Network DevOps Engineer - W2 ONLY

Job Title: Network DevOps Engineer

Location: San Freancisco, CA (hybrid) with occasional travel to San Ramon

Duration: Lonterm Contract

Certification Preference (any one combination):

• (Preferred) Cisco Certified DevNet Expert or CCIE Automation
• Cisco Certified DevNet Professional or CCNP Automation with experience in Ansible/Terraform/Python
• CCIE (Written + Lab) with experience in Ansible/Terraform/Python

Position Overview:

We are seeking a skilled DevOps Engineer who has transitioned into network automation development. In this role, you will engineer and operate our hybrid on-premises and Microsoft Azure network environment. The ideal candidate will have a strong foundation in enterprise Cisco routing and switching and will now deliver the majority of their work through code, automating software upgrades, configuration changes, and validation using Python, Terraform, Azure DevOps pipelines, and AI-assisted development tools such as Claude Code. This role requires deep technical fluency across on-premises and cloud networking, a developer's approach to operational work, and sound judgment in applying AI tooling. Success in this role depends on close collaboration with our existing network engineers to understand, translate, and automate their current workflows. The position is based in the San Francisco Bay Area and includes participation in an after-hours on-call rotation.

Key Responsibilities:

• Design and build automation that performs network software upgrades, configuration changes, compliance checks, and remediation across on-premises and Azure environments.
• Develop and maintain Python and Terraform codebases that provision, validate, and standardize network configurations, with all code version-controlled in Azure DevOps Repos.
• Build and operate CI/CD pipelines in Azure DevOps that test, validate, and deploy network changes, including automated pre- and post-change checks and rollback workflows.
• Leverage AI development tools, including Claude Code, to generate, refactor, test, and document automation code and operational runbooks.
• Partner with existing network engineers to understand current operational workflows, translate them into automated, code-based processes, and support the team's adoption of new tooling.
• Automate against vendor platforms and APIs, including Cisco Catalyst Center, Cisco Nexus Dashboard, Cisco SD-WAN vManage, Azure Resource Manager, F5, ThousandEyes, and Forward Networks.
• Configure, maintain, and troubleshoot Cisco routing, switching, SD-WAN, firewall (Firepower/FTD), wireless, and F5 load balancing infrastructure across branch and data center sites.
• Design and operate Azure networking components, including Virtual Networks, Virtual WAN, ExpressRoute, VPN gateways, and Azure Firewall, delivered through Terraform wherever possible.
• Deploy and manage ThousandEyes agents and tests to provide end-to-end visibility into WAN, internet, and third-party connectivity, and integrate results into alerting and automation workflows.
• Integrate Forward Networks verification into change workflows for pre-change validation, path analysis, and post-change compliance checks.
• Serve as a tier-2 escalation point for network incidents, performing root cause analysis and driving issues to resolution.
• Execute changes through established change management processes and maintain network documentation, diagrams, and IPAM records.

Required Skills and Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• 5-10 years of hands-on enterprise DevOps Engineering experience, including recent experience in a network automation or NetDevOps role.
• Experience engineering and automating networks in large enterprise environments.
• Background in financial services technology environments, including exposure to Bloomberg, CRD, Eagle, or similar platforms.
• Strong working knowledge of Cisco switching and routing, including VLANs, STP, OSPF, BGP, EIGRP, HSRP/VRRP, and QoS.
• Production experience with Versa or Cisco SD-WAN, Cisco firewalls (Firepower or FTD), and Cisco wireless (Catalyst 9800 or AireOS controllers).
• Experience with Azure networking, including Virtual Networks, ExpressRoute, Virtual WAN, and Azure Firewall.
• Strong Python development skills, including automating network operations through REST APIs on vendor controllers such as Catalyst Center, Nexus Dashboard, vManage, Azure Resource Manager, and F5.
• Production experience delivering infrastructure as code with Terraform, using Git-based pull request and code review workflows.
• Hands-on experience with Azure DevOps, including Repos and YAML Pipelines, to build and run CI/CD for infrastructure changes.
• Experience leveraging AI tools to accelerate productivity, including regular use of AI coding assistants such as Claude Code or GitHub Copilot, with sound judgment about when output requires verification.
• Experience with monitoring and assurance platforms such as ThousandEyes, Cisco Catalyst Center, Cisco Nexus Dashboard, and Forward Networks.
• Working knowledge of Forescout or a comparable network access control platform (Cisco ISE, Aruba ClearPass).
• Strong interpersonal and collaboration skills, with the ability to work closely with network engineers to translate established workflows into code and build support for automation across the team.
• Excellent analytical, documentation, and communication skills.

Qualifications:

• Experience building AIOps pipelines, Model Context Protocol (MCP) integrations, or LLM-assisted workflows for network or infrastructure operations.
• Experience working in ITIL-aligned environments with formal change and incident management.