Lead Network Engineer - Backbone Engineering

Leadout Capital; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

Salesforce is seeking a Lead Network Engineer to join the Backbone Engineering team, focusing on capacity planning and backbone routing architecture for the core network. You will automate network operations with Python and Ansible, collaborate with vendors and field teams, and help drive scalable, web-scale connectivity for global SaaS delivery.

The role emphasizes cross-functional collaboration, documentation, and maintaining data integrity across capacity and peering environments.

Qualifications

• 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 (e.g., 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.
• Ability to self-manage multiple projects at once.
• Understanding of AI, ML, LLMs and related technologies.
• A related technical degree is required.

Responsibilities

• Act as a liaison with the vendor sourcing team.
• Develop and maintain metrics on capacity vendors.
• Project manage new capacity installs with cross-functional teams.
• Update network and datastores for capacity changes.
• Collaborate on new network designs and document them.
• Develop automation in Python and Ansible for network config.
• Support customer troubleshooting with connectivity partners.
• Assist with BGP peering management and design.
• Oversee backbone router migrations, grooms, and decoms.
• Document network design lifecycles and secure approvals.
• Maintain Network Data SoTs.

Skills

Project management

Vendor management

Cisco/Juniper routing

Cisco Nexus switches

BGP/IS-IS routing

WDM technologies

Python

Unix/Linux

Network automation (Ansible)

Git/version control

Multi-project management

AI/ML awareness

Education

Bachelor's degree in a related field

Tools

Ansible

Git

Puppet

Terraform

Kubernetes

Containers

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

The Backbone Engineering team is responsible for network capacity and connectivity strategy for the Salesforce core network, including peering relationships, capacity planning, decision making for new PoP builds. The team is also responsible for the design and maintenance of backbone routing architecture including any automation to make configuration changes easier and more predictable. The Salesforce Backbone is the architecture over which Salesforce customers transit to have access to their Salesforce applications and data. Customer success and trust are beacons for how the team approaches engineering on the Salesforce core network.

Responsibilities Include:

• 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