Cisco ACI Hands-On Engineer

Cisco ACI Hands-On Audit Engineer

Location: United Kingdom

Employment Type: Contract

Duration: 12 Weeks

Industry: Data Centre Networking and Infrastructure

Role Overview

A technically proficient Cisco ACI Hands-On Audit Engineer is required to perform in-depth assessments of Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure environments. The position focuses on auditing, validating, and optimising ACI fabrics to ensure architectural integrity, security compliance, and operational excellence.

The role demands direct hands-on engagement with production ACI environments, identification of configuration gaps, and delivery of actionable remediation strategies aligned with Cisco best practices.

Key Responsibilities

• Conduct comprehensive audits of Cisco ACI fabrics including single-site, multi-pod, and multi-site deployments.

• Perform detailed reviews of APIC configurations, tenant policies, VRFs, Bridge Domains, EPGs, and Contracts.

• Assess fabric health, fault histories, endpoint behaviour, and control-plane stability.

• Validate compliance with Cisco reference architectures, security standards, and operational governance models.

• Identify architectural risks, performance bottlenecks, and policy inconsistencies.

• Provide structured audit reports with prioritised remediation actions.

• Review automation frameworks and integrations including Ansible, Terraform, and Cisco Nexus Dashboard.

• Support remediation implementation and provide technical guidance to engineering teams.

Required Technical Skills

• Extensive hands-on experience with Cisco ACI architecture and operations

• Strong expertise in APIC policy modelling and configuration analysis

• Deep understanding of VXLAN, EVPN, MP-BGP, COOP, and GIPo

• Experience auditing micro segmentation and contract-based security models

• Proficiency in troubleshooting endpoint learning and forwarding behaviour

• Experience with Cisco Nexus 9000 Series and ACI mode deployments

• Familiarity with Nexus Dashboard and Cisco NAE

Desirable Skills

• Cisco Certified Specialist or CCNP Data Center 300-620 DCACI

• Experience with ACI migration or brownfield integration projects

• Knowledge of ITIL-aligned change management frameworks

• Automation and Scripting familiarity using Python or REST APIs

• Evaluate existing tools: telemetry, SNMP, gNMI, NetFlow/IPFIX. Analyze visibility into latency, BGP/ISIS flaps, packet loss.

Candidate Profile

The ideal candidate demonstrates a methodical approach, strong analytical capability, and documented success in Cisco ACI audit engagements. Excellent communication skills are required to translate technical findings into strategic recommendations for stakeholders at all levels.