Network Engineer

About the role

In this role, you will help automate deployments and design the next generation of the physical network stack for a US-based database company, while supporting its migration from AWS into a private cloud (data center). Working within SoftServe on a product that runs on bare-metal infrastructure, you will own key parts of the switch automation, base network configuration, and firewall and console network remediation, collaborating closely with the client's engineering and DevOps teams.

Responsibilities

• Support the migration from AWS into a private cloud data center, ensuring network connectivity, reliability, and a smooth transition, including AWS networking (VPC, Direct Connect)
• Design the next generation of the physical network stack and automate network deployments, moving configuration from ad-hoc to code-driven and coordinating with DevOps on switch provisioning (ZTP or similar), the SONiC build pipeline, and monitoring integration
• Design, document, and demonstrate programmatic, iterative configuration of SONiC switches (gNMI/YANG, SWSS), covering CRUD/CRD operations for physical and sub-interfaces, VXLAN/VNI, VRF, and ACLs, with correctly functioning examples for the client team to implement in Golang
• Build and maintain the base switch configuration for the inband network: L2, MCLAG, LAG/port-channel, BGP, BFD, and anycast addresses for the metadata service IP and SAG
• Implement a bifurcated spine-leaf topology, including MCLAG'd spine pairs, LAG links between spines and ToRs, private AS per side of the aisle, and breakout connections for compute nodes
• Set up and improve the out-of-band spine-leaf network, including DHCP, BMC and PDU management access, and switch management port reachability
• Remediate Palo Alto firewall configuration, fixing multipath and rules engine behavior that causes erroneous packet drops, and ensuring upstream egress/ingress A/P works correctly
• Verify Direct Connect multipath, resolve latency and session issues caused by overly aggressive security features, disable unlicensed features, configure public IP NAT, and design a mature tiered interzone traffic policy
• Work with the colocation vendor's network team on IP transit issues, including on-site coordination where needed
• Set up the console network built on OpenGear OM2224 and IM7248 devices, including FRR-based routing, direct-to-device serial console access via SSH, standardized firmware versions and credentials, and a simple systemd-based cellular fallback with multipath heartbeats
• Coordinate with the colocation vendor and the client on cellular plan requirements and antenna installation to ensure reliable emergency access
• Where possible, contribute to the virtual networking control plane implementation (for example, a Golang library for CRUD functionality) to free up the client team to focus on storage

Requirements

• Hands-on experience with AWS networking, including VPC and Direct Connect (MUST)
• Hands-on experience with SONiC programmatic iterative configuration (gNMI/YANG, SWSS) in datacenter environments; experience with other datacenter network platforms such as Cisco or Juniper may be considered (MUST)
• Experience with Palo Alto firewalls (MUST)
• Strong experience with firewall configuration, troubleshooting, and security policy design (MUST)
• Experience with Python or Go for scripting and automation (MUST)
• Linux administration skills: Bash, systemd units, and general system navigation
• Experience with OpenGear devices (nice to have)
• Experience with SONiC base configuration: L2, MCLAG, LAG/port-channel, BGP, BFD, and similar
• Experience with FRR
• Familiarity with virtual networking (VXLAN)
• Light systems programming experience in a language such as C, C++, or Rust (stronger experience is a plus)
• Working proficiency in English for ongoing business communication with a US-based client