Network Automation Engineer

Introduction

IBM Quantum is an industry-first initiative to build universal quantum computers for business, engineering, and science. This effort spans the entire quantum computing technology stack and explores applications to make quantum broadly usable and accessible. With a worldwide network of Fortune 500 companies, academic institutions, researchers, educators, and enthusiasts, we are committed to driving innovation for our clients in the IBM Quantum Network and the Qiskit Community.

Your role and responsibilities

As our infrastructure continues to expand across multiple environments and global locations, we are growing our network engineering team to support increasing scale, complexity, and operational demands.

We are seeking an Infrastructure Automation Engineer (Network focus) who combines deep networking expertise with strong automation capabilities to help design and implement modern, scalable approaches to managing network and security infrastructure. The ideal candidate will possess an automation-first mindset, be execution focused, comfortable working across domains while maintaining operational awareness.

Your Role and Responsibilities:

• Design and implement scalable, automated solutions for managing enterprise network infrastructure.

• Develop and maintain Infrastructure as Code (IaC) practices for network systems using tools such as Ansible and related technologies.

• Integrate network automation workflows into CI/CD pipelines to enable consistent and repeatable deployments.

• Collaborate with infrastructure, platform, and engineering teams to ensure end-to-end reliability and operational consistency.

• Define and drive adoption of standards, best practices, and reusable frameworks for network automation.

• Build and maintain templated configurations and modular automation components supporting multiple environments and locations.

• Implement validation, testing, and compliance mechanisms to ensure safe and reliable network changes.

• Contribute to network architecture and design discussions with an emphasis on automation and scalability.

• Mentor team members and help drive adoption of modern, software-driven operational practices.

This role plays a key part in enabling consistent, scalable, and reliable network operations across a growing global infrastructure footprint.

You will be part of a team building the infrastructure that powers one of the most advanced computing initiatives in the world. This role offers the opportunity to shape how network infrastructure is designed, operated, and scaled in a cutting-edge, globally distributed environment.

Required technical and professional expertise

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience in Computer Science, Network Engineering, or a related field.

• 7+ years of experience in overall IT network and security engineering, or related infrastructure domains, including hands-on experience with L2/L3 networking, firewalls, DDI systems.

• 3-5 years of demonstrated, solid experience in an enterprise Network Engineering position with a focus on Cisco, Palo Alto, Infoblox technologies.

• Strong hands-on experience implementing network automation using Ansible or comparable automation frameworks, including development of reusable roles, playbooks, and templates.

• Experience working with CI/CD pipelines and integrating infrastructure automation into delivery workflows.

• Strong understanding of Git-based development practices (version control, code reviews, branching strategies).

• Programming or scripting experience (e.g., Python, Bash) with a focus on automation.

• Experience working with APIs and data-driven automation approaches.

Solid understanding of network reliability, resiliency, and security best practices. * Working knowledge of network security monitoring / performance management systems is highly desirable.

• Demonstrated ability to design and implement scalable automation solutions for network infrastructure, including abstraction, modularization, and idempotent configuration management.

• Ability to operate independently and lead technical initiatives across teams.

Preferred technical and professional experience

• Experience with Infrastructure as Code tools such as Terraform.

• Familiarity with modern network automation tooling (Netmiko, Nornir, Scrapli) or model-driven networking (NETCONF/RESTCONF).

• Certifications such as Devnet/CCNA/CCNP, PCNSA/PCSAE or equivalent.

• Experience supporting multi-site or global network environments.

• Exposure to cloud networking architectures (IBM Cloud, AWS, Azure).

• Knowledge of secrets management and secure automation practices.

• Strong troubleshooting, analytical, and systems-thinking skills.

• Demonstrated ability to lead technical initiatives and influence cross-functional teams.

IBM is committed to creating a diverse environment and is proud to be an equal-opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, caste, genetics, pregnancy, disability, neurodivergence, age, veteran status, or other characteristics. IBM is also committed to compliance with all fair employment practices regarding citizenship and immigration status.