Automation Engineer

ZP Group•Alexandria, VA

41d•$87,000 - $105,000•Remote

About The Position

Piper Companies is seeking a seasoned Automation Engineer to join a leading IT services supplier to federal agencies. This role is a full-time remote position that focuses on designing and implementing advanced network automation solutions to improve efficiency, compliance, and security across multi-vendor environments.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, IT, or related field.
3+ years Cisco networking, 3+ years in network automation.
Strong knowledge of TCP/IP, routing protocols, VLANs, QoS, ACLs.
Proficiency with Ansible, YAML, Jinja2, Git, and Python scripting.
Experience with CI/CD tools (GitLab, Jenkins, GitHub Actions).
Familiarity with NetBox, Nornir, Terraform, and telemetry tools (pyATS, Genie).
Understanding of DoD standards, DISA STIGs, RMF.
Excellent communication and teamwork skills.

Nice To Haves

Certifications: Cisco DevNet, CCNP, Red Hat Ansible.
Experience with Zero Trust, SDN (DNA Center, ACI, NSX).
Knowledge of cloud networking (AWS, Azure) and multi-domain integration.

Responsibilities

Develop and maintain Ansible playbooks and automation frameworks for routers, switches, firewalls.
Build CI/CD-integrated automation pipelines and Python scripts for custom workflows.
Translate manual network operations into infrastructure-as-code solutions.
Automate compliance with DISA STIG, DoD RMF, and C2C standards.
Support large-scale configuration rollouts and software image management.
Integrate automation into change/configuration management systems.
Collaborate with network/security teams and provide documentation and training.
Travel necessary during build phase (2-3 weeks)