Onsite Network Automation Engineer – DoD, Norfolk

Piper Companies; Norfolk (VA); On-site; USD 95,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

Zachary Piper Solutions seeks a Network Configuration Automation Engineer to support a long-term DoD Navy program, onsite in Norfolk, VA. You will ensure compliant device configurations, develop automation playbooks, and maintain network infrastructure as code across multi-vendor environments.

Key tasks include managing baselines, drift detection, and automated remediation using Ansible, Terraform, Python, and Jinja2, with Git-based version control and CI/CD pipelines.

Qualifications

• 5–10 years of relevant experience with a Bachelor’s degree, or 4–8 years with a Master’s degree; equivalent experience may be considered.
• 7+ years of overall relevant professional experience.
• Active Secret clearance.
• Strong hands-on experience with enterprise network configuration management and network engineering.
• Experience managing configuration baselines, configuration drift, backups, rollback procedures, and automated remediation.
• Strong understanding of enterprise networking including BGP, OSPF, VLANs, VRFs, ACLs, SSH, and SNMP.
• Hands-on experience with network automation using Ansible, Terraform, Python, Jinja2, or similar technologies.
• Experience with enterprise Network Management Systems (NMS) and network monitoring platforms.
• Experience with Cisco Catalyst Center, OpenText NNMi, or OpenText Network Automation.
• Experience supporting multivendor network environments including Cisco IOS/IOS-XE/IOS-XR, Juniper JunOS, and/or Arista EOS.
• Experience with Git-based configuration management and version control.
• Experience with CI/CD technologies such as GitLab CI/CD, GitHub Actions, Jenkins, or similar platforms.
• Experience developing or maintaining automated network deployment and configuration workflows.
• Ability to troubleshoot complex Tier III network and configuration issues.
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to identify anomalies and errors within large configuration files and network datasets.
• Experience with network change management, configuration validation, and production deployment procedures.
• Strong understanding of network security, configuration compliance, and enterprise infrastructure standards.
• Strong communication, documentation, and cross-functional collaboration skills.
• Ability to coordinate large-scale configuration changes across geographically dispersed enterprise environments.

Responsibilities

• Establish, maintain, and enforce approved configuration baselines for enterprise network devices including routers, switches, firewalls, and load balancers.
• Monitor network infrastructure for configuration drift and identify unauthorized or non-compliant configuration changes.
• Maintain configuration backups, version history, and rollback/recovery procedures to support network resiliency and disaster recovery.
• Develop and implement automated remediation processes to restore network devices to approved configuration standards.
• Administer and optimize Network Management Systems (NMS) including Cisco Catalyst Center, OpenText NNMi, and OpenText Network Automation.
• Support network inventory discovery, configuration management, topology monitoring, and network health reporting across the enterprise.
• Integrate Nautobot, Infoblox IPAM, and other source-of-truth systems with network management platforms to maintain accurate topology and addressing information.
• Configure NMS alerts and monitoring thresholds to identify unauthorized configuration changes, network anomalies, and compliance issues.
• Develop compliance and configuration reports for engineering leadership, cybersecurity teams, and audit stakeholders.
• Develop network automation playbooks and workflows using Ansible, Terraform, Python, and Jinja2.
• Automate network configuration changes across large numbers of enterprise network devices while minimizing manual intervention and configuration errors.
• Maintain network infrastructure code within Git-based repositories, including pull requests, peer reviews, version control, and change tracking.
• Build and maintain CI/CD pipelines using GitLab CI/CD, Jenkins, GitHub Actions, or similar tools to validate and safely deploy network configuration changes.
• Implement automated validation, linting, testing, and dry-run processes before network changes are deployed into production.
• Develop automated pre- and post-change validation workflows to verify network health, configuration compliance, and service availability.
• Review high-impact network changes for alignment with approved architecture, configuration standards, and change-management requirements.
• Provide Tier III troubleshooting and escalation support for complex network issues related to configuration discrepancies, failed changes, and software upgrades.
• Perform root cause analysis of configuration-related network incidents and develop corrective and preventative solutions.
• Coordinate large-scale network patching and configuration campaigns across geographically dispersed network environments.
• Support vulnerability remediation and software lifecycle activities across thousands of network nodes.
• Analyze large configuration files and network datasets to identify anomalies, inconsistencies, configuration errors, and potential reliability issues.
• Maintain technical documentation, configuration standards, automation procedures, and network change records.
• Collaborate with network engineers, cybersecurity teams, SREs, operations teams, and other technical stakeholders to improve network reliability and automation.
• Coordinate automated network changes across multiple teams and global time zones while maintaining appropriate change-control processes.

Skills

Network configuration management

Network automation

BGP/OSPF/VLAN/VRF/ACL

SSH/SNMP

Ansible/Terraform/Python/Jinja2

Git-based configuration management

CI/CD tooling (GitLab CI/GitHub/Jenkin

IaC / Configuration as Code

NMS platforms (Cisco Catalyst Center,

Education

Bachelor's degree

Master's degree

Tools

Cisco Catalyst Center

OpenText NNMi

OpenText Network Automation

Nautobot

Infoblox IPAM

Job description

Zachary Piper Solutions seeks a Network Configuration Automation Engineer to support a long-term DoD Navy program, onsite in Norfolk, VA. You will ensure compliant device configurations, develop automation playbooks, and maintain network infrastructure as code across multi-vendor environments.

Key tasks include managing baselines, drift detection, and automated remediation using Ansible, Terraform, Python, and Jinja2, with Git-based version control and CI/CD pipelines.