Network Automation Engineer – Configuration Management (w/ active Secret)

Critical Solutions•Norfolk, VA

4d•$87,000 - $112,000•Onsite

About The Position

Critical Solutions is hiring a Network Automation Engineer focused on configuration management. The role ensures the stability, consistency, and compliance of enterprise network infrastructure by managing the lifecycle of configurations across routers, switches, firewalls, and load balancers. It reduces manual errors and configuration drift through network management systems and infrastructure-as-code automation. The position is based onsite in Norfolk, Virginia, and requires an active DoD Secret clearance and U.S. citizenship. The selected candidate must undergo a federal background investigation and fingerprinting and successfully pass them. The stated salary range is $87,000–$112,000 per year. The engineer establishes and maintains network configuration baselines, audits for drift, manages backups and rollback procedures, and applies automated remediation. The role also administers and optimizes NMS platforms, synchronizes them with source-of-truth systems, and produces compliance reporting. It develops network automation and CI/CD workflows, reviews changes, provides Tier-3 troubleshooting, and coordinates large-scale patching campaigns.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in an engineering discipline.
Proficiency with network automation tools and languages, including Ansible, Terraform, Python, and Jinja2 or other template modeling.
Experience with NMS and network tools such as Cisco Catalyst Center, OpenText Network Automation, Nautobot, Infoblox IPAM, and Wireshark.
Familiarity with DevOps workflows and tools including Git, GitLab CI/CD, GitHub Actions, Jenkins, and Docker.
Solid understanding of BGP, OSPF, VLANs, VRFs, ACLs, and SSH/SNMP protocols.
Fluency with Cisco IOS/IOS-XE/XR, Juniper JunOS, and Arista EOS.
Active DoD Secret clearance.
U.S. citizenship.
Must undergo and successfully pass a federal agency background investigation and fingerprinting.
Strong analytical skills, including tracking anomalies in large configuration text files.
Attention to detail and ability to coordinate large-scale automated changes across global time zones.

Responsibilities

Establish official baselines for production network node types across the global footprint.
Perform drift detection by auditing live configurations against approved standards.
Manage configuration backups and rollback procedures for disaster recovery.
Enforce compliance standards through automated remediation of non-compliant nodes.
Administer and optimize NMS platforms, including inventory discovery and configuration storage.
Integrate Nautobot source-of-truth data with the NMS to synchronize topology and IPAM data.
Configure NMS alert thresholds to flag unauthorized manual configuration changes.
Generate compliance reports for leadership and audit teams covering network patch levels and vulnerabilities.
Write Ansible, Terraform, and Python automation playbooks to deploy global changes safely.
Maintain Git repositories for network infrastructure code and manage pull requests and peer reviews.
Build CI/CD pipelines to validate, lint, and dry-run network changes before deployment.
Develop automated workflows to validate network health before and after change windows.
Review high-impact modifications for alignment with standard architecture templates.
Provide Tier-3 troubleshooting for complex network outages caused by configuration discrepancies or failed software upgrades.
Coordinate mass patching campaigns to remediate vendor software vulnerabilities across network nodes.