard operating procedures and senior‑engineer troubleshooting practices into deterministic automation workflows.
• Configure triggered and interactive diagnostic workflows for incidents and monitored events, with clear guardrails, approvals and exception handling.
• Integrate NetBrain with ServiceNow, DX NetOps Spectrum and other monitoring, observability and orchestration platforms using supported APIs and integration patterns.
• Automate collection of device state, topology, paths, configurations, logs and relevant telemetry, and make outputs available within the incident workflow.
• Work with CMDB and inventory teams to validate device, service, dependency and configuration‑item data required for reliable correlation and routing.
• Develop pre‑change and post‑change validation, configuration‑drift and compliance checks where prioritised by the product owner.
• Partner with L1, L2 and L3 network teams to validate diagnostic logic across representative incidents, vendors and technologies.
• Apply secure engineering, change management, maker‑checker, testing, rollback, access‑control and audit requirements expected in a regulated financial‑services environment.
• Produce design documentation, support procedures, test evidence, operational metrics and knowledge‑transfer material.
• Strong hands‑on experience administering and engineering solutions on the NetBrain platform in a large, complex enterprise environment.
• Demonstrable delivery of NetBrain automation using PDA, Dynamic Maps, Runbooks, Qapps, Data Views and Network Intent.
• Strong network engineering fundamentals, including TCP/IP, routing and switching, BGP, OSPF, VLANs, MPLS, VPNs, NAT, ACLs, DNS, DHCP and load‑balancing concepts.
• Practical troubleshooting experience across multi‑vendor network estates such as Cisco, Juniper, Arista, Fortinet, Palo Alto Networks or F5.
• Experience integrating network platforms with ITSM, monitoring or observability tools, preferably ServiceNow and DX NetOps Spectrum.
• Ability to interpret alarms, telemetry, configurations, routing tables, logs and packet or path information to develop reliable diagnostic logic.
• Working knowledge of APIs, JSON, regular expressions and automation or scripting technologies such as Python and Ansible.
• Experience with the complete engineering lifecycle: requirements, design, build, peer review, test, deployment, monitoring, support and controlled rollback.
• Understanding of CMDB/CI quality, service dependency mapping and their impact on event correlation and automated routing.
• Strong analytical, documentation and stakeholder‑management skills, with the ability to explain technical decisions clearly to operations and engineering audiences.
• Experience working within incident, problem and change‑management processes in a controlled production environment.

Desirable skills/knowledge/experience/Personal attributes:

• Experience delivering network automation in banking, financial services or another highly regulated and security‑conscious enterprise.
• NetBrain product training or certification, or equivalent evidence of advanced platform capability.
• Experience with Splunk, ThousandEyes, Cisco Prime, Git‑based version control and CI/CD practices.
• Knowledge of hybrid networks spanning data centres, campus, WAN, SD‑WAN, cloud, firewalls and application delivery.
• Exposure to SRE practices, operational telemetry, service‑level indicators and toil‑reduction programmes.

Experience defining value measures such as reduction in MTTR, diagnostic time, manual touchpoints, repeat incidents and avoidable escalations