Principal Network Engineer, Cloud Networking

NetApp•San Jose, NC

About The Position

NetApp is seeking a hands-on Principal Engineer to lead cloud networking architecture and reliability for Google Cloud NetApp Volumes (GCNV), a Google first-party service built on NetApp virtual storage and cloud platform technologies. The role focuses on preventing repeat network-driven customer impact while strengthening engineering depth across the SRE organization. The engineer will own technical direction for network infrastructure and hardening across regions and deployment stamps, including fabric design, routing and subnet integrity, reachability, connectivity, and topology-aware automation. The role also serves as a senior escalation point for critical incidents, leads operational readiness reviews, and partners across NetApp and Google to deliver secure, resilient cloud services at scale.

Requirements

A minimum of 12 years of applicable professional experience in network engineering, cloud infrastructure, distributed systems, site reliability engineering, or a related field.
Deep hands-on experience designing and operating large-scale cloud or data center networks, including routing, subnet architecture, network fabrics, reachability, and multi-region connectivity.
Experience supporting production services on Google Cloud, AWS, or Microsoft Azure.
Proficiency with network automation and infrastructure-as-code using technologies such as Python, Go, Terraform, Ansible, Bash, Kubernetes, or CI/CD pipelines.
Demonstrated experience leading response to critical production incidents, performing root-cause analysis, and implementing preventive corrective actions.
Strong understanding of network security and hardening, observability, service reliability, failure domains, and operational readiness.
Experience setting architecture direction and influencing multiple engineering teams without direct authority.
Ability to communicate complex technical decisions clearly to engineering teams, partners, customers, and senior stakeholders.

Nice To Haves

Google Cloud experience.
Experience with BGP, VXLAN/EVPN, software-defined networking, Kubernetes/container networking, or cloud interconnect technologies.
Experience building or operating storage, infrastructure, or other highly available services across multiple regions.
Experience working with hyperscaler engineering teams or delivering a first-party cloud service.
Experience improving service placement, routing, capacity, or network topology through automation and data-driven guardrails.
A bachelor’s degree in computer science, computer engineering, electrical engineering, or a related field.
Applicable education, certifications, and/or technical training.

Responsibilities

Lead network architecture, fabric design, and hardening across multi-region cloud environments, deployment stamps, subnets, and routing domains.
Design and implement network and fabric changes, connectivity guardrails, reachability audits, and topology-aware placement and routing automation.
Set technical direction and architecture standards for SRE and cloud platform teams, and lead design and operational readiness reviews for new regions, stamps, and releases.
Act as a senior escalation point during P0/P1 incidents; lead network-focused troubleshooting and drive root-cause analyses through durable corrective actions.
Partner with Product Engineering, Support, Google, and other stakeholders to resolve cross-team dependencies and improve service reliability.
Reduce operational toil and alert noise through automation, stronger observability, and preventive engineering controls.
Mentor engineers and raise the technical bar through code, architecture, and design reviews.
Contribute to roadmap and capacity planning, and represent the organization in technical forums with partners and customers.

Benefits

Comprehensive benefits package, which may cover health insurance, life insurance, retirement or pension plans, paid time off (PTO), leave options, performance-based incentives, an employee stock purchase plan, and/or restricted stock units (RSUs). Offerings vary by region and are subject to local laws, regulations, and company policies.

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