Network Automation Lead - Hosting

Hamilton Barnes Associates Limited; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Sign-on bonus

Performance-based bonus

401(k)

Job summary

A stealth-mode hyperscale data center startup is seeking a Network Automation Engineer to design and maintain network-as-code pipelines and develop observability frameworks for large-scale operations. The ideal candidate has experience with infrastructure-as-code tools, deep knowledge of networking protocols, and a track record of working in fast-paced environments. Competitive compensation includes equity and performance bonuses.

Qualifications

• Proven experience in network automation and infrastructure-as-code.
• Deep understanding of routing/switching protocols.
• Experience implementing ZTP and automated network testing.
• Strong grasp of telemetry frameworks and tools.
• Hands‑on experience with multi‑vendor environments (Cisco, Juniper, Arista, Nokia, etc.).
• Comfortable working in fast‑paced, high-autonomy startup environments.

Responsibilities

• Design and maintain network-as-code pipelines.
• Develop observability and assurance frameworks.
• Collaborate with teams to integrate automation across layers.
• Define best practices for network changes.
• Mentor engineers to promote reliability and speed.

Skills

Network automation

Infrastructure-as-code (Ansible, Python, Terraform)

Routing/switching protocols

Data center network design (EVPN/VXLAN, BGP, MPLS)

Telemetry frameworks and observability tooling

Multi-vendor environments (Cisco, Juniper, Arista, Nokia)

BGP/MPLS

ZTP/golden configs

Telemetry/observability

Multi-vendor networks

Tools

Prometheus

Grafana

gNMI/OpenConfig

Job description

Are you looking for an exciting new opportunity?

Join a stealth-mode hyperscale data center startup on a mission to deploy 300MW of capacity by 2026. This forward-thinking company is building the automation backbone that will power a global, software-defined infrastructure from day one. It’s an opportunity to design, code, and operate networks like a product, applying DevOps principles to networking at hyperscale and shaping the foundation of next‑generation data infrastructure.

If you would like to learn more about this opportunity, feel free to reach out and apply today!

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and maintain network-as-code pipelines enabling continuous integration/delivery, zero-touch provisioning, and golden configuration management.
• Develop observability, telemetry, and assurance frameworks to support large-scale network operations (1k+ devices).
• Collaborate with platform, systems, and security teams to integrate automation and telemetry across compute, storage, and fabric layers.
• Define best practices for testing, validation, and rollout of network changes using GitOps principles.
• Mentor engineers and help drive a culture of automation, reliability, and speed across the infrastructure organisation.

Skills / Must have

• Proven experience in network automation and infrastructure-as-code (e.g., Ansible, Python, Terraform, GitLab CI/CD).
• Deep understanding of routing/switching protocols and data center network design (EVPN/VXLAN, BGP, MPLS).
• Experience implementing ZTP, golden configs, and automated network validation/testing.
• Strong grasp of telemetry frameworks and observability tooling (e.g., gNMI, OpenConfig, Prometheus, Grafana).
• Hands‑on experience with multi‑vendor environments (Cisco, Juniper, Arista, Nokia, etc.).
• Comfortable working in fast‑paced, high-autonomy startup environments.

Benefits

• Equity
• Sign‑on bonus
• Performance‑based bonus
• 401(k)

Salary

• Open budget