Data Centre Network Engineer – Fabric, Automation & Network AI

• Design, build and evolve high-availability data centre networks, including leaf-spine fabrics, switching, routing, firewalls, load balancers, segmentation and inter-data-centre connectivity.
• Engineer and operate scalable underlay and overlay networks using Ethernet, VLAN, MLAG/vPC, OSPF, BGP, VXLAN and EVPN.
• Personally operate mission-critical network services in-house, with responsibility for availability, capacity, performance and reliability.
• Perform hands-on troubleshooting across physical, switching, routing, security and application-delivery layers.
• Restore services and drive permanent fixes.
• Build and maintain Network-as-Code automation for provisioning, validation, compliance checks, testing, deployment and drift detection.
• Use telemetry and observability data to identify risks, optimise performance and support future growth.
• Explore and apply automation, AI and AIOps techniques, including anomaly detection, predictive insights and AI-assisted troubleshooting.
• Work with cloud, compute, storage, cybersecurity and application teams to deliver secure, reliable connectivity.
• Evaluate new technologies and challenge vendor proposals, adopting solutions that can be automated and operated in-house.

Requirements

• At least three years of hands-on network engineering experience, with a strong focus on data centre or other mission-critical environments.
• Strong knowledge of TCP/IP, Ethernet, VLANs, Layer 2 and Layer 3 networking, routing and switching, high availability and network segmentation.
• Practical experience with data centre fabric concepts and technologies such as leaf-spine architecture, BGP, OSPF, VXLAN, EVPN, MLAG or vPC.
• Experience designing, configuring and troubleshooting data centre switches, firewalls and load balancers from Cisco, Check Point, Palo Alto or equivalent vendors.
• Good understanding of north-south and east-west traffic flows, application dependencies, capacity management and resilient connectivity patterns.
• Experience with network monitoring, streaming telemetry, packet analysis, performance metrics and disciplined incident and problem management.
• Experience or strong interest in Python, Ansible, Terraform, APIs, data models, Git, CI/CD pipelines or automated testing.
• Ability to translate network standards and intended state into version-controlled, reusable and testable code or configuration artefacts.
• Curiosity about Network AI and AIOps, with the ability to identify, prototype and safely evaluate use cases.
• Strong analytical and troubleshooting skills, attention to detail and confidence during high-impact incidents and changes.
• Clear communication and collaboration skills across engineering disciplines.
• Cisco CCNA, CCNP Data Center or equivalent networking, security or automation certifications are advantageous.

Core Competencies

Demonstrates expertise in designing and operating high-availability data centre networks, with a strong focus on automation, network performance optimization, and troubleshooting. Proficient in translating network standards into reusable code and configurations while collaborating effectively across engineering teams.

Highest-signal resume keywords

• Network Engineering Experience
• Data Centre Fabric Technologies
• Network Automation with Python and Ansible
• Troubleshooting and Incident Management
• Cisco CCNA or CCNP Data Center Certification

ATS Optimization Keywords

Hard Skills

• TCP/IP
• Ethernet
• VLAN
• BGP
• OSPF
• VXLAN
• EVPN
• MLAG
• Network Monitoring
• Performance Metrics

Soft Skills

• Analytical Skills
• Attention to Detail
• Clear Communication
• Collaboration Skills

Certifications & Qualifications

• Cisco CCNA
• Cisco CCNP Data Center

Industry Keywords

• High Availability
• Network Segmentation
• Leaf-Spine Architecture
• Application Dependencies
• Resilient Connectivity

Tools & Technologies

• Cisco
• Check Point
• Palo Alto
• Ansible
• Terraform
• APIs
• Git
• CI/CD Pipelines