Consultant - Senior Network Test Engineer

Company Profile:

We are a leading global financial services firm providing a wide range of investment banking, securities, investment management and wealth management services. The Firm's employees serve clients worldwide including corporations, governments and individuals and with more than 600 offices in 33 countries.

As a market leader on a global scale, the talent and passion of our people is critical to our success. Together, we share a common set of values rooted in integrity, excellence and strong team ethic. We can provide a superior foundation for building a professional career - a place for people to learn, to achieve and grow. A philosophy that balances personal lifestyles, perspectives and needs is an important part of our culture.

Technology:

Technology works as a strategic partner with our Company's business units and the world's leading technology companies to redefine how we do business in ever more global, complex, and dynamic financial markets. Our Company's sizeable investment in technology results in quantitative systems, cutting-edge modelling and simulation software, comprehensive risk and security systems, and robust client-relationship capabilities, plus the worldwide infrastructure that forms the backbone of these systems and tools. Our insights, our applications and infrastructure give a competitive edge to clients' businesses—and to our own.

Enterprise Technology & Services (ETS) and Enterprise Network Services (ENS):

Enterprise Technology & Services (ETS) delivers and manages essential and innovative technology infrastructure solutions to our Company’s businesses. ETS is responsible for driving the production, operations, and engineering of our data centers, voice and data networking solutions, mainframe servers and databases, distributed computing, wireless technologies, and associated end user capabilities.  A core pillar within ETS is the ENS (Enterprise Network Services) Engineering team. This global team is responsible for Design and deployment of Data and Voice network infrastructure leveraging cutting edge technologies to provide network connectivity with best possible user-experience. This includes our Company's owned Private Data Center footprints across the globe, Campus & Branch Network, Global WAN & Metro Core network, Public Cloud Connectivity, Internet Plant, floor network etc.

Key Responsibilities:

• Network Routing and Switching Engineer is responsible for testing and certifying network hardware to ensure optimal performance, reliability, and compliance. This role is crucial for maintaining the integrity and efficiency of the organization's network infrastructure.
• The successful candidate should have hands-on experience in functional testing, with the ability to identify automation opportunities and develop automated test solutions. Mid-level Python and Ansible skills are required to create, maintain, and enhance test automation workflows, improve test coverage, and increase operational efficiency.
• A combination of networking expertise, Linux proficiency, automation skills, Kubernetes operations, and eBPF observability to design, test, automate, and operate modern enterprises and cloud-native network infrastructures at scale.
• Working knowledge of cybersecurity principles, CVE analysis, and network risk assessment. Ability to evaluate vulnerabilities, assess operational and business risk, and support remediation, patch certification, and security validation activities across enterprise network platforms.

• This individual's focus will be on lab testing and certifications with particular focus on the camp branch/  WAN-MAN/ Data Center/ Low latency/ limited interoperability with network appliances  (firewalls/ load balancers)
  • Rapid certification of patches/ SMU/ codes  – with particular focus  but not limited to -  Risk/ CVE driven events and rapid need for targeted & expedited certifications to ensure the given patch/ SMU/ code can be safely applied on production devices.
  • Interoperability with IP appliances like F5/ A10/ Fortinet/ SRX Load balancers and firewalls (MAB/ 802.1x, firewall & load balancers experience not necessary but a plus).  
  • Proficiency with tools such as tcpdump, Wireshark, and Git, and the ability to develop automation using Python, Ansible, APIs, and Infrastructure-as-Code techniques.
  • Develop and design testing for various network hardware, including routers, switches.
  • Conduct Performance Tests: Perform performance tests to evaluate the functionality, speed, and reliability of network hardware.
  • Identify Issues: Detect and diagnose any hardware malfunctions, performance issues, or compatibility problems during testing.
  • Document and present recommendations and finding to the wider teams, including testing results and certifications.

• He/ She will work on engineering standards and create best practice network documentation utilizing knowledge of industry and technical trends.
  • Providing guidance to the wider teams related to platforms and designs
  • This includes but is not limited to evaluating vendor offerings, collaborating with internal and external peers towards innovating, and becoming also responsible for the software and hardware testing of all future code releases and drive decisions about testing improvements.
  • Creating and updating standards and configuration templates, tracking bugs and vulnerabilities and providing expert level support of the production environment.
  • Heavily engage with vendors to research, understand and communicate industry trends and upcoming products & features of interest and benefit to the BUs.
• The Ideal candidate is one that has prior worked on network engineering designs and testing plus evaluated products within a network lab; but not a must.
• The position is in NY, requires on site presence 3 – 4 days weekly.

Experience:

• Senior level, experienced, can lead projects and work independently.

• 8+ years of experience required with extensive experience with LAN/WAN network design, engineering, and code/ feature certification/ validation.
• Experience with testing design and certification of products in LAB environments is highly desirable.
• CCIE or at a min CCNP level experience.

Skills Required:

• Demonstrate knowledge of working with protocols such as OSPF, BGP, IGMP and PIM.
• Experience with Cisco Platforms such as Catalyst and Nexus.
• Knowledge of certification of new code, and bug Scrubs on IOS/ XE/ NXOS/ and limited XR.
• Good foundation in Linux administration, networking, and automation.
• Cloud-native networking concepts, including Kubernetes architecture, container networking (CNI), and operational tools such as kubectl.
• Familiarity with eBPF-based networking and security, particularly platforms such as Cilium is major plus.  This includes policy enforcement, observability, service load balancing, BGP integration, and troubleshooting using eBPF maps and kernel-level telemetry
• Good knowledge of Python, Github.
• Ansible playbooks authoring and how to integrate Ansible with ROBOT framework for seamless automation is beneficial.
• Some proficiency in the ROBOT Framework is a big plus
• Experience with Arista Platforms such as 7280, 7504, 7060 etc.
• Experience developing strategies with multiple vendors.
• Experienced with creating design documents for each certification which includes engineering guidelines.
• Experience with Tools such as IXIA and / or Spirent to test and certify various designs and troubleshoot networks issues. 
• Excellent knowledge of IP Routing, BGP, OSPF, and layer2 protocols like Spanning-tree.
• Understanding of network protocols, network platforms such as Cisco/Arista to design and troubleshoot new implementations.
• Good protocol level understanding/ Wireshark.
• Multicast: IGMPv2/3, PIM-SM, Static RP, RP-Anycast, MSDP.
• IP Routing Platforms, ISR4k, ASR1K, Catalyst.
• Cisco/ Arista Switching Platforms Catalyst switches.
• strong knowledge of Switching and Switching mechanisms like CEF, TCAM.

Skills Desired:

• Experience with MAB/ Port Security/ NAC/ 802.1x/ QoS/ IPSec is desirable.
• Understanding of new protocols being deployed intra and inter Data Center.
• AWS (or Azure cloud equivalent) is desirable.
• Data Center power and cooling, cabling 10/ 25G/ 40G/ 50G/ 100G.
• Cloud computing, Virtualization industry standard and trends, server technologies a plus.
• Router hardening technologies, DDoS mitigation, routing protocol encryption, SSH implementation, out-of-band network design, 802.1x, NAC, IPSec.
• L2 and L3 QoS are a plus.

Other Requirements:

• Manage vendors, coordinate testing and evaluate PoC.
• Possess ability to quickly and effectively interpret data.
• Possess ability to perform very complex implementations with little or no guidance and/or oversight from a project manager.
• Ability to work independently and within a global testing team environment.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills are a strong must - candidate must possess excellent business writing and presentation skills.
• Ability to prioritize effectively with good time management skills.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, strong logical and analytical skills  
• Deep sense of ownership/accountability / must think as an owner and be proactive is a huge must
• Ability to move quickly and multitask in a fast-paced environment.
• Stakeholder management and providing reports and overviews to both technical and non-technical senior management.