Project Overview:

A Tier-1 global bank is seeking two senior data center network engineers, roughly 15 years of experience each, to design, implement, and automate its data center and DMZ networks. The ideal hire combines spine-leaf fabric expertise (Cisco and Arista), F5 load balancing, and hands-on network automation, with prior experience at a large bank.

Key Responsibilities:

• Design, build, and operate spine-leaf (VXLAN/EVPN) data center fabrics on Cisco and Arista platforms.
• Engineer and support F5 BIG-IP application delivery for data center and DMZ: load balancing, SSL/TLS offload, global traffic management, and web application firewall policies.
• Build and maintain network automation that replaces manual change: provisioning, configuration compliance, validation, and drift detection, using Python, Ansible, and an orchestration platform such as Itential.
• Turn approved designs into implementation plans with test and acceptance criteria, back-out plans, and validation procedures.
• Run quality assurance reviews before each implementation and follow the bank's change management and design authority processes.
• Provide Level 3 escalation for production network incidents and drive root cause analysis.
• Assess risk to production and protect service resiliency on every change.
• Support audits, compliance reviews, and regulatory exams with accurate documentation.
• Document designs and hand services over to Operations, and coach junior engineers on automation practices.
• Report milestone progress to the engagement lead and the client's engineering managers.

Required Skills and Experience:

• 10+ years of hands-on data center networking across design, implementation, and operations
• Spine-leaf architecture, VXLAN/EVPN, and data center SDN: Cisco ACI and Nexus, Arista EOS and CloudVision.
• F5 BIG-IP (the gap to close): LTM, GTM/DNS, iRules, SSL/TLS offload, high availability, and troubleshooting in a DMZ or multi-tier data center. Experience with F5 AS3/Declarative Onboarding and BIG-IQ is a strong plus.
• Routing and switching: BGP, OSPF, IS-IS, multicast, MPLS, QoS, and VPN/tunneling (IPsec, GRE, MACsec).
• Network security fundamentals: segmentation, firewall and DMZ design, ACLs.
• Automation: Python, Ansible, YAML, REST APIs, JSON/XML, and Git-based change control.
• Troubleshooting and monitoring tools: Wireshark, NetScout, SolarWinds, and similar packet and flow analysis.
• ITIL processes: change, incident, problem, and request management.
• Clear written and verbal communication, including executive summaries and Visio-level design diagrams.

Certifications (at least one professional-level preferred): CCNP or CCIE (Data Center), Arista ACE, F5 Certified (F5-CA or higher), CISSP.