Lead Network Engineer - Backbone Engineering

salesforce.com, inc.; McLean (VA); On-site; USD 172,500 - 260,100; Full time

Job summary

Salesforce.com, inc. is seeking a Lead Network Engineer in McLean, Virginia, to join their Infrastructure Strategy and Data Center Operations team. The ideal candidate will assist in network design, collaborate with various teams, and contribute to automation processes in support of the Salesforce Global Network.

This role requires strong project management and technical skills, particularly in Python and network automation, with a preference for candidates with significant experience in production environments.

Qualifications

• Minimum 7 years in production network environments.
• Experience with telecommunications vendors.
• Strong Python coding and network automation skills required.

Responsibilities

• Act as liaison with vendor sourcing team.
• Managing capacity vendor metrics.
• Project managing new capacity installations.

Skills

Production network environments experience

Project management skills

Telecommunications vendors experience

Cisco and Juniper routers experience

Python coding skills

Ansible automation tools experience

Education

Related technical degree

Tools

Cisco Nexus-based switches

Git or version control systems

Job description

As a Lead Network Engineer at Salesforce, you will be part of the Infrastructure Strategy and Data Center Operations team, a dynamic, global team delivering and supporting technology infrastructure in the Salesforce Global Network to meet the substantial growth needs of the business. In this role, you will collaborate with field teams, vendor sourcing teams, Global Network Operations teams, and application owners who are delivering innovative solutions in an agile, and dynamic environment. A successful candidate will have the ability to communicate and demonstrate both deep and broad knowledge across multiple areas of information technology in support of a SaaS infrastructure. We are looking for enthusiastic technologists who thrive on efficiency by contributing to the development of standards, processes, and automation requirements that lead to operational excellence.

Responsibilities

• Act as a liaison with the vendor sourcing team
• Helping to develop and maintain metrics on our capacity vendors
• Project managing new capacity installs with various teams including sourcing and field engineering
• Updating the network and associated datastores for capacity additions and decommissions
• Work with various teams to provide feedback, document, and implement various new network designs
• Developing in Python, Ansible for network configuration automation
• Work with our connectivity partners and customer engagement teams for any customer troubleshooting issues
• Help with BGP peering relationship management and peering network design
• Backbone router migrations/grooms/decoms
• Network design life cycles including documentation and collaborative approvals
• Maintaining Network Data SoTs

Required Experience and Competencies

• Minimum 7 years in production network environments, or comparable experience
• Proven project management skills
• Experience working with telecommunications vendors
• Experience with Cisco and Juniper carrier-class routers (ex: ASR9K, CRS, MX960, PTX, MX2K)
• Experience with Cisco Nexus-based switches
• Knowledge of routing protocols such as BGP and IS-IS
• Fundamental understanding of WDM technologies
• Strong Python coding skills
• Good understanding of Unix/Linux-based operating systems
• Experience developing and maintaining network automation tools (e.g. Ansible)
• Experience with Git, or other version control systems
• The ability to self-manage multiple projects at one time
• A good understanding of the current state of AI, machine learning, LLMs, MCP, etc.
• A related technical degree required.

Preferred Experience

• Experience managing co-located infrastructure
• Experience with DWDM platforms, preferably Ciena and Cisco DCI
• Experience with MACSec encryption
• Extensive network troubleshooting and network monitoring skills
• Hands‑on experience with production hardware life‑cycle management
• Experience with Puppet, Terraform, Containers, and/or K8S
• Familiarity with CI/CD principles
• Previous experience with lift and shift backbone router migrations
• Experience administering global, web‑scale IP Address allocations
• Solid understanding of the transit, public peering and SFI spaces
• Experience writing prompts against public AI chatbots (ex. ChatGPT, Gemini)
• Experience with AI‑assisted coding (ex. Cursor, VSCode with AI plugins)
• Prior experience with the Salesforce core application, either in a developer or support role

Equal Opportunity Employer Statement

Salesforce is an equal opportunity employer and maintains a policy of non‑discrimination with all employees and applicants for employment. Employees and prospective employees will be assessed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications – without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender expression or identity, transgender status, age, disability, veteran or marital status, political viewpoint, or other protected categories. This policy applies to recruiting, hiring, job assignment, compensation, promotion, benefits, training and evaluation of performance. Recruitment, hiring, and promotion decisions at Salesforce are fair and based on merit.

In the United States, compensation offered will be determined by factors such as location, job level, job‑related knowledge, skills, and experience. Certain roles may be eligible for incentive compensation, equity, and benefits. The typical base salary range for this position is $172,500 - $260,100 annually. In select cities within the San Francisco and New York City metropolitan area, the base salary range is $207,800 - $285,800 annually. This range represents base salary only, and does not include company bonus, incentive for sales roles, equity or benefits, as applicable.