SONiC Expert

Codilime; Warszawa; Hybrid; PLN 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible working hours

Remote or hybrid options

Training budget and tech talks

Job summary

CodiLime seeks a SONiC Technical Lead to head end-to-end qualification, bring-up, and shipping of production-grade SONiC releases across complex data center topologies. You will design, extend, and debug core SONiC subsystems, and drive fixes with silicon vendors in a global time-zone-aware setup.

You will lead a team of systems developers and network engineers, mentoring on C/C++, Python, Linux, and network standards while shaping automated CI/CD pipelines and regression workflows.

Qualifications

• Proven track record of shipping, qualifying, and hardening production-grade SONiC platforms on physical switch hardware.
• Expert-level hands-on experience with SWSS, syncd, Redis state databases, and SAI.
• Strong hands-on engineering skills in C/C++ and Python within Linux environments, including multi-threading, IPC mechanisms, socket programming, and system calls.
• Understanding of Layer 2 and Layer 3 networking standards (BGP, EVPN, VXLAN, VLAN, QoS, RoCEv2, PFC, ECN).

Responsibilities

• Leading the end-to-end qualification, bring-up, and shipping of robust SONiC releases across physical switch targets in complex data center topologies
• Designing, extending, and debugging core SONiC subsystems, including SWSS, syncd, Redis in-memory state databases, and Linux system services.
• Systematically isolating failures across all layers, and driving resolution with silicon vendors.
• Debugging transaction processing and pub/sub notification mechanisms between APPL_DB, ASIC_DB, and syncd to prevent state desynchronization and ensure wire-speed route programming.
• Architecting automated regression workflows (Pytest, PTF, sonic-mgmt, Ansible) integrated into CI/CD pipelines to validate forwarding, congestion, and L2/L3 resiliency.
• Utilizing packet captures, kernel debug tools (gdb, perf, BPF), diagnostic logs, Redis telemetry, and line-rate traffic generators (TRex, PTF, Keysight) to perform root-cause analysis on system-level anomalies.
• Leveraging advanced AI engineering utilities (AI-assisted log analysis, LLM coding assistants, automated RCA scripts) to accelerate defect isolation and test automation cycles.
• Conducting rigorous code reviews across C/C++, Python, and Go codebases, mentoring team members, and maintaining high standards for code quality and maintainability.

Skills

C/C++

Python

Linux

Networking

Docker

Ansible

CI/CD

GDB / debugging

tcpdump

Golang

Tools

sonic-mgmt

PTF

pytest

Docker

Ansible

Job description

Get to know us better

CodiLime is a software and network engineering industry expert and the first-choice service partner for top global networking hardware providers, software providers and telecoms. We create proofs-of-concept, help our clients build new products, nurture existing ones and provide services in production environments. Our clients include both tech startups and big players in various industries and geographic locations (US, Japan, Israel, Europe).

While no longer a startup - we have 250+ people on board and have been operating since 2011 we’ve kept our people-oriented culture. Our values are simple:

• Actto deliver.

• Disruptto grow.

• Team upto win.

The project and the team

This project focuses on designing, qualifying, hardening, and shipping production-grade SONiC platform releases across diverse white-box hardware platforms and ASIC architectures. The technical mandate extends from low-level Linux kernel and platform driver bring-up to deep SWSS feature development, Redis state database tuning, and SAI/SDK bug isolation.

You will lead a team of systems developers, network engineers, and test automation specialists operating across extensive multi-vendor testbeds. The team takes end-to-end technical ownership of platform stability, driving complex NOS, SAI, and SDK defect resolutions directly with tier-1 silicon vendors.

What else you should know:

• The team acts as a key technical authority, collaborating directly with client architects and silicon vendor engineering groups.

• Delivery follows Agile engineering methodologies taking direct ownership of software architecture, system performance, and code quality.

• Because our partners and clients operate globally across US Silicon Valley and European time zones, flexibility for occasional afternoon coordination calls is expected.

Your role

As a SONiC Technical Lead, you will be responsible for:

• Leading the end-to-end qualification, bring-up, and shipping of robust SONiC releases across physical switch targets in complex data center topologies

• Designing, extending, and debugging core SONiC subsystems, including SWSS, syncd, Redis in-memory state databases, and Linux system services.

• Systematically isolating failures across all layers, and driving resolution with silicon vendors.

• Debugging transaction processing and pub/sub notification mechanisms between APPL_DB, ASIC_DB, and syncd to prevent state desynchronization and ensure wire-speed route programming.

• Architecting automated regression workflows (Pytest, PTF, sonic-mgmt, Ansible) integrated into CI/CD pipelines to validate forwarding, congestion, and L2/L3 resiliency.

• Utilizing packet captures, kernel debug tools (gdb, perf, BPF), diagnostic logs, Redis telemetry, and line-rate traffic generators (TRex, PTF, Keysight) to perform root-cause analysis on system-level anomalies.

• Leveraging advanced AI engineering utilities (AI-assisted log analysis, LLM coding assistants, automated RCA scripts) to accelerate defect isolation and test automation cycles.

• Conducting rigorous code reviews across C/C++, Python, and Go codebases, mentoring team members, and maintaining high standards for code quality and maintainability.

Do we have a match?

As a SONiC Technical Lead, you must meet the following core criteria:

• Proven track record of shipping, qualifying, and hardening production-grade SONiC platforms on physical switch hardware.

• Expert-level hands-on experience with SWSS, syncd, Redis state databases, and SAI.

• Demonstrated ability to isolate complex bugs across NOS application software, SAI wrapper logic, and vendor-proprietary silicon SDKs, driving fixes through vendor engineering channels.

• Strong hands-on engineering skills in C/C++ and Python within Linux environments, including multi-threading, IPC mechanisms, socket programming, and system calls.

• Understanding of Layer 2 and Layer 3 networking standards (BGP, EVPN, VXLAN, VLAN, QoS, RoCEv2, PFC, ECN).

• Strong experience with Linux networking internals, kernel drivers, sysfs, dmesg, gdb, perf, tcpdump, and systemd service management.

• Hands-on experience with Python-based test frameworks, including PTF and pytest.

• Deep familiarity and working knowledge of the sonic-mgmt repository structure and test suite implementation.

• Proficiency with containerization tools and workflows, specifically Docker.

• Practical experience with Ansible for configuration management and orchestration.

• Hands-on experience building and integrating automated CI/CD pipelines.

• Good knowledge of English (B2+ level minimum) for clear technical communication, documentation, and vendor technical discussions.

Beyond the criteria above, we would appreciate the following nice-to-haves:

• Hands-on software development experience with Golang.

• Direct experience working with hardware acceleration, DPDK, eBPF, or SmartNIC/DPU offloading architectures.

• Hands-on familiarity with proprietary silicon SDKs (e.g., Broadcom SDK/SAI, NVIDIA Spectrum SDK, Intel Barefoot SDE).

• Experience with commercial network operating systems (Cisco IOS-XE/XR, JunOS, Arista EOS).

• Practical experience integrating GenAI or LLM-assisted workflows for automated log parsing and system diagnostics.

• Formal professional certifications in networking (CCNA/CCNP/CCIE, JNCIP/JNCIE) or software engineering is a plus.

More reasons to join us

• Flexible working hours and approach to work: fully remotely, in the office (Warsaw), or hybrid.

• Professional growth supported by internal training sessions (Tech Talks) and a training budget.

• Solid onboarding with a hands-on approach to give you an easy start.

• A great atmosphere among professionals who specialize in low-level engineering, networking, and cloud automation.

• The ability to change the project you are working on within CodiLime's multi-client portfolio.