Network Architect - Data Centre/Automation

Network Architect - Data Centre/Automation

My client, a global telecoms operator is currently looking for an experienced Network Architect with strong Data Centre and Automation experience.

The Role

My client's team delivers complex network and data centre solutions across a number of customer environments where stability, repeatability and change assurance are critical. The Senior Network Automation Architect/Engineer plays a key role in translating low-level designs into working, production-grade automation solutions.

This role sits at the intersection of network engineering and automation. It requires deep knowledge of Cisco data centre networking alongside the ability to build and operate Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC), CI/CD pipelines, and automation patterns that can be safely reused across multiple delivery and migration work packages.

The role ensures that network changes are not implemented manually where avoidable, but instead delivered through controlled, validated and repeatable automation workflows, aligned to production change standards

• Build and maintain network automation solutions aligned to approved designs and TDA governance.
• Develop Infrastructure-as-Code workflows for Cisco data centre networks (NX-OS/NDFC driven).
• Implement and optimise CI/CD pipelines for network change, including build, validation and deployment stages.
• Integrate automation with platforms such as NDFC, NetBox, ServiceNow, and Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform.
• Develop and maintain reusable automation patterns, templates and data models for network configuration.
• Execute automation-driven configuration changes and support migration activities across multiple work packages.
• Work closely with the Lead TDA to ensure all automation aligns with defined architecture, standards and governance controls.
• Support pre-change and post-change validation, ensuring automation outputs meet expected outcomes.
• Troubleshoot automation pipelines, integration issues and network behaviours during delivery.
• Contribute to continuous improvement of automation tooling, pipelines and delivery processes.

This is a hands-on engineering role focused on:

• Building and running automation
• Supporting delivery and migration
• Operationalising designs created by the TDA

The role is not responsible for defining architecture or governance, but is expected to:

• provide technical input into design decisions
• identify gaps or risks
• propose improvements to automation approaches

To succeed in this role, you will need to have the following:

• Strong hands-on experience in Cisco data centre networking (NX-OS, VXLAN EVPN)
• Proven ability to build and support automation in production environments
• Comfortable working across networking and software tooling
• Experience working in structured delivery environments with change control and governance
• Strong problem-solving and troubleshooting skills across both network and automation layers
• Ability to work collaboratively with TDA, delivery, testing and operations teams

Essential skills

• Cisco NX-OS, including VXLAN BGP-EVPN, vPC, SNMPv3, TACACS+
• Cisco NDFC including fabric templates, Recalculate and Deploy, out-of-sync detection and image management.
• EVPN-VXLAN and multi-site EVPN architecture, including live production migration design and rollback within constrained change windows.
• Python for production-quality automation and REST API integration (eg NDFC, ServiceNow, Infoblox, Red Hat AAP, Sentinel, Vault), including use of Python data structures to model intent and state.
• YAML data modelling, including Ansible role and playbook design.
• JSON data handling and schema validation, including understanding of JSON as an interchange format alongside Python dictionaries and YAML, and basic schema-based validation concepts to support automation testing and assurance workflows (eg pyATS outputs, API responses).
• GitHub/Gitlab, including self-hosted runner configuration, OIDC token handling, environment protection rules and workflow dispatch.
• pyATS and Genie, including testbed construction, NX-OS parser usage, assertion patterns and automated rollback triggers on validation failure.
• GitOps principles, with Git treated as the control plane, including idempotency, branch protection, signed commits and four-eyes enforcement via pipeline gates.
• Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform including execution environment design (container-based), job template configuration and dynamic inventory integration (eg NetBox).
• Experience producing HLD/LLD documentation aligned to FCA/PRA regulated delivery standards, with decisions traceable to requirements and explicit risk acceptance.
• NetBox 4.x data modelling, custom fields and automation integration.

Desirable skills

• Batfish/pybatfish for pre-change network analysis, regression testing and pre/post comparison.
• VMware NSX-T/NSX 4.x integration with EVPN fabrics.
• Docker container including building, installing, running and operating containers used to package automation tooling, test frameworks and execution environments (for example CI runners or Ansible execution environments). Familiarity with additional automation, testing or orchestration tooling where required by specific work packages, recognising that the toolset may evolve over time.